Rebirth

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

In discussing rebirth we may either ‘zoom out’ and consider it in terms of a succession of lifetimes, or ‘zoom in’ and look at it in terms of the moment-by-moment succession of mental states in the present lifetime. Both are legitimate perspectives. But many Buddhists find the goal of putting an end to rebirth as uninspiring or off-putting because they focus too much on the first of these options. As most of us have no memory of past lives, it is far more useful to concentrate on the second option. To do this we examine present experience. We reflect on the Buddha’s teaching that every time we identify with a mental state as ‘me’ or ‘mine’ we are, in a sense, taking birth. The taking of birth is followed by death and a new birth. Again and again and again. We can see this for ourselves by observing the arising and passing away of the various forms of greed, anger and delusion that occur in daily life. We ask ourselves, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we never again had to be born into the realm of greed, or the realm of anger or the realm of delusion? If we have seen clearly, our answer will be yes. In this way, our feelings about an end to rebirth begin to mature.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.