Tathāgata ( Sanskrit: [tɐˈtʰaːɡɐtɐ] ) is a Pali and Sanskrit word; Gautama Buddha uses it when referring to himself or other Buddhas in the Pāli Canon . Likewise, in the Mahayana corpus, it is an epithet of Shakyamuni Buddha and the other celestial buddhas . The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" ( tathā-gata ), "one who has thus come" ( tathā-āgata ), or sometimes "one who has thus not gone" ( tathā-agata ). This is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena . There are, however, other interpretations and the precise original meaning of the word is not certain.
94-513: The Buddha is quoted on numerous occasions in the Pali Canon as referring to himself as the Tathāgata instead of using the pronouns me , I or myself . This may be meant to emphasize by implication that the teaching is uttered by one who has transcended the human condition, one beyond the otherwise endless cycle of rebirth and death , i.e. beyond dukkha . The word's original significance
188-582: A bhaddakappa ("bhadrakalpa", fortunate aeon). In some Sanskrit and northern Buddhist traditions, however, a bhadrakalpa has up to 1,000 Buddhas, with the Buddhas Gautama and Maitreya also being the fourth and fifth Buddhas of the kalpa , respectively. Rebirth (Buddhism) Rebirth in Buddhism refers to the teaching that the actions of a sentient being lead to a new existence after death, in an endless cycle called saṃsāra . This cycle
282-486: A "stream of consciousness" (Pali: viññana sotam , D .3.105) as that which transmigrates. However, according to Bruce Matthews, "there is no single major systematic exposition on this subject" in the Pali Canon. Some Buddhist scholars such as Buddhaghosa , held that the lack of an unchanging self ( atman ) does not mean that there is a lack of continuity in rebirth, since there is still a causal link between lives. The process of rebirth across different realms of existence
376-418: A being cease to occur. This is the condition of 'nirvāṇa without remainder [of life]' (nir-upadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa/an-up ādisesa-nibbāna): nirvāṇa that comes from ending the occurrence of the aggregates (skandha/khandha) of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a being; or, for short, khandha-parinibbāna. Modern Buddhist usage tends to restrict 'nirvāṇa' to the awakening experience and reserve 'parinirvāṇa' for
470-441: A monk has a latent tendency, by that is he reckoned, what he does not have a latent tendency for, by that is he not reckoned. These tendencies are ways in which the mind becomes involved in and clings to conditioned phenomena . Without them, an enlightened person cannot be "reckoned" or "named"; he or she is beyond the range of other beings, and cannot be "found" by them, even by gods, or Mara . In one passage, Sariputta states that
564-409: A person must die. But unlike other beings, who have not experienced 'nirvāṇa', he or she will not be reborn into some new life, the physical and mental constituents of being will not come together in some new existence, there will be no new being or person. Instead of being reborn, the person 'parinirvāṇa-s', meaning in this context that the five aggregates of physical and mental phenomena that constitute
658-431: A seal is imprinted on wax). Other Buddhist traditions such as Tibetan Buddhism posit an interim existence ( bardo ) between death and rebirth, which may last as long as 49 days. This belief drives Tibetan funerary rituals. A now defunct Buddhist tradition called Pudgalavada asserted there was an inexpressible personal entity ( pudgala ) which migrates from one life to another. There is no word corresponding exactly to
752-611: A wide range of complex desires, emotions and mental states that could not exist without the force of past habit, and thus they must be based on the habits acquired in a past life. Wallace also notes that several modern Buddhist figures, such as Pa Auk Sayadaw and Geshe Gedun Lodro have also written about how to train the mind to access past life memories. The Burmese monk Pa Auk Sayadaw is known for teaching such methods and some of his western students like Shaila Catherine have written about this and their experiences in practicing it. B. Alan Wallace argues that first person introspection
846-491: Is a "personal entity" ( pudgala , puggala ) that retains karmic merit and undergoes rebirth. This personal entity was held to be neither different nor identical to the five aggregates ( skandhas ). This concept was attacked by Theravada Buddhists in the early 1st millennium CE. The personal entity concept was rejected by the mid-1st millennium CE Pali scholar Buddhaghosa , who attempted to explain rebirth mechanism with "rebirth-linking consciousness" ( patisandhi - citta ). It
940-700: Is a valid means of knowledge about the mind (when that introspection is well trained by meditation) and has been used by numerous contemplatives throughout history. He writes that a well trained mind, "which may be likened to an inwardly focused telescope," should be able to access "a subtle, individual mind stream that carries on from one lifetime to another." Wallace proposes that a research project using well trained meditators could access information from past lives in an accurate manner and these could then be checked by independent third person observers. Parinirvana In Buddhism , parinirvana ( Sanskrit : parinirvāṇa ; Pali : parinibbāna ) describes
1034-410: Is called "reality as-it-is" ( yathābhūta ). This reality is also referred to as "thusness" or "suchness" ( tathatā ), indicating simply that it (reality) is what it is. Tathāgata is defined as someone who "knows and sees reality as-it-is" ( yathā bhūta ñāna dassana ). Gata ("gone") is the past passive participle of the verbal root gam ("go, travel"). Āgata ("come") is the past passive participle of
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#17327662483591128-669: Is conditioned by the karma (deeds, intent) of current and previous lives; good karma will yield a happier rebirth into good realms while bad karma is believed to produce rebirth which is more unhappy and evil. The release from this endless cycle of rebirth is called nirvana ( Sanskrit : निर्वाण, nirvāṇa ; Pali : nibbāna ) in Buddhism. The achievement of nirvana is the ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching. However, much of traditional Buddhist practice has been centered on gaining merit and merit transfer, whereby an individual gains rebirth for oneself or one's family members in
1222-440: Is considered to be dukkha , unsatisfactory and painful. The cycle stops only if Nirvana (liberation) is achieved by insight and the extinguishing of craving . Rebirth is one of the foundational doctrines of Buddhism, along with karma and Nirvana . Rebirth was a key teaching of early Buddhism along with the doctrine of karma (which it shared with early Indian religions like Jainism ). In Early Buddhist Sources ,
1316-592: Is fuelled by craving." Another term which is used to describe what gets reborn in the EBTs is gandhabba ("spirit"). According to the Assalayana Sutta (and its parallel at MA 151), for conception to be successful, a gandhabba must be present (as well as other physiological factors). According to the EBTs, this rebirth consciousness is not a tabula rasa (blank slate), but contains certain underlying tendencies ( anusaya ) which in turn "form an object for
1410-466: Is name and form. What is the meaning of this? If consciousness did not enter the mother's womb, would there be name and form? [Ananda] replied: No. The same sutra states that if consciousness were to depart from the womb, the fetus could not continue to grow. Drawing on these sutras and others (such as SN 22.8 and SA 1265) Anālayo concludes that "consciousness appears to be what provides the transition from one body to another". However, according to Sujato,
1504-586: Is not known and there has been speculation about it since at least the time of Buddhaghosa , who gives eight interpretations of the word, each with different etymological support, in his commentary on the Digha Nikaya , the Sumangalavilasini : Monks, in the world with its devas, Mara and Brahma, in this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, devas and humans, whatever is seen, heard, sensed and cognized, attained, searched into, pondered over by
1598-523: Is not to waste time speculating about what one might have been in the past and what they will be in the future. Such advice can be found in the Sabbasava Sutta (MN 2, with a parallel at MA 10). In contrast to this, various early texts regularly recommend the direct recollection of one's own past lives as one of the three higher knowledges which correspond to the realizations attained by the Buddha on
1692-596: Is represented by a reclining Buddha figure, often surrounded by disciples. In the Buddhist view, when ordinary people die, each person's unresolved karma passes on to a new birth; and thus the karmic inheritance is reborn in one of the six realms of samsara . However, when a person attains nirvana, they are liberated from karmic rebirth. When such a person dies, it is the end of the cycle of rebirth. Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin explains: Eventually 'the remainder of life' will be exhausted and, like all beings, such
1786-586: Is seen as supported by the body and its cognitive apparatus and cannot exist without it (and vice versa). However, consciousness can jump from one body to another (this is compared to how a spark from a hot iron can travel through the air in AN 7.52). This process applies to the very moment of conception, which requires a consciousness to enter the womb. This is indicated by Dirgha Agama "DA" 13 and its parallels (DN 15, Madhyama Agama "MA" 97). DA 13 states: [The Buddha said]: Ananda, in dependence on consciousness there
1880-514: Is this True Self held to be fully discernible and accessible. Kosho Yamamoto cites a passage in which the Buddha admonishes his monks not to dwell inordinately on the idea of the non-Self but to meditate on the Self. Yamamoto writes: Having dwelt upon the nature of nirvana, the Buddha now explains its positive aspect and says that nirvana has the four attributes of the Eternal, Bliss, the Self, and
1974-636: The Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra there are only four Buddha families, the full Diamond Realm mandala with five Buddhas first appears in the Vajrasekhara Sutra . The Vajrasekhara also mentions a sixth Buddha, Vajradhara , "a Buddha (or principle) seen as the source, in some sense, of the five Buddhas." The Five Buddhas are aspects of the dharmakaya "dharma-body", which embodies the principle of enlightenment in Buddhism . When these Buddhas are represented in mandalas, they may not always have
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#17327662483592068-430: The skandhas (personality factors) that render citta (the mind) a bounded, measurable entity, and is instead "freed from being reckoned by" all or any of them, even in life. The aggregates of form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and cognizance that compose personal identity have been seen to be dukkha (a burden), and an enlightened individual is one with "burden dropped".The Buddha explains "that for which
2162-635: The Śāriputrābhidharma (possibly Dharmaguptaka ) rejected it in favor of an immediate leap of the consciousness from one body to the next. In the Abhidharmakosha , Vasubandhu defends the theory of the intermediate existence. He argues that each intermediate being is made up of the five aggregates, that it arises in the place of death and carries the "configuration of the future being." Furthermore, according to Vasubandhu, this conscious intermediate being becomes aroused on seeing their future parents joined in intercourse and it becomes envious of one of
2256-462: The Buddhavaṃsa , twenty-one more Buddhas were added to the list of seven names in the early texts. Theravada tradition maintains that there can be up to five Buddhas in a kappa or world age and that the current kappa has had four Buddhas, with the current Buddha, Gotama, being the fourth and the future Buddha Metteyya being the fifth and final Buddha of the kappa . This would make the current aeon
2350-694: The Nirvana Sutra understand the mahaparinirvana to be the liberated Self of the eternal Buddha: One of the main themes of the MMPS [ Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra ] is that the Buddha is eternal ... The Mahayanists assert the eternity of the Buddha in two ways in the MMPS . They state that the Buddha is the dharmakaya , and hence eternal. Next, they reinterpret the liberation of the Buddha as mahaparinirvana possessing four attributes: eternity, happiness, self and purity. Only in Mahaparinirvana
2444-497: The Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta itself, it is clear that the Buddha is the subject of the metaphor, and the Buddha has already "uprooted" or "annihilated" the five aggregates. In Sn 1074, it is stated that the sage cannot be "reckoned" because he is freed from the category "name" or, more generally, concepts. The absence of this precludes the possibility of reckoning or articulating a state of affairs; "name" here refers to
2538-462: The Buddha asks him in which direction a fire goes when it has gone out. Vaccha replies that the question "does not fit the case ... For the fire that depended on fuel ... when that fuel has all gone, and it can get no other, being thus without nutriment, it is said to be extinct." The Buddha then explains: "In exactly the same way ..., all form by which one could predicate the existence of the saint, all that form has been abandoned, uprooted, pulled out of
2632-400: The Buddha claims to have knowledge of his many past lives. Rebirth and other concepts of the afterlife have been interpreted in different ways by different Buddhist traditions. The rebirth doctrine, sometimes referred to as reincarnation or transmigration , asserts that rebirth takes place in one of the six realms of samsara , the realms of gods, demi-gods, humans, the animal realm ,
2726-763: The Buddha died may be ultimately found to the North of Bettiah , and in the line of the Aśōka pillars which lead hither from Patna (Pāțaliputra)" in Bihar. It still awaits proper archaeological excavation. According to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (also called the Nirvana Sutra ), the Buddha taught that parinirvāṇa is the realm of the Eternal, Bliss, the Self , and the Pure. Dr. Paul Williams states that it depicts
2820-652: The Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics. However, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra is a long and highly composite Mahayana scripture, and the part of the sutra upon which Williams is basing his statement is a portion of the Nirvana Sutra of secondary Central Asian provenance - other parts of the sutra were written in India. Guang Xing speaks of how the Mahayanists of
2914-488: The Buddha's life. In contrast to these works which deal with the Buddha's parinirvāṇa as a biographical event, the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra was written hundreds of years later. The Nirvana Sutra does not give details of the historical event of the day of the parinirvāṇa itself, except the Buddha's illness and Cunda's meal offering, nor any of the other preceding or subsequent incidents, instead using
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3008-481: The Buddhist teaching of Dependent Origination is closely connected with the doctrine of rebirth. One of the 12 elements of Dependent Origination is "birth" ( jati ), which according to Anālayo refers to the rebirth of living beings. He cites SN 12.2 and its parallel in Samyukta Agama "SA" 298 as evidence. SN 12.2 defines "birth" in the context of Dependent Origination as "the birth of the various beings into
3102-509: The EBTs indicate that it is not just consciousness which undergoes rebirth, but some form of all the five aggregates. The EBTs also seem to indicate that there is an in-between state ( antarābhava ) between death and rebirth. According to Bhikkhu Sujato, the most explicit passage supporting this can be found in the Kutuhalasāla Sutta , which states that "when a being has laid down this body, but has not yet been reborn in another body, it
3196-588: The EBTs state that on the night of his awakening, the Buddha attained the ability to recall a vast number of past lives along with numerous details about them. These early scriptures also state that he could remember "as far as ninety one eons" ( Majjhima Nikaya i.483). An interpretation of these memories is a link to deceased ancestors and their individual lives and memories, with later views interpreting these as personal memories of past lives. Bhikkhu Sujato notes that there are three main principles of rebirth in early Buddhism: According to Bhikkhu Anālayo ,
3290-506: The English terms "rebirth", "metempsychosis", "transmigration" or "reincarnation" in the traditional Buddhist languages of Pāli and Sanskrit. Rebirth is referred to by various terms, representing an essential step in the endless cycle of samsara , terms such as "re-becoming" or "becoming again" (Sanskrit: punarbhava, Pali: punabbhava), re-born ( punarjanman ), re-death ( punarmrityu ), or sometimes just "becoming" (Pali/Sanskrit: bhava ), while
3384-721: The Five Great Buddhas, and the Five Jinas ( Sanskrit for "conqueror" or "victor"), are emanations and representations of the five qualities of the Adi-Buddha or "first Buddha" Vairocana or Vajradhara , which is associated with the Dharmakāya . The Five Wisdom Buddhas are a development of the Buddhist Tantras, and later became associated with the trikaya or "three body" theory of Buddhahood . While in
3478-472: The Pure ... the Buddha says: "O you bhiksus [monks]! Do not abide in the thought of the non-eternal, sorrow, non-Self, and the not-pure and have things as in the case of those people who take the stones, wooden pieces and gravel for the true gem [of the true Dharma] ... In every situation, constantly meditate upon the idea of the Self, the idea of the Eternal, Bliss, and the Pure ... Those who, desirous of attaining Reality meditatively cultivate these ideas, namely,
3572-858: The Vinayas preserved in Chinese of the early Buddhist schools such as the Sarvāstivādins and the Mahāsāṃghikas . The historical event of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa is also described in a number of later works, such as the Sanskrit Buddhacarita and the Avadāna-śataka , and the Pāli Mahāvaṃsa . According to Bareau, the oldest core components of all these accounts are just the account of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa itself at Kuśinagara and
3666-481: The alaya-vijñana). Instead, some Prāsaṇgika philosophers argue that a karmic action results in a potential which will ripen later. This potential is not a thing and does not need a support. However, other Madhyamaka thinkers (which are classified as "Svatantrikas" by Tibetans scholars), generally adopted the Sautrantika concept of tendencies stored in the stream of consciousness. The Theravāda school's doctrine of
3760-494: The arahant, both before and after parinirvana , lies beyond the domain where the descriptive powers of ordinary language are at home; that is, the world of the skandhas and the greed, hatred, and delusion that are "blown out" with nirvana. In the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta , an ascetic named Vaccha questions the Buddha on a variety of metaphysical issues. When Vaccha asks about the status of a tathagata after death,
3854-425: The bhavaṅga (Pali, "ground of becoming", "condition for existence") is another theory that was used to explain rebirth. It is seen as a mental process which conditions the next mental process at the moment of death and rebirth (though it does not actually travel in between lives, see below). The Pudgalavada school of early Buddhism accepted the core premise of Buddhism that there is no ātman, but asserted that there
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3948-691: The capacity of past karma to produce an effect long after it had been performed. The seed theory was defended by the influential Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu in his Abhidharmakosha . It is also present in the Viniscayasamgrahani of the Yogacarabhumi . The Sarvastivada Abhidharma master Saṃghabhadra states that the seed theory was referred to by different names including: subsidiary elements ( anudhatu ), impressions ( vasana ); capability ( samarthya ), non-disappearance ( avipranasa ), or accumulation ( upacaya ). The seed theory
4042-750: The concept of special yogic perception ( yogi-pratyakṣa ) which is able to empirically verify the truth of rebirth. Some modern Buddhists authors like K.N. Jayatilleke also argue that the Buddha's main argument in favor of rebirth was based on empirical grounds, and that this included the idea that extra-sensory perception (Pali: atikkanta-manusaka ) can provide a validation for rebirth. Modern Buddhists such as Bhikkhu Anālayo and Jayatilleke have also argued that rebirth may be empirically verifiable and have pointed to certain parapsychological phenomena as possible evidence, mainly near-death experiences (NDEs), past-life regression , reincarnation research and xenoglossy . Both Anālayo and B. Alan Wallace point to
4136-489: The concepts or apperceptions that make propositions possible. Nagarjuna expressed this understanding in the nirvana chapter of his Mulamadhyamakakarika : "It is not assumed that the Blessed One exists after death. Neither is it assumed that he does not exist, or both, or neither. It is not assumed that even a living Blessed One exists. Neither is it assumed that he does not exist, or both, or neither." Speaking within
4230-476: The conclusion that it is this very same consciousness that will be reborn (as opposed to a dependently originated process). In another discourse, the Mahapunnama sutta (MN 109, SA 58), a monk misapplies the doctrine of not-self to argue that there is nobody who will be affected by the fruition of karma. While the vast majority of Buddhists accept some notion of rebirth, they differ in their theories about
4324-557: The connections between action (karma), rebirth and causality is set out in the twelve links of dependent origination . There are several references to rebirth in the Early Buddhist texts (henceforth EBTs). Some key suttas which discuss rebirth include Mahakammavibhanga Sutta ( Majjhima Nikaya "MN" 136); Upali Sutta (MN 56); Kukkuravatika Sutta (MN 57); Moliyasivaka Sutta ( Samyutta Nikaya "SN" 36.21); and Sankha Sutta (SN 42.8). There are various terms which refer to
4418-605: The context of Mahayana Buddhism (specifically the Perfection of Wisdom sutras), Edward Conze writes that the term 'tathagata' denotes inherent true selfhood within the human being: Just as tathata designates true reality in general, so the word which developed into "Tathagata" designated the true self, the true reality within man. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Five Tathāgatas ( pañcatathāgata ) or Five Wisdom Tathāgatas ( Chinese : 五智如来 ; pinyin : Wǔzhì Rúlái ),
4512-608: The current kappa (kalpa) and three are from past ones. One sutta called Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta from an early Buddhist text called the Dĩgha Nikãya also mentions that following the Seven Buddhas of Antiquity, a Buddha named Metteyya (Maitreya) is predicted to arise in the world. However, according to a text in the Theravada Buddhist tradition from a later strata (between the 1st and 2nd century BCE) called
4606-475: The cycle of rebirth, but added that there is a way to end the cycle of karmic rebirths through nirvana . The Buddha introduced the concept that there is no soul (self) tying the cycle of rebirths, in contrast to themes asserted by various Hindu and Jaina traditions, and this central concept in Buddhism is called anattā ; Buddha also affirmed the idea that all compounded things are subject to dissolution at death or anicca . The Buddha's detailed conception of
4700-658: The death experience. Accounts of the purported events surrounding the Buddha's own parinirvāṇa are found in a wide range of Buddhist canonical literature. In addition to the Pāli Mahāparinibbāna sutta (DN 16) and its Sanskrit parallels, the topic is treated in the Saṃyutta-nikāya (SN 6.15) and the several Sanskrit parallels (T99 p253c-254c), the Sanskrit-based Ekottara-āgama (T125 p750c), and other early sutras preserved in Chinese, as well as in most of
4794-603: The doctrine of Karma and rebirth but mention the belief in an afterlife . According to Sayers, these earliest layers of the Vedic literature show ancestor worship and rites such as sraddha (offering food to the ancestors). The later Vedic texts such as the Aranyakas and the Upanisads show a different soteriology based on reincarnation, they show little concern with ancestor rites, and they begin to philosophically interpret
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#17327662483594888-640: The earlier rituals. The idea of reincarnation and karma have roots in the Upanishads of the late Vedic period , predating the Buddha and the Mahavira . The Sramana schools affirmed the idea of soul, karma and cycle of rebirth. The competing Indian materialist schools denied the idea of soul, karma and rebirth, asserting instead that there is just one life, there is no rebirth, and death marks complete annihilation. From these diverse views, Buddha accepted
4982-409: The establishment of consciousness" (SA 359, SN 13.39). These subliminal inclinations are thus a condition for continued rebirth and also carry imprints from past lives. According to the EBTs, past life memories can be retrieved through the cultivation of deep meditative states ( samadhi ). The Buddha himself is depicted as having developed the ability to recollect his past lives as well as to access
5076-414: The event as merely a convenient springboard for the expression of standard Mahayana ideals such as the tathagata-garbha / buddha-dhatu doctrine, the eternality of the Buddha, and the soteriological fate of the icchantikas and so forth. It has been suggested by Waddell that the site of the death and parinirvana of Gautama Buddha was in the region of Rampurva : "I believe that Kusīnagara, where
5170-426: The former appear outwardly superior to the latter, simply because they are allowed to remain impassible, whereas the latter must in some sense appear to rediscover "a way" or at least recapitulate it, so that others, too, may "go that way," hence tathā-gata . A number of passages affirm that a Tathāgata is "immeasurable", "inscrutable", "hard to fathom", and "not apprehended". A tathāgata has abandoned that clinging to
5264-499: The funerary rites following his death. He deems all other extended details to be later additions with little historical value. The parinirvana of the Buddha is described in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta . Because of its attention to detail, this Theravada sutta , though first committed to writing hundreds of years after his death, has been resorted to as the principal source of reference in most standard studies of
5358-455: The ghost realm and hell realms. Rebirth, as stated by various Buddhist traditions, is determined by karma, with good realms favored by kusala karma (good or skillful karma), while a rebirth in evil realms is a consequence of akusala karma (bad or unskillful karma). While nirvana is the ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching, much of traditional Buddhist practice has been centered on gaining merit and merit transfer, whereby one gains rebirth in
5452-401: The good realms and avoids rebirth in the evil realms. The rebirth doctrine has been a subject of scholarly studies within Buddhism since ancient times, particularly in reconciling the rebirth doctrine with its anti-essentialist anatman (not-self) doctrine. The various Buddhist traditions throughout history have disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly
5546-428: The good realms, and avoids rebirth in the evil realms. An important part of the early Buddhist soteriology is the four stages of awakening . With each stage, it was believed that one abandons certain mental defilements or " fetters ". Furthermore, each stage of awakening was believed to be associated with being closer to the ending of rebirth in the following manner: According to the early Buddhist texts, accepting
5640-442: The ground like a palmyra-tree, and become non-existent and not liable to spring up again in the future. The saint ... who has been released from what is styled form is deep, immeasurable, unfathomable, like the mighty ocean." The same is then said of the other aggregates. A variety of similar passages make it clear that the metaphor "gone out, he cannot be defined" ( atthangato so na pamanam eti ) refers equally to liberation in life. In
5734-599: The idea of an intermediate state. It is also a very common belief among monks and laypersons in the Theravāda world (where it is commonly referred to as the gandhabba or antarabhāva ). Ancient Buddhists as well as some moderns cite the reports of the Buddha and his disciples of having gained direct knowledge into their own past lives as well as those of other beings through a kind of parapsychological ability or extrasensory perception (termed abhiñña ). Traditional Buddhist philosophers like Dharmakīrti have defended
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#17327662483595828-579: The ideas of the Self [ atman ], the Eternal, Bliss, and the Pure, will skilfully bring forth the jewel, just like the wise person." Michael Zimmermann, in his study of the Tathagatagarbha Sutra , reveals that not only the Mahaparinirvana Sutra but also the Tathagatagarbha Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra speak affirmatively of the Self. Zimmermann observes: the existence of an eternal, imperishable self, that is, buddhahood,
5922-489: The intermediate existence which are discussed in texts like the Bardo Thodol . In contrast to this, the Theravāda scholar Buddhaghosa argued that rebirth occurs in one instant as part of a process called "rebirth-linking" ( patisandhi ). According to Buddhaghosa, at death, the sense faculties dissolve one by one until only consciousness is left. The very last moment of consciousness at death ( cuti viññana ) conditions
6016-452: The latter to imply an entity (soul) that is reborn. Buddhism denies there is any such soul or self in a living being, but does assert that there is a cycle of transmigration consisting of rebirth and redeath as the fundamental nature of existence. Before the time of the Buddha, many ideas on the nature of existence, birth and death were in vogue. The early layers of the Vedas do not mention
6110-497: The mind of the Buddha cannot be "encompassed" even by him. The Buddha and Sariputta, in similar passages, when confronted with speculation as to the status of an arahant after death, bring their interlocutors to admit that they cannot even apprehend an arahant that is alive. As Sariputta puts it, his questioner Yamaka "can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life." These passages imply that condition of
6204-486: The mind—all that is fully understood by the Tathagata. That is why he is called the Tathagata. ( Anguttara Nikaya 4:23) Modern scholarly opinion generally opines that Sanskrit grammar offers at least two possibilities for breaking up the compound word: either tathā and āgata (via a sandhi rule ā + ā → ā), or tathā and gata. Tathā means "thus" in Sanskrit and Pali, and Buddhist thought takes this to refer to what
6298-467: The night of his awakening. According to Anālayo, there is a major difference between direct access to our past lives through mental training (which is encouraged) and theoretical speculation (which is not). Some early discourses also depict various Buddhist monks who seriously misunderstood the nature of rebirth. In one discourse, the Mahatanhasankhaya sutta (MN 38, MA 201), a monk comes to
6392-426: The parents. Because of this desire and hatred, it becomes attached to the womb where it conditions the first moment of "birth existence" ( pratisamdhi ). In Tibetan Buddhism, the intermediate existence (Tibetan: bardo ) concept developed elaborate descriptions of numerous visions experienced during the process of dying, including visions of peaceful and wrathful deities. These ideas led to various maps for navigating
6486-554: The past life memories of other conscious beings in texts like the Bhayabherava Sutta (MN 4, the parallel Agama text is at Ekottara Agama 31.1) and the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14, parallel at DA 1). Another key point affirmed by the EBTs is that the series of past lives stretches so far back into the past that a beginning point cannot be found (see e.g. SN 15.3 and SA 938). In traditional Buddhist cosmology
6580-453: The possibility that someone may engage in practices related to the Buddhist path to liberation without necessarily pledging faith in rebirth. It does not leave open the possibility of denying rebirth outright, however, since that would amount to holding wrong view". Because of this, Anālayo writes that the question of rebirth may simply be set aside without going as far as to deny rebirth and affirm annihilation. An advice given in various EBTs
6674-424: The premises and concepts related to rebirth, but introduced innovations. According to various Buddhist scriptures, Buddha believed in other worlds, Since there actually is another world (any world other than the present human one, i.e. different rebirth realms), one who holds the view 'there is no other world' has wrong view... Buddha also asserted that there is karma, which influences the future suffering through
6768-583: The present life and the future life). However, their Abhidharma works also state that the 12 factors of dependent origination can be understood as active in the present moment. An important question which was debated by Indian Buddhist thinkers was the question of what exactly gets reborn, and how this is different from the Indian concept of an attā ( ātman , unchanging self), which Buddhism rejects. The early Buddhist texts sometimes speak of an "evolving consciousness " (Pali: samvattanika viññana, M .1.256) or
6862-414: The rebirth mechanism and precisely how events unfold after the moment of death. Already at the time of the Buddha there was much speculation about how to explain how rebirth occurs and how it relates to the doctrines of not-self and impermanence. After the death of the Buddha, the various Buddhist schools which arose debated numerous aspects of rebirth, seeking to provide a more systematic explanation of
6956-403: The rebirth occurs after each death. Some Buddhist traditions assert that vijñana (consciousness), though constantly changing, exists as a continuum or stream ( santana ) and is what undergoes rebirth. Some traditions like Theravada assert that rebirth occurs immediately and that no "thing" (not even consciousness) moves across lives to be reborn (though there is a causal link, like when
7050-412: The rebirth process, such as Āgati-gati , Punarbhava and others. The term Āgati literally means 'coming back, return', while Gati means 'going away' and Punarbhava means 're-becoming'. Numerous other terms for rebirths are found in the Buddhist scriptures, such as Punagamana , Punavasa , Punanivattati , Abhinibbatti , and words with roots of *jati and *rupa . According to Damien Keown ,
7144-522: The rebirth process. Important topics included the existence of the intermediate state, the exact nature of what undergoes rebirth, the relationship between rebirth and not-self, and how karma affects rebirth. Both the Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika and the Theravāda tradition interpreted the teaching of the 12 factors ( nidana ) of dependent origination by using a three life model (the previous life,
7238-453: The rebirth, also called reincarnation or metempsychosis , can be in any of the six realms of existence . These are called the Gati in cycles of re-becoming, Bhavachakra . The six realms of rebirth include three good realms: Deva (heavenly, god), Asura (demigod), and Manusya (human); and three evil realms: Tiryak (animals), Preta (ghosts), and Naraka (hellish). The realm of rebirth
7332-506: The same colour or be related to the same directions. In particular, Akshobhya and Vairocana may be switched. When represented in a Vairocana mandala, the Buddhas are arranged like this: In the earliest strata of Pali Buddhist texts , especially in the first four Nikāyas , only the following seven Buddhas, the Seven Buddhas of Antiquity ( Sattatathāgata , or "The Seven Tathāgatas"), are explicitly mentioned and named. Of these, four are from
7426-420: The seed theory, since they held an eternalist theory of time , which held that phenomena (dharmas) in the past, present and future exist. Because of this, they argued that after an action was done by a person, it still continued to exist, and to be in a state of "possession" ( prāpti ) vis a vis the mindstream ( santana ) of the person who performed the action. According to Vaibhāṣikas, it was this which guaranteed
7520-430: The seed theory. The Sautrantika school held this was a "transmigrating substratum of consciousness". It argued that each personal action "perfumes" the individual stream of consciousness and leads to the planting of a seed that would later germinate as a good or bad karmic result. This allowed them to explain what underwent the process of rebirth. The Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika school on the other hand did not make use of
7614-476: The state entered after death by someone who has attained nirvana during their lifetime. It implies a release from Saṃsāra , karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the skandhas . In some Mahāyāna scriptures, notably the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra , parinirvāṇa is described as the realm of the eternal true Self of the Buddha. In the Buddha in art , the event
7708-446: The state one is born into, the individual process of being born or coming into the world in any way, is referred to simply as "birth" (Pali/Sanskrit: jāti ). The entire universal process of beings being reborn again and again is called "wandering about" (Pali/Sanskrit: saṃsāra ). Some English-speaking Buddhists prefer the term "rebirth" or "re-becoming" (Sanskrit: punarbhava ; Pali: punabbhava ) to " reincarnation " as they take
7802-686: The term has a non-Buddhist origin, and is best understood when compared to its usage in non-Buddhist works such as the Mahabharata . Shcherbatskoy gives the following example from the Mahabharata ( Shantiparva , 181.22): "Just as the footprints of birds (flying) in the sky and fish (swimming) in water cannot be seen, Thus ( tātha ) is going ( gati ) of those who have realized the Truth." The French author René Guénon , in an essay distinguishing between Pratyēka-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas , writes that
7896-506: The texts allow us to reach an answer...the Buddha did believe in rebirth." As noted by Anālayo, a standard definition of wrong view in the EBTs "explicitly covers the denial of rebirth and the fruition of karma". The denial of rebirth is rejected as an "annihilationist" view in the Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1, Chinese parallel at DA 21, a Tibetan parallel also exists). The Samaññaphala Sutta (parallel at DA 27) also critiques
7990-432: The truth of rebirth (glossed as the view that "there is this world & the next world" in suttas like MN 117) is part of right view, the first element of the noble eight-fold path . While some scholars like Tilmann Vetter and Akira Hirakawa have questioned whether the Buddha saw rebirth as important, Johannes Bronkhorst argues that these views are based on scant evidence from the EBTs. He further writes that "in so far as
8084-464: The various orders of beings, their being born, descent into the womb, production, the manifestation of the aggregates, the obtaining of the sense bases." The early Buddhist conception of rebirth is one in which consciousness is always dependent on other factors, mainly name and form ( nama-rupa ) which refers to the physical body and various cognitive elements (such as feeling , perception and volition ). Because of this, consciousness ( viññana )
8178-491: The verb meaning "come, arrive". In this interpretation, Tathāgata means literally either "the one who has gone to suchness" or "the one who has arrived at suchness". Another interpretation, proposed by the scholar Richard Gombrich, is based on the fact that, when used as a suffix in compounds, -gata will often lose its literal meaning and signifies instead "being". Tathāgata would thus mean "one like that", with no motion in either direction. According to Fyodor Shcherbatskoy ,
8272-510: The very first instant of consciousness of the next life, the patisandhi viññana , which occurs at the time of conception. The relationship is compared to that between a seal and wax. While they are not the same entity, the wax impression is conditioned by the seal. Therefore, in the classic Theravāda view, nothing actually transmigrates. In spite of the rejection of the intermediate state by such an influential figure, some modern Theravāda scholars (such as Balangoda Ananda Maitreya ) have defended
8366-410: The view of a school of ancient Indian materialism called Carvaka (which rejected rebirth and held that "all are destroyed at death"). According to this Sutta, to hold this view while living in a time when the Buddha's teachings are available is equivalent to being born dumb and dull. However, Anālayo argues that since there are different definitions of right view in the early texts, this "leaves open
8460-592: The work of the American Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson as providing possible evidence of rebirth. This is not just a recent phenomenon. According to Anālayo, ancient Chinese Buddhists also pointed to anomalous phenomena such as NDEs to argue for the truth of rebirth. Furthermore, according to Roger R. Jackson, the Indian Buddhist philosopher Śāntarakṣita (725–788) argues in his Tattvasaṅgraha that newborn children exhibit
8554-474: Was adopted and further developed by the Yogacara school into their doctrine of the "container consciousness" ( alaya-vijñana ), which is a subliminal and constantly changing stream of consciousness that stores the seeds and undergoes rebirth. Asanga 's Mahāyānasaṃgraha equated the alaya-vijñana with similar teachings found in other Buddhist schools which indicates that the idea of a rebirth consciousness
8648-572: Was also criticized by northern Buddhist philosophers like Vasubandhu. Another topic which gave rise to much debate among Indian Buddhists was the idea of the intermediate existence ( antarabhāva ). According to Andre Bareau, the Indian Buddhist schools were split on this issue. While the Sarvāstivāda , Sautrantika, Pudgalavada, Pūrvaśaila and late Mahīśāsaka accepted this doctrine, the Mahāsāṃghika , early Mahīśāsaka , Theravāda , Vibhajyavāda and
8742-561: Was compared to how a flame is transferred from one candle to another. Various Indian Buddhist schools like the Sautrantika , Mahasamghika and the Mahasisaka held that the karmic link between lives could be explained by how karmic effects arose out of "seeds" which were deposited in a mental substratum. The Sautrantika Elder Srilata defended the theory of a "subsidiary element" ( anudhatu or * purvanudhatu ) which corresponds to
8836-653: Was widespread. He states that this is the same idea which is called "root-consciousness" ( mula-vijñana ) by the Mahasamghika schools and what the Sthavira schools call the bhavaṅga . According to Lobsang Dargyay, the Prāsaṇgika branch of the Madhyamaka school (which is exemplified by the philosopher Chandrakirti ), attempted to refute every concept for a support or a storehouse of karmic information (including
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