Buddhist Rebirth III: Modern Takes

Part Three of Lectures on Rebith in the Buddhist View

Prerequisite: Open to all
A single lecture on Saturday, May 3rd at Noon Eastern. Originally scheduled for April 20th

With
18 participants
Current Status
Not Enrolled
Price
By Donation
Get Started
Join

Rebirth, or reincarnation, was assumed by most premodern Buddhists – and is believed by many modern Buddhists – to be “the way things are” for sentient beings in the cosmos: we have lived before, and likely we will live again. In this third of three talks, I analyze the place of rebirth within modern (post-1800) Buddhism, tracing the history of the reception of the idea in the West and describing it in terms of four possible stances: literalism, neo-traditionalism, modernism, and secularism. I will trace several recent debates about the topic, weighing the evidence and arguments adduced by the participants. In conclusion, I will tentatively suggest a way forward in thinking about rebirth in a “disenchanted,” scientific age.

In March 2022. Shambhala Publications published this new title from Roger Jackson: REBIRTH: A GUIDE TO MIND, KARMA, AND COSMOS IN THE BUDDHIST WORLD.
“The fruit of a lifetime of deep engagement with the subject, Roger Jackson’s Rebirth traces the history of Buddhist ideas about reincarnation across the Buddhist world from ancient times to the present. This is the definitive work on the topic. No other work matches it in terms of breadth and depth.” —José I. Cabezón, Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Listen to the recording of previous lectures in this series

Buddhist Rebirth: Contexts, Structures, and Functions

May 19, 2024: In this first of two talks, Professor Jackson will examine the Buddhist idea of rebirth in the context of world and Asian cultures; analyze the historical Buddha’s attitude toward rebirth; and describe the overall Buddhist notion of the realms of rebirth, the causes and conditions of rebirth, and the relation between karma and rebirth, noting differences among the three yānas and some variations in particular Asian cultures.

Rebirth: Rhetoric, Reality, and Argument in Indian Buddhist Texts

January 11, 2025: In this second of three talks, Professor Jackson will briefly review the basic Indian ideas about rebirth covered in the first lecture, then focus on the rhetoric and reality of discourse about rebirth in Indian Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhist texts; detail traditional Indian arguments in favor of rebirth; and consider the “paradox” of rebirth vis à vis the classic Buddhist doctrine of no-self.

 

Course Content

This forum is restricted to members of the associated course(s) and group(s).