Buddhism

===The cycle of rebirth===
[[File:Wheel_of_Existence.jpg|thumb|Traditional [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] [[Thangka]] depicting the [[Bhavacakra|Wheel of Life]] with its six realms]]

====Saṃsāra====
{{Main|Saṃsāra (Buddhism)}}
''Saṃsāra'' means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change.{{sfnp|Klostermaier|2010|p=604}}{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}} It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions.{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next.}} Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be ''[[dukkha]]'', unsatisfactory and painful,{{sfnp|Wilson|2010}} perpetuated by desire and ''[[Avidyā (Buddhism)|avidya]]'' (ignorance), and the resulting [[karma]].{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfnp|McClelland|2010|pp=172, 240}}{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|pp=18–19, chapter 1}} Liberation from this cycle of existence, ''nirvana'', has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism.{{sfnp|Conze|2013|p=71, Quote: "Nirvana is the ''raison d'être'' of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=119}}

Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish).{{refn|group=note|name=realms2|Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms rather than six realms; when described as five realms, the god realm and demi-god realm constitute a single realm.{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|pp=711–712}}}} Samsara ends if a person attains [[nirvana]], the "blowing out" of the afflictions through insight into [[impermanence]] and "[[anatta|non-self]]".{{sfnp|Buswell|Gimello|1992|pp=7–8, 83–84}}{{sfnp|Choong|1999|pp=28–29, Quote: "Seeing (''passati'') the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana."}}{{sfnp|Rahula|2014|pp=51-58}}

====Rebirth====
{{Main|Rebirth (Buddhism)}}
[[File:Kushinara1.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A very large hill behind two palm trees and a boulevard, where the Buddha is believed to have been cremated|Ramabhar Stupa in [[Kushinagar]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India, is regionally believed to be Buddha's cremation site.]]
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient life]], each running from conception to death.{{sfnp|Keown|1996|p=107}} In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve a [[soul]] or any fixed substance. This is because the Buddhist doctrine of [[anatta|anattā]] (Sanskrit: ''anātman'', no-self doctrine) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul found in other religions.<ref name="Leaman2002p23">{{cite book |author=Oliver Leaman |title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-68919-4 |pages=23–27 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[a] {{cite book |author=Christmas Humphreys |title=Exploring Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-22877-3 |pages=42–43 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |url-status=live }}<br />[b] {{cite book |author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8 |page=51 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}, Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."<br />[c] {{harvtxt|Gombrich|2005a|p=47}}, Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."</ref>

The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after death.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}}<ref name="Neufeldt1986p123">{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|year=1986|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|pages=123–131|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055823/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|url-status=live}}</ref> Some Buddhist traditions assert that "no self" doctrine means that there is no enduring self, but there is ''avacya'' (inexpressible) personality (''[[Pudgalavada|pudgala]]'') which migrates from one life to another.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}} The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert that [[vijñāna]] (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes the rebirth process.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}} The quality of one's rebirth depends on the [[Merit (Buddhism)|merit]] or demerit gained by one's karma (i.e., actions), as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member.{{Refn|group=note|This merit gaining may be on the behalf of one's family members.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}}<ref name="Neufeldt1986p123"/><ref name="SwatosKivisto1998p66">{{cite book|author1=William H. Swatos|author2=Peter Kivisto|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C|year=1998|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7619-8956-1|page=66|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055832/https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Buddhism also developed [[Buddhist cosmology|a complex cosmology]] to explain the various realms or planes of rebirth.{{sfnp|Wilson|2010}}

====Karma====
{{Main|Karma in Buddhism}}
[[Karma in Buddhism|In Buddhism]], [[karma]] (from [[Sanskrit]]: "action, work") drives ''[[saṃsāra]]'' – the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pāli: ''kusala'') and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli: ''akusala'') produce "seeds" in the unconscious receptacle (''ālaya'') that mature later either in this life or in a subsequent [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=131, 32–34<!-- Should this be 132–134? -->}}{{sfnp|Kasulis |2006|pp=1–12}} The existence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, and it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by karma.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}} (Diseases and suffering induced by the disruptive actions of other people are examples of non-karma suffering.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}})

A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (''[[cetanā]]'') matters and is essential to bring about a consequence or ''[[phala]]'' "fruit" or [[vipāka]] "result".{{sfnp|Krishan|1997|pages=59–78 }} The emphasis on intent in Buddhism marks a difference from the karmic theory of Jainism, where karma accumulates with or without intent.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=40}}{{sfnp|Krishan|1997|pp=47, 55 }} The emphasis on intent is also found in Hinduism, and Buddhism may have influenced karma theories of Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Norman C. McClelland|title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8|page=141}}</ref>

In Buddhism, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts creates karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}} In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|p=430 with footnote 1}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Karl Potter|editor=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|year=1986|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|page=109|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055823/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the theory, it operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in all [[Samsara (Buddhism)|six realms]] of existence including human beings and gods.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Lopez|2001|pp=239–248}}

A notable aspect of the karma theory in modern Buddhism is merit transfer.<ref name=appletonp129>{{cite book |author=Naomi Appleton |title=Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91640-0 |pages=129–131 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055838/https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|pp=124–128}} A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and ethical living, but also is able to gain merit from others by exchanging goods and services, such as through ''dāna'' (charity to monks or nuns).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=45–46}} The theory also states a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors.{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|pp=124–128}}

This Buddhist idea may have roots in the ''quid-pro-quo'' exchange beliefs of the Hindu Vedic rituals.<ref name="Egge2013">{{cite book|author=James Egge |title=Religious Giving and the Invention of Karma in Theravada Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1tcAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-85922-9 |pages=31–34 }}</ref> The "karma merit transfer" concept has been controversial, not accepted in later Jainism and Hinduism traditions, unlike Buddhism where it was adopted in ancient times and remains a common practice.<ref name=appletonp129/> According to Bruce Reichenbach, the "merit transfer" idea was generally absent in early Buddhism and may have emerged with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism; he adds that while major Hindu schools such as Yoga, Advaita Vedanta and others do not believe in merit transfer, some bhakti Hindu traditions later adopted the idea just like Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce Reichenbach |title=The Law of Karma: A Philosophical Study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euWuCwAAQBAJ |year=1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-349-11899-1 |pages=152–155 }}</ref>