emotional

It's a true question, not some kind of joke or setup, as the Basic Beliefs field in your profile is empty.

Milton

That would only be true if emotional had not been in discussions with me before. I have been posting on a daily basis for the past week or more. I have posted more than ten times, I am sure, in threads where my Christianity should have been obvious. (At least the idea that I believe in the Christian God, if nothing else.)

Milton

It's just that I have posted several times, and I expected you to already know this.

triplew00t

I would love to become a Zen Buddhist, but all of the ones I know of believe, in some form or another, in reincarnation and the continuation of life after death. If you know of any specific school that denies this, please let me know.

Nero

kalamasutta

While it is true that rebirth/reincarnation forms a backdrop to the buddhist faith, at least as it manifests as a "Religion", there are fundamental texts that advocate what in practice is an agnostic position.................for example Majjhima Nikaya, Suttas 2 and 63, from the Theravada tradition.

".................shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I become in the future.............." According to the texts, such questions are "attending unwisely" and will inevitably lead to wrong views. "Attending wisely" is to consider....."this is suffering"......."this is the origin of suffering"........."this is the cessation of suffering"......."this is the way that leads to the cessation of suffering". This is in accord with the words of the Buddha........"I teach this and this alone, suffering and the ending of suffering".

"After death a Buddha exists - I have left undeclared. After death a Buddha does not exist - I have left undeclared. After death a Buddha both exists and does not exist - I have left undeclared. After death a buddha neither exists nor does not exist - I have left undelcared. And why............because it is unbenificial, it does not belong to the fundamentals of the holy life............"

Personally I would agree with the words of the Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor who is an agnostic towards "rebirth"............he states that such teachings are all part of the "metaphysics of hope and fear"..........."Agnosticism is no excuse for indecision. if anything, it is a catalyst for action; for in shifting concern away from a future life and back to the present, it demands an ethics of empathy rather than a metaphysics of hope and fear." (Buddhism Without Beliefs"

(As far as Zen is concerned, what seems fundamental would agree with the texts above.............. a refusal to affirm or deny, both attitudes being part of the dual world of thought that must be "transcended" .........in favour of living in the here and now with total awareness)

Derek

andy_d

It's a central principle of Buddhism that it is not required to take on any beliefs or ideas which do not ring true to your own judgement.

You can be a Buddhist and not believe in rebirth. In fact, it would be closer to the teachings of the historical Buddha to discount rebirth if you had doubts than it would be to believe in it simply because it is traditional.

I personally have no damn clue what happens when we die, and know a lot of other Buddhists who don't either

kalamasutta

Yet the Buddha was not a strict agnostic himself. He did claim to know many things.....but these he saw and understood with direct insight and understanding. His attitude seemed to be that until the causes of suffering/dukkha were eradicated within us then our beliefs/wishes/assumptions would merely be predjudices based upon desire, ignorance and conditioning.

Rusting Car Bumper

You need to differentiate between religious taoists and philosophical ones.

Philosophical ones would find the idea of an afterlife to generally be laughable.

Religious ones, which in my mind is a perversion of the intent of the writings, offer claims of immorality and reincarnation.

DC

tribalbeeyatch

While it is convenient to lump the various schools of Buddhism, it often leads to misunderstanding. There are great differences between some of them, especially with respect to 'mystical beliefs'.

kctan

IIRC, Daoism only have immortality. No reincarnation.

Reincarnation & immortality (both at the same time) is something most likely practised by followers of Daoism which got mixed with Buddhism. How you would classify such practisioners is up to you.