There are six realms in Buddhism (mostly Tibetan Buddhism) into which one may be reborn. These are the realms of
- gods (through pride)
- demi-gods (through jealousy)
- humans (through lust)
- animals (through ignorance)
- hungry ghosts (through greed)
- hell-denizens (through hatred)
As you can see, rebirth is not a good thing. Westerners often mistake rebirth to be a positive notion. This partly has to do with shared terminology with Hinduism and Jainism (religions existent at the same time and place as Buddhism), and partly to the lack of any concept that is similar to it in Western cultures.
To be clear,
- the goal of Buddhism is to end rebirth (reincarnation) and
- enlightenment is the state in which all future rebirths have been extinguished.
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It is a zen story.
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I forget what Sage wrote this or put this down in his writings or something like that. There is a story a Buddhist story or something, parable or something I don’t know anyways…
If two people who were in lightened where to meet, they would not be able to recognize that the other person was in lightened.
I think this is the pitta me, the culmination of the idea of being in lightened. Which is to say that one no longer is born again into the fixation of identities, because that person becomes all identities given the condition that arises for that person to exist. Because this is the enlightened condition, on one hand, as again a Buddhist saying goes, when one becomes enlightened, they realize that there’s no such thing as enlightenment.
And this is to say that one cannot communicate what being in lightened is in the realm of identities. Because to do so contradicts the meaning of the intention behind the position, or from the position of being enlightened.
Enlightenment is kind of like a “happy mistake”. I kind a faux pas in consciousness, a conundrum of thought realized and it’s every moment. Because if I was in lightened, there would be nothing I could say to you which would allow you to believe that I was enlightened, except that you are not enlightened, And have this idea that this person before you is indeed or has become enlightened.
But that is ridiculous. Because to Ceace rebirth, or to trans send return, One no longer exists to be able to communicate anything and it’s truth to someone who is not enlightened.
From there we can move into a whole Nother realm of Buddhist talks. But it would take that particular condition in order to even speak about them.
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