Is Rebirth After Death a Real Phenomenon?

by , Published on January 4, 2012, with 5 Comments

Take this poll to share your opinion on rebirth after death of the body.

Is rebirth after death of the body a real phenomenon?

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Dana Nourie

About the Author ()

Dana is Technical Director of the Secular Buddhist Association. She learned Buddhism through a DVD course on Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism, followed by a two-year course in person. She then studied Theravada Buddhism through the Insight Meditation South Bay with teacher Shaila Catherine. She has been a practitioner now for over a decade. Dana has been working in the internet industry since 1992, has held the positions of web developer, technical writer, and online community manager. She is a geek girl with a passion for science and computing.

Comments (5)

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  1. Linda Linda says:
    January 5, 2012 at 11:40 am

    I don’t like the word “myth” as applied to other people’s belief systems, especially when there are great numbers of people alive now who believe in what is being called a “myth”.

  2. Dana Nourie Dana Nourie says:
    January 5, 2012 at 11:55 am

    Curious at what point we call stories myth, Linda? Can we call the Greek stories myths because so few people believe they are real? There are some people who do still believe them. Are you saying a large consensus is needed to label events as myths?

    Thanks! As a child I was curious how we decided when something is mythology versus when it is religion. I still am:-)

  3. Mark Knickelbine says:
    January 6, 2012 at 11:11 am

    Linda, the word was intended to be provocative. However, a myth is a story created to help people understand and communicate some understanding of the world. To that extent, mythology functions as a kind of hypothesizing about how the world works. We can still look to mythology to understand the issues people felt were important and the truths they wanted to communicate. Mythology can still be compelling even when we accept its status as fiction. However, I don’t think it’s a problem to point to something a lot of people believe — thetans, the Angel Moroni, the supposed Mayan apocalypse, or classical Indian rebirth — and call it a myth. Much mischief is perpetrated in the name of mythology that is considered impolite to question publicly.

  4. Linda Linda says:
    January 10, 2012 at 11:49 am

    I think the word “belief” is better than the word “myth”, unless you’re referring to something someone specifically made up to be mythical.

  5. hundovir says:
    March 21, 2012 at 2:13 am

    The word “myth” has a long and honourable history in the field of Religious Studies, where it means something like “significant story” or “story with meaning”. It is emphatically NOT the same as “childish fiction”. I had assumed that it was being used in the technical sense in this poll, not in the popular sense. (There is a similar disparity in the use of the word “cult” in Religious Studies and in popular usage.)

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