SeekerOfWisdom wrote:Yes I get it Kunga, someone wrote it and hence it's correct.
Strange you would say this with all the quotes you post of wise sages :)
SeekerOfWisdom wrote:the Buddha's teaching, who directly refuted transmigration
If he directly refuted it....why did he say he remembered all of his past lives after he became Enlightened ?
There are many Suttas/Sutras QUOTING his words , and these words are respected by Buddhists al over the world as truth.
Here's just one of many references of Buddha speaking about literal rebirth :
'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'"
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
17. (8) "Again, the Tathagata recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many aeons of world-contraction, many aeons of world-expansion, many aeons of world-contraction and expansion: 'There I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared here.' Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives. That too is a Tathagata's power...
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .ntbb.html
I don't know whether or not literal rebirth is true or not, all I have are quotes, books,suttas, and opinions to go by......I have had some past life regression done...but I am skeptical of that myself.....so I don't know, and I'm not hung up on it either way....I just don't regard all the written records of Buddha, or renowned historical Buddhist teachers as a bunch of B.S.
If you want to logically investigate yourself as to whether or not literal rebirth is possible...what I do is think about what is the essence of life itself....then look at life, and see that it is constantly being reborn in beings....and death is not the end....
According to Buddhist teachings, as long as we are creating karma [through our actions], there will be an endless cycle of birth and death. Enlightenment is the end of karma creating....thus no more rebirth. Unless you are a Bodhisattva [Mahayana theory], you vow to save all sentient beings, and postpone your Enlightenment, so you can come back after death and continue your work as a Bodhisattva. Buddha was a Bodhisattva for many eons before he went into Parinirvana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parinirvana
So you see....emptiness is quite full !