Knowra Rebirth in Buddhism Rebirth in Buddhism Rebirth is the continuation of conditioned existence across lives within saṃsāra. Karma shapes this process, but Buddhism denies that an enduring self passes from one life to the next.
Karma in Buddhism : Intentional actions and their consequences shape experience and future conditions in Buddhist traditions. Karma conditions the circumstances of rebirth without acting as a substance transferred between lives.
Saṃsāra : The cycle of birth, death, and renewed existence shaped by ignorance, craving, and karma. Rebirth is one occurrence within this larger cycle of conditioned existence.
Reincarnation : The belief that a soul or enduring personal essence is embodied again after death. Buddhist rebirth rejects the enduring soul that reincarnation commonly presupposes.
Early Buddhist texts : The earliest surviving collections of Buddhist teachings, preserved in several textual traditions. They contain foundational teachings on karma, rebirth, and the cessation of renewed existence.
Merit in Buddhism : Wholesome karmic potential cultivated through ethical conduct, generosity, and religious practice in Buddhist traditions. Merit is commonly understood to support favorable conditions in future births.
Dependent origination : The Buddhist teaching that phenomena arise through interdependent causes and conditions. It explains how a new birth can arise from prior conditions without an enduring self.
Nirvana : The Buddhist liberation from greed, hatred, and delusion, ending the conditions that sustain suffering and renewed birth. Nirvana ends the causes of rebirth rather than providing a better rebirth.
Pudgalavāda : An early Buddhist school that affirmed a person, or pudgala, as neither identical to nor wholly separate from the aggregates. Its account of the person was developed partly to address continuity and responsibility across lives.
Pāli Canon : The principal scriptural collection of Theravāda Buddhism, preserved in the Pāli language. Its discourses and analytical texts preserve influential early accounts of rebirth and causal continuity.
Buddhist cosmology : Buddhist models of multiple realms of existence shaped by karma and the cycle of rebirth. It maps possible destinations within saṃsāra and relates them to karmic conditions.
Show all 26