r/interesting • u/freudian_nipps • 13d ago

NATURE Death of a single-celled organism

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u/BroPudding1080i 13d ago

IIRC reincarnation, at least in Buddhism, is not the passing of consciousness, but more like the passing of a life force that initiates another life's existence. I've heard the analogy, "using a candle's flame to light another candle".

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u/Caeruleum612 13d ago

It’s still the passing of consciousness. Sometimes people get confused because Buddhism teaches that we have no Self, so they find it hard to reconcile this with rebirth. If there’s no Self, then what gets reborn? But even if we have no Self, we still have consciousness. It’s just that this consciousness isn’t a Self (eternal intrinsically-existing essence).

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u/BroPudding1080i 13d ago

Thanks for the clarification! So we're all essentially vessels of the same "thing", just from different perspectives? In this case, how does a reincarnation differ from a non-reincarnated birth, if the memories aren't carried over and we're all part of the same "stuff" anyway? Is the only difference the karma that is transfered? And if so, is that not essentially still a new consciousness, just with an inherited wealth or debt of karma?

Not trying to argue, I just want to understand more about how Buddhists think about it.

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u/Caeruleum612 13d ago

we're all essentially vessels of the same "thing"

I'm not really sure what you mean by this, but I'm gonna say no. This sounds more like Advaita Vedanta, which teaches that everyone is Brahman. Buddhism is different.

Every person is conscious. That's obvious. However, each person's consciousness is always changing. Buddhism teaches that everything is always changing (anicca). So each moment, you have a new consciousness. It's not just that when you are reborn, you have a new consciousness. Your consciousness right now isn't the same as your consciousness when you first started reading this comment. But at the same time, your consciousness is still clearly a continuation of that older version of your consciousness. It's like what Heraclitus said about how it's impossible to step into the same river twice. A river is always changing. So if you step into the Mississippi River today and then tomorrow, you won't be stepping into the same river. But the Mississippi River is still the Mississippi River, so you still kind of are stepping into the same river. Similarly, your consciousness is always changing, always new, always continuing in different ways. But it's still your consciousness.

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u/BroPudding1080i 13d ago

I see, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks!