At the interface between Eastern and Western views of the
nature of reality, reincarnation is one of the stickier concepts for many
Westerners to accept. The actual
Buddhist concept, as expressed in treatises on meditation, is somewhat
different from the popular view espoused in modern culture. According to
Tibetan Buddhism, it is not the personality which reincarnates, but something
far more subtle.
It has been said that the most basic tenet of Buddhism is
that “All aggregates are impermanent”.
When we view the various forms around us that we take as our everyday
world, and see the emptiness and impermanence of all these forms, it allows for the thought that the idea of a
permanent Ego, or “I” is a construct of our insecurity rather than an absolute
entity. The constantly changing flux of what we actually perceive is thus
structured in order to give us the security of a permanence and stability which
we feel we require.
What is “Real” in this situation is what is reincarnated,
and follows from the Western concept of the conservation of matter and energy
(Einstein). “All aggregates are impermanent” suggests that the basic building
blocks of the universe, be they material (Molecules, atoms, quarks, etc.) or
spiritual/conscious (attention, compassion, love, etc.) in nature, in a state
of constant flux, somehow build our
everyday world. Growth is the refinement of these building blocks from simpler
states to more complex or evolved states.
Work that we do to evolve our consciousness as compassionate
beings, such as meditation, spiritual pursuits, T’ai Chi, service, etc. creates
more complex or evolved “molecules”, and when we die, since no effort is wasted
(conservation of matter & energy), it is these more evolved particles which
are available to build the next “reincarnation”. Thus it is not the personality,
but the real work of growth and evolution, which is usually reincarnated. (Bodhisatvas, those whose being, or personality, is intricately entwined with greater purpose, can be viewed as a special case, where that personality may transcend death).
(Dedicated to my father, Morris Zuckerman, 1909 - 2012)
