2. Rebirth of What?
1. Did the Buddha believe in rebirth ?
2. The answer is in the affirmative.
3. It is better to split this question further into two parts :
(1) Rebirth of What and (2) Rebirth of Whom.
4. It is better to take each one of these two questions separately.
5. Here we may consider the first. Rebirth of What.
6. This question is almost always ignored. It is because of the mixing of the two questions that so much confusion has arisen.
7. According to the Buddha there are four elements of Existence which go to compose the body. They are
(1) Prithvi ;
(2) Apa ;
(3) Tej ; and
(4) Vayu.
8. Question is when the human body dies what happens to these four elements? Do they also die along with dead body ? Some say that they do.
9. The Buddha said no. They join the mass of similar elements floating in (Akash) space.
10. When the four elements from this floating mass join together a new birth takes place.
11. This is what the Buddha meant by rebirth.
12. The elements need not and are not necessarily from the same bodywhich is dead. They may be drawn from different dead bodies.
13. It must be noted that the body dies. But the elements are ever living.
14. This is the kind of rebirth in which the Buddha believed.
15. Great light is 'thrown upon the subject by Sariputta in his dialogue with Maha-Kotthita.
16. It is said that once when the Lord was staying at Shravasti in Jeta's Grove in Anathapindika's Aram, the Maha-Kotthita rising up at even-tide from his meditations, went to Sariputta and asked him to elucidate some of the questions which troubled him.
17. The following was one of them.
18. Maha-Kotthita asked : " How many factors has the first ecstasy (Dhyana) put from it and how many does it retain ? "
19. Sariputta replied: " Five of each. Gone are lusts, malevolence, torpor, worry and doubt. Observation, reflection, zest, satisfaction and a focussed heart persist."
20. Maha-Kotthita asked: " Take the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch,—each with its own particular province and range of function, separate and mutually distinct. What ultimate base have they ? Who enjoys all their five provinces and ranges ? "
21. Sariputta replied: "Mind (Mano)."
22. Maha-Kotthita asked : " On what do these five faculties of sense depend ? "
23. Sariputta replied : " On vitality."
24. Maha-Kotthita asked: " On what does vitality depend ?
25. Sariputta : " On heat."
26. Maha-Kotthita asked: " On what does heat depend ? "
27. Sariputta replied : " On vitality."
28. Maha-Kotthita asked : " You say that vitality depends on heat, you also say that heat depends on vitality! What precisely is the meaning to be attached to this ? "
29. Sariputta replied : " I will give you an illustration. Just as in the case of a lamp, the light reveals the flame and the flame" the light, so vitality depends upon heat and heat on vitality.
30. Maha-Kotthita asked : " How many things must quit the body before it is flung aside and cast away like a senseless log ? "
31. Sariputta answered: "Vitality, heat and consciousness."
32. Maha-Kotthita asked : " What is the difference between a lifeless corpse and an almsman in trance, in whom perception and feelings are stilled?"
33. Sariputta replied : " In the corpse not only are the plastic forces of the body and speech and mind stilled and quiescent but also vitality is exhausted, heat is quenched and the faculties of sense broken up ; whereas in the almsman in trance vitality persists, heat abides, and the faculties are clear, although respiration, observation and perception are stilled and quiescent."
34. This probably is the best and most complete exposition of Death or Annihilation.
35. There is only one lacuna in this dialogue. Maha-Kotthita should have asked Sariputta one question. What is heat ?
36. What answer Sariputta would have given it is not easy to imagine. But there can be no doubt that heat means energy.
37. Thus amplified, the real answer to the question : What happens when the body dies ? is : The body ceases to produce energy.
38. But this is only a part of the answer. Because death also means that whatever energy that had escaped from the body joins the general mass of energy playing about in the Universe.
39. Annihilation has therefore a two-fold aspect. In one of its aspects it means cession of production of energy. In another aspect it means a new addition to the stock of general floating mass of energy.
40. It is probably because of this two-fold aspect of annihilation that the Buddha said that he was not an absolute annihilationist. He was an annihilationist so far as soul was concerned. He was not an annihilationist so far as matter was concerned.
41. So interpreted it is easy to understand why the Buddha said that he was not an annihilationist. He believed in the regeneration of matter and not in the rebirth of the soul.
42. So interpreted, the Buddha's view is in consonance with science.
43. It is only in this sense that the Buddha could be said to have believed in rebirth.
44. Energy is never lost. That is what science affirms. Annihilation in the sense that after death nothing is left would be contrary to science. For it would mean that energy is not constant in volume.
45. This is the only way by which the dilemma could be solved.
1. Did the Buddha believe in rebirth ?
2. The answer is in the affirmative.
3. It is better to split this question further into two parts :
(1) Rebirth of What and (2) Rebirth of Whom.
4. It is better to take each one of these two questions separately.
5. Here we may consider the first. Rebirth of What.
6. This question is almost always ignored. It is because of the mixing of the two questions that so much confusion has arisen.
7. According to the Buddha there are four elements of Existence which go to compose the body. They are
(1) Prithvi ;
(2) Apa ;
(3) Tej ; and
(4) Vayu.
8. Question is when the human body dies what happens to these four elements? Do they also die along with dead body ? Some say that they do.
9. The Buddha said no. They join the mass of similar elements floating in (Akash) space.
10. When the four elements from this floating mass join together a new birth takes place.
11. This is what the Buddha meant by rebirth.
12. The elements need not and are not necessarily from the same bodywhich is dead. They may be drawn from different dead bodies.
13. It must be noted that the body dies. But the elements are ever living.
14. This is the kind of rebirth in which the Buddha believed.
15. Great light is 'thrown upon the subject by Sariputta in his dialogue with Maha-Kotthita.
16. It is said that once when the Lord was staying at Shravasti in Jeta's Grove in Anathapindika's Aram, the Maha-Kotthita rising up at even-tide from his meditations, went to Sariputta and asked him to elucidate some of the questions which troubled him.
17. The following was one of them.
18. Maha-Kotthita asked : " How many factors has the first ecstasy (Dhyana) put from it and how many does it retain ? "
19. Sariputta replied: " Five of each. Gone are lusts, malevolence, torpor, worry and doubt. Observation, reflection, zest, satisfaction and a focussed heart persist."
20. Maha-Kotthita asked: " Take the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch,—each with its own particular province and range of function, separate and mutually distinct. What ultimate base have they ? Who enjoys all their five provinces and ranges ? "
21. Sariputta replied: "Mind (Mano)."
22. Maha-Kotthita asked : " On what do these five faculties of sense depend ? "
23. Sariputta replied : " On vitality."
24. Maha-Kotthita asked: " On what does vitality depend ?
25. Sariputta : " On heat."
26. Maha-Kotthita asked: " On what does heat depend ? "
27. Sariputta replied : " On vitality."
28. Maha-Kotthita asked : " You say that vitality depends on heat, you also say that heat depends on vitality! What precisely is the meaning to be attached to this ? "
29. Sariputta replied : " I will give you an illustration. Just as in the case of a lamp, the light reveals the flame and the flame" the light, so vitality depends upon heat and heat on vitality.
30. Maha-Kotthita asked : " How many things must quit the body before it is flung aside and cast away like a senseless log ? "
31. Sariputta answered: "Vitality, heat and consciousness."
32. Maha-Kotthita asked : " What is the difference between a lifeless corpse and an almsman in trance, in whom perception and feelings are stilled?"
33. Sariputta replied : " In the corpse not only are the plastic forces of the body and speech and mind stilled and quiescent but also vitality is exhausted, heat is quenched and the faculties of sense broken up ; whereas in the almsman in trance vitality persists, heat abides, and the faculties are clear, although respiration, observation and perception are stilled and quiescent."
34. This probably is the best and most complete exposition of Death or Annihilation.
35. There is only one lacuna in this dialogue. Maha-Kotthita should have asked Sariputta one question. What is heat ?
36. What answer Sariputta would have given it is not easy to imagine. But there can be no doubt that heat means energy.
37. Thus amplified, the real answer to the question : What happens when the body dies ? is : The body ceases to produce energy.
38. But this is only a part of the answer. Because death also means that whatever energy that had escaped from the body joins the general mass of energy playing about in the Universe.
39. Annihilation has therefore a two-fold aspect. In one of its aspects it means cession of production of energy. In another aspect it means a new addition to the stock of general floating mass of energy.
40. It is probably because of this two-fold aspect of annihilation that the Buddha said that he was not an absolute annihilationist. He was an annihilationist so far as soul was concerned. He was not an annihilationist so far as matter was concerned.
41. So interpreted it is easy to understand why the Buddha said that he was not an annihilationist. He believed in the regeneration of matter and not in the rebirth of the soul.
42. So interpreted, the Buddha's view is in consonance with science.
43. It is only in this sense that the Buddha could be said to have believed in rebirth.
44. Energy is never lost. That is what science affirms. Annihilation in the sense that after death nothing is left would be contrary to science. For it would mean that energy is not constant in volume.
45. This is the only way by which the dilemma could be solved.
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