Ancient afterlife beliefs

  Did the Buddha teach literal rebirth? Part 2 [1] In this post, I’ll provide other evidence that the Buddha, indeed, taught literal rebirth. In particular, the one of the main reason why he taught rebirth is that this teaching makes quite clear that our actions matter : there is no way that we can ‘escape’ the good or bad consequences of our good or bad actions. However, it should be noted that, according to the Buddha, it seems that merits and demerits do not lead to Liberation (we can’t ‘earn’ liberation). Only ‘insight’ can lead us to that. The doctrine and the ‘recollection’ of karma According to the ‘Pali suttas’ (the discourses preserved in the Theravada traditions), the Buddha taught that both lay and ordained disciples should contemplate about the topic of karma [2] (‘kamma’ in the Pali language) in this way: “ A woman or a man, a householder or one gone forth, should often reflect thus: ‘I am the owner of my kamma, the heir of my kamma; I have kamma as my origin,...

 On the nature of Nibbana (Nirvana) in the Theravada Tradition This post might be subject to some revision in the future (e.g. correcting links, checking sources and so on) When confronted with the Theravada Buddhist's teaching about Nirvana (Nibbana in the Pali language), i.e. the final goal of spiritual practice, many people seem convinced that the Theravada tradition teaches that Nirvana is non-existence, or the mere absence of defilments and the mere cessation of the cycle of death and rebirth. Below, I'll present evidence to the contrary, quoting also traditional Theravada commentaries that seem to say that Nirvana is not merely non-existence.  SUTTAS: ““Bhikkhus, I will teach you the unconditioned and the path leading to the unconditioned. Listen to that…. And what, bhikkhus, is the unconditioned? The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion: this is called the unconditioned” ““Bhikkhus, I will teach you the uninclined and the path lead...

  Did the Buddha teach literal rebirth? This is an unanswerable question if one desires the level of certainty that, for instance, is associated to a scientific discovery. However, based on the written testimonies of his teachings, the only, in my opinion, sensible conclusion that one gets is that he indeed taught literal rebirth and, most importantly, he taught that rebirth was a strong motivator for practice in order to achieve Nirvana (or ‘Nibbana’ in the Pali Canon). There are very many passages that one can quote from the discourses attributed to the Buddha, but the point is made especially clear in the discourses contained in the fifteenth collection of the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon. I’ll quote some examples (some are quite graphic): ““Good, good, mendicants! It’s good that you understand my teaching like this. The flow of tears you’ve shed while roaming and transmigrating is indeed more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you’ve undergone the deat...