A comment on "Reincarnation Videos YOU MUST WATCH!"

One of the reasons I went to the university I did was because there was a module “Psychology and Buddhism” as part of the syllabus. Although it was a third year module (and I would therefore have to wait three years to take it!), I was so excited to be going to a place that recognised similarities between science and religion.

On my first day of class, I went up to my professor to tell him that one of the reasons I had joined the university was for this module. I have to say, he was kind enough to get rid of my expectations pretty quickly LOL he said that as a science of the mind, Buddhism was in some ways light years ahead of conventional science. That conventional science could be problematic in studying the mind because of its emphasis on objectivity.

Unlike Buddha who examined his mind and applied the findings to himself, Western science posits that the researcher must remove himself from the analysis and not introduce any form of bias. As a result, the researcher also fails to apply the findings to himself. But how can you study the mind if you do not include your OWN mind in the study? Hence the slow progress of Western science in examining something as intangible as the consciousness. I had never thought of it that way before but it made sense to me.

Reincarnation is one of those concepts about Buddhism that Western science has so much trouble proving because of the lack of empirical data. But sometimes, do you really need empirical data when you have inferential logic? After all, where there is smoke, is there no fire?

Blog post:

http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/film-tv-music/reincarnation-videos-you-must-watch.html
 

Comment:

Rinpoche told us before that the Buddha didn’t make up anything. The Buddha described what he saw and therefore what he teaches and describes will be the universal truth. To say it is a universal truth means that it is applicable to everyone, regardless of their culture. It remains true independent of their preferences, faiths or beliefs.

From this collection of videos that Rinpoche has shown us, it is clear that reincarnation is one such universal truth. For example, you have people in Sri Lanka describing reincarnation, but then you also have people in the USA who are witnessing their son telling them stories from a past life, which are so detailed that they can’t possibly be made up. They aren’t from a culture that believes in reincarnation and in fact, are incredulous and actively rejecting.

From watching these videos, we need to seriously consider – if the reincarnation that Buddha witnessed then described is true, then what else did Buddha teach is also true which, if we believe and apply, will bring us great benefit to understand? In these videos, I can already think of another teaching, for example imprints. If our imprints are so strong that they can be recalled during regression therapy, it means the memory is there in our consciousness but dormant. But the fact is that it is there waiting to be recalled, and the fact that it is there means it can (and does) have impact on our behaviour now.

So since reincarnation exists, and regression therapy shows there are imprints, then from life to life we will be carrying more imprints with us. So what kind of imprints do we want to make in this life, which we will carry with us into our next life and will actually serve us beneficially in our next life (compared to the ones we made in previous lives that we have to ‘suffer’ now)?

Reflections and Teachings