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Originally Posted by Phaelyn
I'd point out Hinduism states souls can be incarnated in bodies besides human, in fact the Bhagavad-Gita states if one messes up and partakes in various bad deeds, one could even come back as a tree, though the tree may just be a Hare-Krishna interpretation as that illustration was in their popular version of the Gita.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a Buddhist text, also states one can receive the body of something other than human. But then the author of it was an Indian Buddhist so had strong Hindu influences. In the last Bardo, the soul meets the Lord of Death.
From the Tibetan Book of the Dead
There’s also a last-ditch chance to escape the cycle of rebirth—if the soul can recognize that everything around him is a projection of his subconscious. Most souls aren't mindful and remain close to their ego, so they are reborn in one of six states.
...and upon emerging from the womb and opening its eyes it may find itself transformed into a young dog. Formerly it had been a human being, but now if it have become a dog it findeth itself undergoing sufferings in a dog's kennel; or [perhaps] as a young pig in a pigsty, or as an ant in an ant-hill, or as an insect, or a grub in a hole,... Dumbness, stupidity, and miserable intellectual obscurity are suffered, and a variety of sufferings experienced.
I'd not sure but I'd guess Chinese Buddhism does not go into such beliefs at all.
Then one last source of information on the topic is the book Journey Of Souls, which states when new consciousness's are created, they have different properties and not all are suited for a human body. Conscious energy or "souls" suited for a human incarnation tend to be special. So the belief stated from this source is basically like how we can't put diesel fuel into a gas powered engine, likewise the bodies we are given match up with the properties of the "soul" or conscious energy. So a consciousness suited to a human form would not be able to exist in a insect body for example. At some point in "soul evolution" or development, we outgrow the ability to co-exist with a human brain and that's when we have basically "escaped the cycle of birth and re-birth." Our "vibration" becomes too high to merge with the lower energies of this world and the life forms on it.
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' The author of the Tibetan Book of the Dead is Padmasambhava ; the founder of Tibetan Buddhism in the 8th century when he brought the Buddhist teachings from India and introduced them and established the teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava was not a traditional Buddhist he also brought with him a lot of esoteric tantric teachings from other traditions and now Tibetan Buddhism as we now know it is a mixture of traditional Buddhism, Hindu tantric teachings and the Bon tradition which was native to Tibet at the time.'
It's certainly a very unusual Book and parts are hard to grasp but some of it are enjoyable.... I surpose it's one that needs reading over and over again...