Talk:Reincarnation

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The discussion of reincarnation in Buddhism needs to be expanded and differentiated from the others. Buddhism explicitly denies the existence of the soul, so reincarnation in the sense found in New Age approaches and in some traditional religions is quite impossible in Buddhism. Buddhism does nonetheless involve reincarnation, but what is reincarnated is rather subtle.Billposer (talk) 10:01, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Within Buddhism, there are different views. For example, I am not sure if the Tibetan notion of a tulkuWikipedia is recognized in the canons of other lineages. My ignorance is boundless, so I have not much to offer... Sprocket J Cogswell (talk) 16:43, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
Tibetan Buddhism has many differences from other branches of Buddhism, partly due to the influence of Bön. Mainstream Buddhism generally views the process of reincarnation as follows (and as far as I remember it): the soul/spirit/whatchamacallit is composed of different parts, each of which leave the body at death to become parts of the spirit of new living things elsewhere. Anything you do in your life affects the quality of these parts; and they may end up in more or less positive destinations. I must emphasise that this is an extremely broad and general view of the topic, and there are many nuances and differing opinions withing Buddhist thought. SophieWilder 17:04, 9 December 2012 (UTC)


Druze reincarnation should be added to the article. The Druze is middle eastern religion in which reincarnation is a central aspect. They believe the number of souls is constant, i.e. no population increase, and that when a person dies the soul instantly transfer to a newborn. It is very popular for its"Notk'" phenomena, where small kids allegedly recollect memories of past lives. There are countless stories where a kid allegedly locates his past life, when this happens the two families often meet in person. Most Druze will tell you the kids remember their past lives with starling accuracy. Some researchers think otherwise.

The Pkunk of the old game Star Control II had it right: only people who were in the past someone famous/with power (a Pharaoh, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand...) reincarnate. The others simply... cease to exist. --Panzerfaust (talk) 22:40, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Gods and reincarnation[edit]

Could god(desse)s and other such entities reincarnate - and what would they become? Would 'local European gods being transformed into saints' count? Anna Livia (talk) 22:33, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

Roman von Ungern-Sternberg[edit]

Should there be some mention of him? Not your usual claim as to previous incarnations. Anna Livia (talk) 16:48, 10 September 2019 (UTC)

Question[edit]

As there are various forms/belief systems - does reincarnation happen immediately or can there be gaps between one 'appearance' and the next? Anna Livia (talk) 16:48, 10 September 2019 (UTC)

TVTropes Trivia part of article states...[edit]

"Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: The article on reincarnation claims that the stories of past lives are obviously false because people always claim to be famous historical figures instead of ordinary people, and none ever give verifiable details of their past lives. Both are entirely untrue. The majority with past life memories do not claim that, and there are many cases where verifiable claims are made." What say anyone else? N. Harmonik (talk) 23:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

I would guess that there may well be people who do not actually claim to be someone famous. But I have some doubt about the "verifiable facts".
Nevertheless, you have made the claim they exist. Could you give a few examples and remember to include the verifiable details they have provided? And which could not have come from any other source apart from the past life. Though now I think about it, that might be difficult to demonstrate.
But - what have you got?Bob"Life is short and (insert adjective)" 16:27, 29 June 2022 (UTC)
Sorry. I think misread you. You are saying that tvtropes makes that claim about our article?
Then I have other problems. Your TV tropes link doesn't make that claim. And our article doesn't make the claim "... people always claim to be famous historical figures". So I'm somewhat confused. (or maybe more confused.)Bob"Life is short and (insert adjective)" 10:00, 30 June 2022 (UTC)
Never mind, that edit got removed. N. Harmonik (talk) 12:59, 2 July 2022 (UTC)