You will find short stories on this site. Most are autobiographical. Some are fiction.

REINCARNATIONS

My friend Motoko, was born and raised in Japan. Like millions of other Buddhists, she believes that upon her death, she will be reincarnated into another human or some other animal. The Tibetan book of the dead describes how a person’s soul leaves a body, upon death, in search of a newborn human to occupy.

Do you believe in Reincarnation?

I do, only I believe in a concept of reincarnation which is different from these. What I believe is that reincarnation is a fact of life, all aspects of it. With everything that leaves my body every day of my life, my bodily waste, my breath, it all contributes in some way, to other life. My body, when I die, will also contribute to new life, but to a lesser extent.

Furthermore, looking back, I am the product of similar reincarnations. I am composed of detritus of prior lives. Lives of plants and creatures that lived before me were similarly composed of the excrement and remains of prior life. And so it goes, in an intricate chain of life, death, and regeneration, on this planet back over the millions of years since life first emerged. But it goes back even further. All life on this planet depends on reincarnation which existed prior to life on this planet. Planets are reincarnated from the remains of earlier stars.

Beyond the material aspects of reincarnation, there is the contribution of actions taken and even thoughts expressed. These also are an aspect of reincarnation. For example, the energy I am given by eating plant and animal tissue of prior lives, when used to plant a tree, especially a fruit tree, or any plant, is a form of the reincarnation of those vegetables and that chicken I had eaten the day before. This extends not just to planting, but to all productive acts.

Consider that in speaking and writing, we introduce an idea to someone else. And in doing so, we shift their understanding. This too, is an example of reincarnation.

I can’t miss mentioning the most direct form of reincarnation. It is that of conceiving and raising a child.

Reincarnation a fact of life, all aspects of it. This is not a new idea. It is symbolized by the ancient Hindu God Shiva, the god of destruction and creation. Which in turn is a reflection of a truth known by our species over the eons, that the death of one thing, physical or ethereal, leads to the creation of something new.

End Part I

I hear a protest. A Buddhist says “This is not reincarnation because it does not involve the transmigration of the soul of the deceased, to a living being.”

What I have described above is a about the transfer of real things and thoughts to other living animals. The question is whether the soul is a real thing or a thought, a belief. If it is argued that the soul is a real thing, I would ask for evidence of its physical existence. If you say that it is a belief, I agree. The soul is a religious reincarnation, a form of belief associated with one’s spiritual teaching. And as such is reincarnated from the teaching of one Buddhist to another.

There is capacity, in the human mind for many beliefs. These beliefs are, like everything else, products of reincarnation whether it incorporates chemical components of, or mental images of life. These include beliefs in an after life. All of it is the product of reincarnation.