For People Who Don't Believe in Rebirth...
Hello again, I was surprised at the response of my previous thread. I was hesitating whether I should continue to post, but I thought I would because I had this in my mind since a few weeks ago.
I keep hearing about people who say they do not believe in rebirth and have trouble trying to 'align with buddhism', having come from a religious background.
I'd say that I was a complete atheist. Show me the proof, I would say. But here's the thing. You don't really need to believe in a future-life to start practising Buddhism.
I'd like to introduce you to a small part of the core Buddhist teachings, something that I recently understood the difference between.
Becoming VS Birth
Becoming (Bhava) and Birth (Jati) are two very different things.
Maybe you do know the difference, but I was dumb so I didn't know it until recently. Knowing this certainly changed my understanding. This originates from the teaching of Dependent Origination (Paticca-Samuppāda). The Buddha once famously said,
"Who sees Dependent Origination also sees the Dharma".
So this tells you how important understanding every single factor within Dependent Origination is. For da newbies who don't know what is happening, here is a picture of what Dependent Origination is: http://www.khunreinhard.com/picskr/do-en-small.jpg (random pic from Google)
In short, Dependent Origination tells you: How did we come to suffer? What are the causes for suffering? What are the causes for rebirth? Why do we exist?
But here's the thing.
If you don't want to believe in rebirth, you don't really need to.
At least for now.
Maybe in the future rebirth makes more sense to you. But you are perfectly welcome not to believe in it for now.
I'd like to introduce something that happens before "Rebirth" (Jati), which is "Becoming" (Bhava). The Buddha explained Bhava as such:
"Thus kamma is the field, consciousness the seed, and craving the moisture. The consciousness of living beings hindered by ignorance & fettered by craving is established in/tuned to a refined property. Thus there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. This is how there is becoming (bhava)."
Note that the Buddha here did not talk about Jati which means rebirth. He meant "becoming". Let me try and explain the difference and the significance of "becoming".
"Becoming" can also be translated as "Existence". The Buddha subdivided this into three sub-types:
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That of desire (hell-beings, hungry-ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, devas)
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That of form (devas, brahmas, non-returners)
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That of formlessness
But does "becoming" actually mean that you become a supernatural being? No! It tells you your inclination and the current development of your personality that is made up of habits.
For example, if you are constantly angry, every time you are angry, you are turning yourself into a hell-being, right here, right now, burning in the "fires of anger".
If you are constantly giving in to lustfulness, then you are reinforcing habits of being a greedy-ghost. If you are constantly giving in to delusion, then you are reinforcing habits of being an animal.
We see it everyday in the human-world.
Why does one person act more like an animal than others? One person may rape a woman, another may kill a person out of rage, another may attack another due to aggression.
How are we different from animals in such a manner, who live on a basis of fight-or-flight, guarding territory, hunting for food and mating with lustfulness?
This is what it means by "becoming".
Slowly, you are 'becoming' this archetype, marked by a dominant affliction. If you are marked with superiority, pride and arrogance, then you are 'becoming' an Asura (angry god). If you are marked with hedonism, indulging in pleasure, then you are 'becoming' a deva (demigod).
What creates 'becoming'?
The Buddha taught that 'clinging' creates 'becoming'.
'Craving' creates 'clinging'.
Feelings of pleasure and pain create craving.
Being in contact with the sense-objects creates feelings of pleasure and pain.
So here is the problem...
Upon contact with sense-objects, what do you do?
If you choose to cling onto it with hateful or lustful attachment, this will lead you to create a certain "personality", a certain "becoming", made of habits.
We do not magically turn into someone else overnight. It is a successive thing with constant reinforcement.
The key is to recognize what is going wrong when we have contact with sense-objects. The moment we have a contact with sense-objects, we need to do the right thing.
What is the right method?
Firstly, "look".
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What is vision made out of? Merely COLORS.
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What are sounds made out of? Merely VIBRATIONS.
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What are tastes, smells and touches made out of? Merely SENSATIONS.
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What is a thought made out of? Colors, Sounds and Sensations!
Secondly, contemplate: Can any of these be pleasurable or painful?
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Can a color "blue" be pleasurable or painful?
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Can a vibration of sound be pleasurable or painful?
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Can a specific sensation on a sense-organ be pleasurable or painful?
If you answered "yes", then what is it that makes it pleasurable or painful? The answer is the mind. The Buddha remarked in the Dhammapada:
"The mind is the forerunner of all things."
Therefore, sensations are all without any feelings. They are neutral. The mind is what assigns pleasure or pain, and is also what creates pleasure and pain - not the sense objects.
Thirdly, contemplate: Does my method of gaining satisfaction work?
Currently, we gain satisfaction by trying to grasp onto certain conditions of sense-objects. But we do not know that happiness itself is produced by the mind, and it is also temporary. Therefore, trying to seize happiness is not the fault of sense-objects, but the fault of the mind itself.
Can the color "blue" give you satisfaction?
Can sensations give you satisfaction?
The only reason why they give you satisfaction is because the mind only allows itself to be satisfied when it experiences things it wants to experience. It gives permission slips to everything else.
But here's the secret...
The mind does not actually need permission-slips to feel satisfied. It alone is the runner of the show. It alone is the boss. It alone determines satisfaction. If it decides that it does not need sense-objects to feel satiation, it can very well do so.
The Cessation of Grasping Due to Futility
When we clearly realize the principle that all sense-objects do not have feelings, and that feelings come solely from our own mind, then this becomes crystal clear.
Suddenly, you feel a bit foolish.
Why am I looking at colors (arranged in a pattern of an attractive person) and thinking these colors are pleasurable to me? Why am I treating vibrations like they are the only thing that can provide happiness to me?
Gradually, you start to see our insanity.
Our insanity is that we do not realize that our minds can be satisfied without sense-objects. Our minds are insane, because it believes that it must be satiated by an external thing.
When you see this, everything crumbles away. The endeavour of lust, anger and delusion seems worthless.
It is as if you have been craving for air or tasteless wax. It is nonsensical and ridiculous. I let out a huge belly laugh when I realized how ridiculous the whole thing was. I hope you too, realize this.
Satisfaction can be found right here, without any need for external objects. This satisfaction is also the foundation that grows into joy and bliss, then to tranquility and silencing of thoughts, and then culminating in imperturbability against pleasure or pain.
Gradually, as you see it more and more, applying this realization again and again in everyday affairs, your mind loosens up from all kinds of "bondages".
Or at least that's just how I see it... Hope you enjoyed my sharing. :)
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