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EMBODIMENT AND REBIRTH IN THE BUDDHIST AND HINDU TRADITIONS
Author(s) -
Gosling David L.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/zygo.12049
Subject(s) - hinduism , buddhism , doctrine , interdependence , epistemology , sociology , philosophy , religious studies , aesthetics , social science , theology
The belief that humans are more than their bodies is to a large extent represented in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions by the notion of rebirth, the main difference being that the former envisages a more corporeal continuing entity than the latter. The author has studied the manner in which exposure to science at a postgraduate level impinges on belief in rebirth at universities and institutes in India and Thailand. Many Hindu and Buddhist scientists tend to believe less in a reincarnating entity because of their scientific work, but Buddhists can point to their empty self doctrine, which has resonances with models of an extended self, rejecting the notion of a core self ( anattā ) and replacing it with a system of interdependent parts ( paṭicca samuppāda ), which governs previous and future lives.