Introduction
From the topic of debate related to rebirth, discussed in the last chapter, with the present chapter Imove on to evidence adduced in support of rebirth in modern times. This is of course contested ground, and those who affirm just as those who reject rebirth are equally prone to read confirmation of their respective beliefs into the data, seen as either proving rebirth beyond doubt or else being insufficient to draw any type of conclusion that might question the current scientific paradigm, according to which the mind is a product of the brain.
In what follows my aim is to present a balanced survey of the main relevant contributions. I introduce each topic with a brief reference to a comparable phenomenon known from the history of Buddhist and other religious traditions in order to establish the continuity of such topics since ancient times, in line with what emerged in the previous chapter. Due to the mass of information available, I am only able to give brief summaries; in fact, even doing just that, what follows is still the longest of the four chapters in this book.
In relation to my surveys of contemporary research related to rebirth, I need to put on record that with these topics I amoutsidemy own area of expertise. Therefore all I can offer is a selection of what to me seems relevant from perusing the publications of which I have become aware, without being able to assess these in the way an expert could. Although I have endeavored to cover what seemed relevant, quite probably I have overlooked significant publications, be these supportive or critical. Nevertheless, within the confines of my awareness of relevant material and my understanding of what it implies, I hope to present a reasonably accurate survey that adopts a moderate position and avoids strongly dogmatic attitudes, be these based on scientific or religious grounds.
My exploration covers the following areas of research, from the viewpoint of their potential relevance to the question or rebirth: near-death experiences, past-life regression, children’s memories of a past life, and xenoglossy.
1. Near-Death Experiences
As mentioned in the preceding chapter, near-death experiences were already reported in ancient China and continue to be recorded up to the modern day. Such near-death experiences, often referred to in the relevant literature with the abbreviation NDE, are a widespread phenomenon and as such attested in various cultures. Besides China, India, and Tibet, for example, near-death experiences have been reported from a range of non-Western cultures and peoples, including Africans, hunter-gatherer cultures in North and South America, Aboriginal Australians, the Māori of New Zealand, and others from the Pacific area, such as Guam and Hawai‘i.
The topic has come to the forefront of public and academic interest in recent decades, as developments in health care have enabled the resuscitation of patients who only a few decades ago would have stood little chance of survival.This has led to an increase in the occurrence of near-death experiences and made such cases considerably more conspicuous.
From Ancient to Contemporary Reports of Near-Death Experiences
The early Buddhist discourses repeatedly portray the Buddha and chief disciples visiting various heavens and returning to report their encounters with celestial beings. Such visits appear to have been originally conceived of as being undertaken with a mind-made body. As already briefly mentioned in the first chapter, the creation of such a mind-made body as the outcome of meditative expertise is held to result in the ability to leave the physical body behind and move around at the speed of thought, without being obstructed by anything material, yet at the same time being able to see and hear.
The early discourses also report frequently that celestial beings come to pay a visit to the Buddha or his disciples.One such instance involves a lay disciple who has just passed away and been reborn in a heaven.As a celestial being he approaches the Buddha at night and speaks a poem, which the next morning the Buddha then reports to his disciples.
An otherworld journey that has some features in common with near death experiences, except for the fact that it does not involve being close to death, is the tale of King Nimi found in a discourse in the Majjhimanikāya and its parallels. Because of his exemplary conduct, King Nimi has been invited to visit heaven by the divine ruler of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Asked by the celestial charioteer, who has come to fetch him, which way he prefers to be driven to reach his heavenly destination, King Nimi prefers to be taken in such a way that he can see both the regions where evildoers suffer for their deeds and the regions where those who act well enjoy the fruits of their wholesome conduct. After completion of the journey he arrives in theHeaven of theThirty-Three and is offered the option to remain. He declines, since he prefers to go back to earth and continue his wholesome conduct.
"Actual near-death experiences are described in versions of the scripture on the Medicine King, Bhaiṣajyaguru."
Perhaps themostwell-knowninstance of influence ofnear-death experiences on a Buddhist text is the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead, a work considerably later than the early discourses.This text provides guidance for what is to be expected on passing away. Actual near-death experiences are described in versions of the scripture on the Medicine King, Bhaiṣajyaguru, another comparatively late text. The relevant passage reports that deceased persons, on being brought for the reckoning of their actions in front of the ruler of the underworld, King Yāma, can be made to return to their body through devotional activities performed on their behalf toward Bhaiṣajyaguru. They revive as if waking up from a dream. Because of recollecting the karmic consequences of their good and bad deeds, they will be transformed by this experience and behave in wholesome ways for the rest of their lives.
In addition to being attested in Buddhist sources, the notion that on passing away one will encounter deceased friends and relatives is found, for example, in the so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead; in fact it has been argued that the descriptions in this text derive from acquaintance with near-death experiences. Another relevant text is the Myth of Er in Plato’s Republic, which involves a soldier who has died in battle. The tale goes that, after an interval of several days during which his corpse did not decompose, he revived on his funeral pyre and then related the experiences he had had in the otherworld.
Turning to Christian sources, what immediately comes to mind as a related notion is the resurrection of Jesus himself, as well as his famous resuscitation, if it can be called such, of Lazarus. An apparent reference to a visit to the otherworld can be found in St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians. In this epistle St. Paul briefly refers to a visit to heaven, presumably experienced by himself.
St. Gregory the Great, who served as pope in the sixth century, reports episodes in which souls are taken away from their body as if by mistake and then come back to life. One such episode concerns a Spanish hermit monk who recalls his visit to hell. In another tale a person has just died. When it is found out that another person by the same name should have been brought to the nether regions, the first person is sent back to life. Aftermiraculously reviving, he finds out that at the very time of his revival another person of the same name indeed passed away.
In recent times, accounts of comparable experiences have multiplied, so much so that an entire journal is dedicated to research on near-death experiences, and a range of monographs and other publications tackle various aspects of such experiences.
A continuity with modern accounts can be seen in the following features of medieval episodes:
external proofs that are remarkably similar to the kind of evidence
brought forward in contemporary near-death literature:
the transformation of the visionary, unusual physical and emotional
symptoms, signs that he was truly dead, and extraordinary powers,
such as the ability to predict his own death or that
of others, or to know things that he could not have found out
through normal means.
A noteworthy difference also emerges when comparing contemporary accounts to medieval descriptions of otherworld journeys:
gone are the bad deaths, harsh judgment scenes, purgatorial
torments, and infernal terrors of medieval visions; by comparison,
the modern otherworld is a congenial place. . .a garden of
unearthly delights. . .
The most glaring difference is the prominence in medieval
accounts of obstacles and tests, purificatory torments, and
outright doom. . .modern accounts, on the other hand. . .are
shaped throughout by optimistic, democratic, “healthy minded”
principles that transparently reflect a contemporary
ideology and mood. . .
These comparative observations force us to conclude that the
visionaries of our own age are no more free of cultural influence
than those of less pluralistic eras. . .the otherworld journey
story. . .is through and through a work of the socially
conditioned religious imagination.
Indeed, reports of the otherworldly dimension of near-death experiences are clearly influenced by the cultural setting of the one who experiences them. Whereas Chinese meet the Yellow Emperor presiding over a vast bureaucracy administering the affairs of the dead and the living, Indians will meet the messengers of Yāma, the Lord of the Dead inHindu thought. An element of continuity from China to India is the motif of mistaken identity, where the recently deceased has been mistaken for someone else, is released when this is found out, and then revives.
Contemporary Western accounts tend to place considerably less emphasis on decisions made by authoritative figures.This can best be illustrated by an element in one near-death experience, where the one responsible for taking account of the life of the recently deceased turns out to be a computer.
Continue Reading
In four chapters, Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research leads readers through: (1) the presentation of rebirth in the earliest Buddhist sources and the way it relates to core doctrine; (2) the debates about rebirth throughout Buddhist history and up to modern times, including the role of confirmation bias in the evaluation of evidence; (3) the current research on rebirth, including near-death experiences, past-life regression, and childhood recollection of previous lives; (3) and an examination of a particular case of xenoglossy, the ability to speak languages one has not been taught. As a very young boy, the Sri Lankan Dhammaruwan would chant Pāli-language scriptures that he had not apparently learned in his present life.
