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Reincarnation: An East-West Anthology
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February 17, 2024
A MARVELOUS AND DIVERSE COLLECTION OF WRITINGS FROM MANY RELIGIONS, AND MORE
Editors Joseph Head and S.L. Cranston wrote in the Preface to this 1999 anthology, “Although a surprising number of distinguished thinkers of every period of history have either championed or on occasions favorably considered the idea of repeated existences upon earth, as this Anthology attests, such testimony hardly establishes reincarnation as a fact. It does suggest, however, that an idea [which] has occupied so many exceptional minds cannot be lightly dismissed, but is worthy of questioning, study, and investigation… But we must let the writers presented in the Anthology speak for themselves. Dissenting opinions have also been included, and readers inclined to dismiss all theories of immortality as wishful thinking will find this view considered… The present volume is the most extensive collection of reincarnation quotations from modern and ancient literature thus far published… extracts have been confined chiefly to the writings of the more widely known authors… The real case for or against reincarnation, however, will probably rest not so much on evidence of a phenomenal character but on its capacity to provide a rational explanation of life and its mysteries, based on the ascertainable laws of nature.” (Pg. ix-x)
The Katha Upanishad states, “Know that the Self is the lord of the chariot, the body verily is the chariot, know that the soul is the charioteer, and emotion the reins. They say that the bodily powers are the horses, and that the external world is their field. When the Self, the bodily powers and emotion are joined together, this is the right enjoyer; thus say the wise. But for the unwise, with emotion ever unrestrained, his bodily powers run away with him, like the unruly horses of the charioteer… He whose charioteer is wisdom, who grasps the reins---emotion---firmly, he indeed gains the end of the path, the supreme resting place of the emanating Power…” (Pg. 7)
They note, “The foregoing quotations clearly suggest that Buddha taught the existence in man of an immortal reincarnating individuality. However, as so many Westerners have gained the opposite impression, we quote the following from a valuable essay on Buddha’s thought contained in a translation of the Dhammapada… ‘Edmund Holmes [states], "The question which we have to ask ourselves with regard to the Buddhist conception is a simple one: Is the identity between me and the inheritor of my Karma … as real as the identity between the me of today and the me of 20 years hence…? If it is not as real, the doctrine of reincarnation is pure nonsense."' Holmes continues, showing that the doctrine of Karma, the key teaching of Buddhism, becomes almost senseless when divorced from the idea of a reincarnating ego.” (Pg. 20-22)
In the chapter on Judaism, they comment, “In his ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ (Bk. 18, Ch. 1, No. 2), the Jewish historian Josephus states that there were three sects of philosophy amongst the Jews: the Essenes, the Pharisees, and Sadducees. The doctrine of the Sadducees was that souls die with the bodies, but both the Essenes and the Pharisees, he affirms, believed in rebirth.” (Pg. 34)
The Alexandrian philosopher Philo Judaeus is summarized: “The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies and after certain prescribed periods be again set free. But those possessed of a diviner structure are absolved from all local bonds of earth. Some of these souls choose confinement in mortal bodies because they are earthly and corporally inclined…” (Pg. 35)
They report, “The Kabala is said to represent the hidden wisdom behind the Hebrew scriptures, derived by the Rabbis of the middle ages from still older secret doctrines. The first Jews to call themselves Kabalists were the Tanaiim who lived in Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century B.C. … important Jewish Kabalists appeared… ‘If a man niggardly either in a financial or a spiritual regard, giving nothing of his money to the poor, or not imparting of this knowledge to the ignorant, he shall be punished by transmigration into a woman…” [Yalkut Reubeni, No.1] (Pg. 36-37)
The Zohar states, “All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them, they know not how they are being at all times judged, both before coming into this world and when they leave it. They do not know how many transformations and mysterious trials they must undergo; how many souls and spirits come to this world without returning to the palace of the divine king. The souls must reenteer the absolute substance whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God.” (Pg. 38)
In the chapter on Christianity, they explain, “The ancient Jews were continually expecting the reincarnation of their great prophets. Moses was in their opinion Abel, the son of Adam; and their Messiah was to be the reincarnation of Adam himself, who had already come a second time as David. It seems especially significant then that the closing words of the Old Testament (Mal 4:5) make this prophecy: ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes.’ Elijah had already lived amongst the Jews. Now the first book of the New Testament refers to this prophecy on three occasions [Mt 16:13-14; Mt 17:9-13; Mt 11:11-15], thus linking the Old and New Testament on the idea of rebirth.” (Pg. 42-43)
They continue, “When there was brought into the presence of Jesus a man who was born blind, the disciples naturally wondered why he had been thus punished, and asked Jesus: ‘Which did sin, this man or his parents?’ (Jn 9:34) The disciples must have had the idea of reincarnation in mind for obviously if the man had been born blind, his sin could not have been committed in this life. If the doctrine was wrong and pernicious, then, it would seem, this was the time for Jesus to deny the whole theory. Yet he did not do so, although in this case he said the blindness was for other reasons.” (Pg. 43-44)
In the Wisdom of Solomon [a book of the Apocrypha], it states, “Now I was a child good by nature, and a good soul fell to my lot. Nay, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.” (Wis. 8:19-20)
Of Islam, they assert, “The persecution of scholars by the Christian Church for over four hundred years had gradually driven most students of science and philosophy out of Europe. These people… gave the Arabs a knowledge of Greek philosophy; the Nestorians made them acquainted with the Neo-platonic philosophers, and the exiled Jews instructed them in the Kabala. These several influences combined to make Islamic thinkers natural heirs to the philosophy of rebirth… Mohammed as a boy came in contact with a Nestorian monastery in Bursa, and grew deeply interested in the religious and philosophical views of the monks. Upon reaching manhood, he fell more and more under Nestorian influence. In fact, for many centuries after Mohammed’s death, Muslim followers regarded his teachings as an offshoot of Nestorian doctrines.” (Pg. 72)
In the chapter on Theosophy, they state, “Western religions usually viewed return to earth life as a penance or as a means of purging oneself of impurities. The Theosophists, however, regard reembodiment of the universal law of evolutionary progress for growth and development. Hence one would never outgrow the need for fresh experience and new cycles of incarnations, although a long period of rest and assimilation may separate one life from another; as well as one great world period of activity from another.” (Pg. 80)
Annie Besant observed, “The question… which is so often asked, ‘Why do I not remember my past lives?’ is really based on a misconception of the theory of reincarnation. ‘I,' the true ‘I,’ does remember; but the animal man, not yet in full responsive union with his true Self, cannot remember a past in which he, personally, had no share. Brain memory can contain only a record of the events in which the brain has been concerned.” (Pg. 87-88)
They suggest, “Secret organizations are reputed to have kept alive the idea of reincarnation during the Middle Ages. Writers of that time necessarily had to veil such conceptions in obscure symbolism… At least thirty words commonly used by these poets were found to have one and sometimes two hidden meanings…” (Pg. 123)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying reincarnation.
Editors Joseph Head and S.L. Cranston wrote in the Preface to this 1999 anthology, “Although a surprising number of distinguished thinkers of every period of history have either championed or on occasions favorably considered the idea of repeated existences upon earth, as this Anthology attests, such testimony hardly establishes reincarnation as a fact. It does suggest, however, that an idea [which] has occupied so many exceptional minds cannot be lightly dismissed, but is worthy of questioning, study, and investigation… But we must let the writers presented in the Anthology speak for themselves. Dissenting opinions have also been included, and readers inclined to dismiss all theories of immortality as wishful thinking will find this view considered… The present volume is the most extensive collection of reincarnation quotations from modern and ancient literature thus far published… extracts have been confined chiefly to the writings of the more widely known authors… The real case for or against reincarnation, however, will probably rest not so much on evidence of a phenomenal character but on its capacity to provide a rational explanation of life and its mysteries, based on the ascertainable laws of nature.” (Pg. ix-x)
The Katha Upanishad states, “Know that the Self is the lord of the chariot, the body verily is the chariot, know that the soul is the charioteer, and emotion the reins. They say that the bodily powers are the horses, and that the external world is their field. When the Self, the bodily powers and emotion are joined together, this is the right enjoyer; thus say the wise. But for the unwise, with emotion ever unrestrained, his bodily powers run away with him, like the unruly horses of the charioteer… He whose charioteer is wisdom, who grasps the reins---emotion---firmly, he indeed gains the end of the path, the supreme resting place of the emanating Power…” (Pg. 7)
They note, “The foregoing quotations clearly suggest that Buddha taught the existence in man of an immortal reincarnating individuality. However, as so many Westerners have gained the opposite impression, we quote the following from a valuable essay on Buddha’s thought contained in a translation of the Dhammapada… ‘Edmund Holmes [states], "The question which we have to ask ourselves with regard to the Buddhist conception is a simple one: Is the identity between me and the inheritor of my Karma … as real as the identity between the me of today and the me of 20 years hence…? If it is not as real, the doctrine of reincarnation is pure nonsense."' Holmes continues, showing that the doctrine of Karma, the key teaching of Buddhism, becomes almost senseless when divorced from the idea of a reincarnating ego.” (Pg. 20-22)
In the chapter on Judaism, they comment, “In his ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ (Bk. 18, Ch. 1, No. 2), the Jewish historian Josephus states that there were three sects of philosophy amongst the Jews: the Essenes, the Pharisees, and Sadducees. The doctrine of the Sadducees was that souls die with the bodies, but both the Essenes and the Pharisees, he affirms, believed in rebirth.” (Pg. 34)
The Alexandrian philosopher Philo Judaeus is summarized: “The company of disembodied souls is distributed in various orders. The law of some of them is to enter mortal bodies and after certain prescribed periods be again set free. But those possessed of a diviner structure are absolved from all local bonds of earth. Some of these souls choose confinement in mortal bodies because they are earthly and corporally inclined…” (Pg. 35)
They report, “The Kabala is said to represent the hidden wisdom behind the Hebrew scriptures, derived by the Rabbis of the middle ages from still older secret doctrines. The first Jews to call themselves Kabalists were the Tanaiim who lived in Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century B.C. … important Jewish Kabalists appeared… ‘If a man niggardly either in a financial or a spiritual regard, giving nothing of his money to the poor, or not imparting of this knowledge to the ignorant, he shall be punished by transmigration into a woman…” [Yalkut Reubeni, No.1] (Pg. 36-37)
The Zohar states, “All souls are subject to the trials of transmigration; and men do not know the designs of the Most High with regard to them, they know not how they are being at all times judged, both before coming into this world and when they leave it. They do not know how many transformations and mysterious trials they must undergo; how many souls and spirits come to this world without returning to the palace of the divine king. The souls must reenteer the absolute substance whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the perfections, the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a third, and so forth, until they have acquired the condition which fits them for reunion with God.” (Pg. 38)
In the chapter on Christianity, they explain, “The ancient Jews were continually expecting the reincarnation of their great prophets. Moses was in their opinion Abel, the son of Adam; and their Messiah was to be the reincarnation of Adam himself, who had already come a second time as David. It seems especially significant then that the closing words of the Old Testament (Mal 4:5) make this prophecy: ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes.’ Elijah had already lived amongst the Jews. Now the first book of the New Testament refers to this prophecy on three occasions [Mt 16:13-14; Mt 17:9-13; Mt 11:11-15], thus linking the Old and New Testament on the idea of rebirth.” (Pg. 42-43)
They continue, “When there was brought into the presence of Jesus a man who was born blind, the disciples naturally wondered why he had been thus punished, and asked Jesus: ‘Which did sin, this man or his parents?’ (Jn 9:34) The disciples must have had the idea of reincarnation in mind for obviously if the man had been born blind, his sin could not have been committed in this life. If the doctrine was wrong and pernicious, then, it would seem, this was the time for Jesus to deny the whole theory. Yet he did not do so, although in this case he said the blindness was for other reasons.” (Pg. 43-44)
In the Wisdom of Solomon [a book of the Apocrypha], it states, “Now I was a child good by nature, and a good soul fell to my lot. Nay, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.” (Wis. 8:19-20)
Of Islam, they assert, “The persecution of scholars by the Christian Church for over four hundred years had gradually driven most students of science and philosophy out of Europe. These people… gave the Arabs a knowledge of Greek philosophy; the Nestorians made them acquainted with the Neo-platonic philosophers, and the exiled Jews instructed them in the Kabala. These several influences combined to make Islamic thinkers natural heirs to the philosophy of rebirth… Mohammed as a boy came in contact with a Nestorian monastery in Bursa, and grew deeply interested in the religious and philosophical views of the monks. Upon reaching manhood, he fell more and more under Nestorian influence. In fact, for many centuries after Mohammed’s death, Muslim followers regarded his teachings as an offshoot of Nestorian doctrines.” (Pg. 72)
In the chapter on Theosophy, they state, “Western religions usually viewed return to earth life as a penance or as a means of purging oneself of impurities. The Theosophists, however, regard reembodiment of the universal law of evolutionary progress for growth and development. Hence one would never outgrow the need for fresh experience and new cycles of incarnations, although a long period of rest and assimilation may separate one life from another; as well as one great world period of activity from another.” (Pg. 80)
Annie Besant observed, “The question… which is so often asked, ‘Why do I not remember my past lives?’ is really based on a misconception of the theory of reincarnation. ‘I,' the true ‘I,’ does remember; but the animal man, not yet in full responsive union with his true Self, cannot remember a past in which he, personally, had no share. Brain memory can contain only a record of the events in which the brain has been concerned.” (Pg. 87-88)
They suggest, “Secret organizations are reputed to have kept alive the idea of reincarnation during the Middle Ages. Writers of that time necessarily had to veil such conceptions in obscure symbolism… At least thirty words commonly used by these poets were found to have one and sometimes two hidden meanings…” (Pg. 123)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone seriously studying reincarnation.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review