If there is no self, what is reborn? | Buddhist FAQ

On this episode of Buddhist FAQ, we answer the question, "If there is no self, what is reborn?"

Rebirth is one of Buddhism's most frequently discussed and misunderstood topics.

If you want to really understand the Buddhist view of rebirth, you have to know what Buddhism teaches about self and not-self.

The simple answer is that the same thing is reborn in death that was reborn every moment of your life: your mind.

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[krumplethemal]

Let me simplify this.
The Buddha never said there is no self. Nope. He said there is no permanent unchanging thing called the self.
You should see the subtle difference here. There is a self, however; it is in constant flux, it is constantly changing. I'll show you.
Take the being you were at age five years old. Compare it to the being you are now. Are they the same? No. It is as if they are two separate beings. The ONLY thing that bridges the two is memory. If we were to remove the memory, you would have NO way to link the five year old you, and the you now.
This is the self.
Let me show you another way.
Lets take a river. When we give a river a name, what is it we are naming?
is it the water? no.. because the water is constantly changing, it is never the same water from moment to moment.
is it the channel in which the water flows? no. because if the water were gone, would we still call it a river? No.
It is the culmination and combination of elements together then we call a river. The water and the channel.
The water in this analogy is the self.
The channel in this analogy is the karma body.
The water is forced to follow the channel (karma)
However; the water can also change the course of the channel given enough time and effort.
Karma is not fixed, it can be changed.
This is the self, not permeant. It flows, evaporates, returns as rain, and becomes a river. Rince and repeat.

[lerinarazafy]

The content is nice.The music is an extra exercise in endurance and letting go . 🙂

[denijunior]

Loved the explanation! I'm even more confused now, but it was very elucidative

[ananda_miaoyin]

"May He who illuminated this, illuminate me."
And may the benefit of your explanation and the merit of it benefit all.
Namaste.

[AlanPhan]

TLDR: Buddhism rejects the concept of an unchanging soul and teaches that the self is constantly changing and made up of several parts, with rebirth being a constant process of change, not just about death.

1. 00:00 🧘 Your mind is reborn during death, the same way it was reborn every moment of your life.


2. 01:52 🧘 The concept of the soul as an unchanging part of you that feels your feelings and does your actions is rejected in Buddhism.


3. 03:29 🤔 Our concept of "I" can refer to the body, mind, or ownership, but in Buddhism, the components of "I" are divided into body, thoughts/feelings, and awareness.


4. 05:05 🧘 Awareness and thoughts are interdependent, with Buddhist philosophy explaining that the self is not a permanent part of you, as it is constantly changing and awareness is like a blank movie screen with thoughts being projected onto it.
4.1 Awareness and thoughts depend on each other for existence, like the two sides of a coin.
4.2 Buddhist philosophy explains that the self is not an unchanging part of you, as the body, thoughts, and feelings constantly change and disappear, while awareness is compared to a blank movie screen with thoughts being projected onto it.

5. 07:08 📽 Awareness is constantly changing, from one experience to another, and there is nothing left to analyze.


6. 08:57 🤔 Buddhism teaches that we have a self, but not an unchanging soul, as the self is constantly changing and made up of several parts.


7. 10:51 🔄 Rebirth in Buddhism is the constant process of change, not just about death, and is interpreted literally in every school of Buddhism.


8. 12:15 🔁 Rebirth in Buddhism is not tied to a specific self, and there are even sutras about aliens practicing Buddhism.

[mukundlimaye]

Lord was silent because he always recommends development of Pradnya (panna) through self realisation with self efforts.
He never believed in readymade answers, which one has no experience of.
So go ahead, Do Vipassana, dive in Deep and find for yourself. 🙏
Namo Buddhay

[FrancisFurtak]

Ātman is a Sanskrit word that refers to the Self or self-existent essence of individuals, as distinct from ego, mind and embodied existence. The term is often translated as soul, but is better translated as "Self, " as it solely refers to pure consciousness or witness-consciousness, beyond identification with phenomena.

[krzysztofrudnicki]

When I was young I went on alone walk in the forest at night. The forest was near my village, and it was familiar.
I was walking through the paths enjoying the way when I saw two eyes on the tree branch.
When I came closer in the light of my headlamp I saw an owl. The bird was sitting comfortably chilling with his stuff. I was standing there admiring the beautifulness of the nature, but after a while I decided that I'll meditate next to this animal.
I was sitting there for some time when I heard a noise nearby. After few seconds I heard barking and then two dogs came sniffing me.
I looked at the owl and asked:
- Who let the dogs out?
-Who who who who - owl replied.

[KuldeepChauhan]

Why does this channel have so less subscribers ! The video has apt editing and the narrator has a beautiful voice.

[charliepupper]

“The only thing that doesn’t change is that everything is always changing”

[wordscapes]

Thanks, but you need to ask yourself, “Is the soundtrack REALLY necessary?” Namo Buddhaya.

[Aryachettri]

Sorry to say this but necessary, for this kind of video doesn't require loud background music. If you want to put them, please let it be with less volume. Thank you.

[siddhanttelang]

Buddha is One of the " Greatest Scientist " ever .

Namo Buddhay .

[fanyijian]

Hey I like the content of the video. I hope the background music can change or mute because I feel that it doesn't match the theme.

[PabloVestory]

How could something that never changes feel, learn or guide anything?

[lululididelidi]

super nice but couldnt hear it properly due to strange background music, but thanks

[mujaku]

It's very clear from the Buddhist canon that what transmigrates from birth to rebirth is vijñāna/viññāṇa, not ātman. "With the cessation of name-and-form there is the cessation of consciousness (viññāṇanirodho). This noble eightfold path is the way leading to the cessation of consciousness; that is, right view […] right samadhi". (S. iii. 64) Nalakalapiyo Sutta

[chriselwell]

Makes me laugh. Round and round explanations then contradictions, even the monks can't agree between themselves. Secret of life is there is no secret. Just LOVE.

[MrTetsukobu]

This is a XXI century explanation of the mistery. The cloud of electrons you are, was never born and for this reason it will never die. It will lose cohesion, and scatter all over the universe.

[elinope]

I am myself. You have to redefine "self" in order to deny it. But redefining doesn't erase the old definition. There is a form of "self" that obviously does exist even if some other form doesn't.

A ton of religious arguments are really semantics arguments about the definition of words.