Dear friends,

many people are always confused about the two different concepts of rebirth and reincarnation.

The concept of reincarnation begins with the belief of an essence, a permanent indestructible self which "migrate" from one body to another between lives. This "essence" is commonly known as the "soul". This concept is prevalent in Hinduism, but traces of it can also be found in all other religions.

Buddhism rejects the notion of self. Instead, the Buddha taught the concept of nama-rupa, or name-form. Each living entity is a name-form composition, and neither nama nor rupa exhibits the characteristics of a permanent self. Indeed, both nama and rupa are simply collective nouns for various constituents which are constantly interacting with external conditions and changing.

Hence, Buddhism only teaches rebirth. In this case, there is no single fixed entity that is reborn. However, there is the conditioning (note: not pre-determination and not randomness) of the future life by the present life.

My question is whether the Buddha made an explicitly detailed sermon of this in the Tipitaka. If not, how does someone interested in this topic conduct a systematic study? Thank you.


metta,
Yong Peng.