Did the Buddha teach literal rebirth?

 

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 death of a mother … father … brother … sister … son … daughter … loss of relatives … loss of wealth … or loss through illness. From being coupled with the unloved and separated from the loved, the flow of tears you’ve shed while roaming and transmigrating is indeed more than the water in the four oceans.

Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.””— SN 15.3, bhikkhu Sujato translation

“At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!”

“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. … One individual roaming and transmigrating for an eon would amass a heap of bones the size of this Mount Vepulla, if they were gathered together and not lost. 

Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

“If the bones of a single individualfor a single eon were gathered up,they’d make a pile the size of a mountain:so said the great seer.

And this is declared to beas huge as Mount Vepulla, higher than the Vulture’s Peakin the Magadhan mountain range.

But then, with right understanding,one sees the noble truths—suffering, suffering’s origin,suffering’s transcendence,and the noble eightfold paththat leads to the stilling of suffering.

After roaming on seven times at most,that individualmakes an end of suffering,with the ending of all fetters.”” — SN 15.10, bhikkhu Sujato translation

“At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī.

“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving. When you see someone in a sorry state, in distress, you should conclude: ‘In all this long time, we too have undergone the same thing.’ Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”— SN 15.11, bhikkhu Sujato translation

“The Buddha said this:

“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.

What do you think? Which is more: the flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating for such a very long time, or the water in the four oceans?”

“As we understand the Buddha’s teaching, the flow of blood we’ve shed when our head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating is more than the water in the four oceans.”

“Good, good, mendicants! It’s good that you understand my teaching like this. The flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating is indeed more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you’ve been cows, and the flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off as a cow is more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you’ve been buffalo … sheep … goats … deer … chickens … pigs … For a long time you’ve been bandits, arrested for raiding villages, highway robbery, or adultery. And the flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off as a bandit is more than the water in the four oceans.

Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”

That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said. And while this discourse was being spoken, the minds of the thirty mendicants from Pāvā were freed from defilements by not grasping.”— SN 15.13, bhikkhu Sujato translation

 

“At Sāvatthī.

“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. … It’s not easy to find a sentient being who in all this long time has not previously been your mother.

Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.””— SN 15.14, bhikkhu Sujato translation


 

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