[Buddha-l] Re: Magic

[curt]

Joy Vriens wrote:
>> Also, we forgot the non-rebirth was imposed after a hard therapy which 
>> started in 5th century and arriving until 18th century.
>>     
>
> If you look at it from a slightly different perspective, there was a concept of "rebirth" even in the official dogma of the Catholic church. There is some sort of 4 gati system: earth, hell, purgatory and heaven. What the rebirth doctrine and Christian dogma share is some sort of an immortal soul. Buddhism can try to explain away that idea, but it will only convince those who accept those explanations. Mostly Buddhists.
>
>
>   
Technically, rebirth does not require an "immortal" soul - merely one 
that "survives" more than one physical birth. Therefore it requires no 
more continuity of consciousness/essense (or only slightly more) than we 
already assume (at least conventionally) by assuming that "I" am the 
same person (more or less) that "I" was yesterday. This is even more the 
case when "rebirth" is viewed, as it is by many Buddhists and Hindus, 
not as a never-ending process, but as something that does eventually cease.

An always-changing "self" that persists for only a limited amount of 
time is all that is needed for rebirth - there is no need for an 
unchanging, immortal soul.

- Curt