Yes there are Buddhists who interpret reincarnation not in its traditional sense but as passing on the flame from one candle to another. i.e. "you" will not be coming back in another person, but some essence of you will influence the next generation.
What difference does that make? If ANYTHING comes back, you have reincarnation.
And just what is this "flame" anyway? What do you think comes back?
Furthermore, since we were discussing logical belief systems, reincarnation is far more logical belief than heaven and hell.
No, its not. The discussion below will deal with this.
Any objective measure of a person requires to look at them under myriad of situations. You would not have behaved the same as you do today if you had been born into war-torn Sierra Leon or if you were born in the opposite sex or so on. So it is neither logical nor fair to condemn a person to an eternity in hell based on a very limited sample of their essence.
Of course, the judge doing the deciding would know all of that and more.
Also, if its unfair to judge in regard to heaven or hell, its equally unfair to judge in regard to future incarnated lives.
To top all that off, heaven and hell are reward and punishments bestowed by an imaginary dictator in the sky.
And karma is a system of reward and punishments bestowed by something not described, but which is still equally dictatorial.
Whereas Nirvana is something that is achieved by you when you have cast away your impurities.
And it is a reward bestowed by an undescribed something which determines when your impurities have been cast away. After all, one couldn't judge this oneself or everyone could so hold themselves up as pure right now.
Nor is a worse reincarnation a "punishment" per se
Of course it is.
, but a natural consequence of you polluting your soul.
Just as is hell.
So you tell me, which belief system is more logical?
Neither is more or less logical or illogical. One simply personifies the thing doing the judging, the other doesn't.
Oh yes, one belief system says the judge loves humanity, enough to become incarnated himself and suffer vicariously for humanity. The other declares that love is an impurity to be shed. |
