Does Buddhism believe in reincarnation?
Writings of Master Shengyan
The answer to this question is yes. Buddhism believes that, except for saints who have been liberated from life and death (such as the Arahants of the Hinayana) or have independent life and death (such as the holy Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana), all living beings are not exempt from the restrictions of reincarnation.
The so-called reincarnation is actually the ups and downs of life and death, and it does not really go around like a wheel. The scope of reincarnation has six major categories. Buddhism calls it the six paths, which are from top to bottom: the path of heaven, the path of humanity, the path of Shura (gods
), the path of rebirth, the path of ghosts, and the hell. Tao, this is all due to the five precepts, ten good deeds, and the ten evils and five rebelliousness (the opposite of the ten good deeds is the ten evils, killing the father, killing the mother, killing Arhats, destroying the harmony of the Sangha, and bleeding the body and blood of the Buddha are called the five revolts) There are
categories. The five precepts and ten good deeds are divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower. They are influenced by the three paths of heaven, human and Shura. The ten evils and five evils are divided into lower, middle and upper categories. The three realms of hell. Those who do good deeds are born in the upper three realms, and those who do bad deeds are born in the lower three realms.
The enjoyment of the blessings or the punishment of sins in each category is the end of one period of life and death, and the beginning of another period of life and death. In this way, in the six paths, birth and death, death and birth are called Reincarnation and death.
However, Buddhism particularly believes that although there are six realms of life and death for sentient beings, the human realm is the main cause of good and evil karma of sentient beings. Therefore, only the human realm is the dual path of creating karma and receiving retribution. , the other paths are just single paths of receiving retribution
The heavenly and divine paths can only enjoy blessings and have no time to create new karma, the lower three paths can only feel the suffering and retribution, and have no ability to distinguish between good and evil. There is a human being who can suffer and enjoy, and can also distinguish what is good and what is evil. Buddhism advocates that the creation of karma
depends on the feelings of the mind. If there is no time to distinguish or the inability to distinguish, even if karma is created, it cannot be the main cause of karma. Therefore, Buddhism attaches great importance to the responsibility for good and evil behavior in life.
Precisely because the main cause of karma is in the human world, all sentient beings who rise and fall still have the opportunity to fall and rise. It is not that once you rise, you will always rise, and once you fall, you will always fall.
The karma of sentient beings in the world is either good or evil, light or heavy. During a person's life, he or she creates all kinds of karma, whether good or evil, small or large. Either light or heavy. Therefore, there are also differences in the chances of receiving retribution.
Therefore, after the end of a life, there are three possible attractions for people towards the goal of reincarnation. The first is weight: in a lifetime, good karma weighs more than bad karma. If the good deeds are heavier than human deeds, they will be born in heaven. If the bad deeds are heavier than the good deeds, they will be in the evil destinies. If the hell deeds in the evil destinies are heavier than the deeds in life, then they will be delinquent. In the hell realm, after receiving the retribution of heavy karma, one will receive the retribution of light karma one after another. The second is to follow habits: A person does neither great good nor great evil in his life, but he has a special and strong habit in his life. After death, he will be reincarnated according to the direction of the habit. In his place, practicing Buddhism mainly relies on daily efforts. The third is
Thoughts: This is the decision made by the mind when dying. When dying, if the thoughts are bad, such as fear, anxiety, greed, depression, etc., it will be very difficult. No one will fall into the lower realms, so Buddhism advocates that when a person is dying or newly dead
family members should not cry, but should give alms and blessings on his behalf, let him know, and declare what he has done in his life. The good deeds and merits comforted him and made him see through and let go. Everyone recited the name of the Buddha, making him yearn for the merits of the Buddha wholeheartedly.
The virtues and the pure land of the Buddha; if there are no major bad deeds, this kind of death will By adjusting the inclination of the mind of the deceased, the deceased can be prevented from falling, and even the deceased can be reborn in the pure land of the Buddha's land because the mind of the deceased can respond to the vows of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas - this is the Buddhist idea
As a aid to chanting the name of the Buddha before death main reason.