Questions about Buddhism and reincarnation

[tchalla]

Hello
It is been a long time now that I want to become a Buddhist but I don't know anyone offline or locally that is a Buddhist. I have a lot of questions, and I hope I don't offend anyone.
One of my questions is if there is reincarnation, how do you explain the increase of population true the centuries? The population of earth is always increasing, where they come from...
What about the years in the past that world population decreased do to war and disease. Did the reincarnations were put on hold?

[sky]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
It is been a long time now that I want to become a Buddhist but I don't know anyone offline or locally that is a Buddhist. I have a lot of questions, and I hope I don't offend anyone.
One of my questions is if there is reincarnation, how do you explain the increase of population true the centuries? The population of earth is always increasing, where they come from...
What about the years in the past that world population decreased do to war and disease. Did the reincarnations were put on hold?

Hello tchalla, hope you have fun on this Forum.

What do you personally think Reincarnation to mean in Buddhism ?

[Phaelyn]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
It is been a long time now that I want to become a Buddhist but I don't know anyone offline or locally that is a Buddhist. I have a lot of questions, and I hope I don't offend anyone.
One of my questions is if there is reincarnation, how do you explain the increase of population true the centuries? The population of earth is always increasing, where they come from...
What about the years in the past that world population decreased do to war and disease. Did the reincarnations were put on hold?

Buddhism, and Hinduism too for that matter, as world religions don't address questions like that. These are very old philosophies and religions and the world population was relatively small as they formed their teachings and beliefs. The earths human population is supposed to double every 65 years or so, so it would go from the current 7.8+ billion to around 15+ billion by 2085. Then to 30 billion and on and on. You would think scientists would be freaked out about this, but instead, most I have read don't really care and just say at some point "nature" will take care of it and food and resources will run out then there will be a massive die off of humans. I wonder will the earth be dead of most life by then from pollution and so much CO2 in the atmosphere and no oxygen?

A book from a modern person like Michael Newton's book Journey Of Souls answers questions like that and says basically that new "souls" are made all the time. Not made by a "God" by the way but made by "us" while in a nonphysical form and place. So on earth we have a collection of new souls and old ones. Of course most Buddhist schools officially don't believe in a "soul," they would call it mind stream instead, but then some Buddhist's like the Dalia Lama use the word "soul" sometimes and Tibetan Buddhists tend to refer to themselves reincarnating saying I was this or that person in a past life now I am this person.

One question might be why not just create 500 billion "souls" or specks of conscious energy at one time, why this increase over time? My answer to that is time is a stream or continuum and things take time to be done. Something or someone has to create and there is only so much one can create from moment to moment. Space too comes into it. Environments have to be created for these conscious entities to exist within. Also we don't know from what "resources" or materials or beings consciousness is made from and how available are these resources or materials or beings and how much effort or time is needed to make or find or become such things. We really don't know much as human beings. We just find ourselves here as these animals.

[tchalla]

Originally Posted by sky123

Hello tchalla, hope you have fun on this Forum.

What do you personally think Reincarnation to mean in Buddhism ?

Hello sky123... I been on and of in reading about Buddhism, mainly because I don't know any Buddhist center/temple/monastery... so there is a lot of forgotten knowledge... but the questions that I ask are to find answers... but I remember reading that in reincarnation in Buddhism is different from Hinduism, I think the Hinduism beleave that reincarnation is eternal...
I have restarted reading and researching, and this time I think I will keep reading and learning...
I am definitely having fun and learning a lot

[sky]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello sky123... I been on and of in reading about Buddhism, mainly because I don't know any Buddhist center/temple/monastery... so there is a lot of forgotten knowledge... but the questions that I ask are to find answers... but I remember reading that in reincarnation in Buddhism is different from Hinduism, I think the Hinduism beleave that reincarnation is eternal...
I have restarted reading and researching, and this time I think I will keep reading and learning...
I am definitely having fun and learning a lot

I personally would use the notion of Rebirth rather than Reincarnation because very few Buddhist use Reincarnation and you can easily get confused with the idea of Christianities Reincarnation which obviously is very different.
You can find lots of valuable Teachings over the Internet with Free Online Courses, I'm sure you will enjoy looking around and exploring..

You will find it easier to decide which School you prefer to follow because although the core Teachings are the same various Schools do have differences and it's easy to become confused and get mixed up. I know from experience

Have fun...

[Shaunc]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
It is been a long time now that I want to become a Buddhist but I don't know anyone offline or locally that is a Buddhist. I have a lot of questions, and I hope I don't offend anyone.
One of my questions is if there is reincarnation, how do you explain the increase of population true the centuries? The population of earth is always increasing, where they come from...
What about the years in the past that world population decreased do to war and disease. Did the reincarnations were put on hold?

Hi. In regards to your question. Yes the human population of the earth is increasing but with other species on earth their population is decreasing. With rebirth you don't necessarily get reborn on this planet. In Buddhism there is also heaven worlds and hell worlds. When you think of how large the universe is it's in my opinion ludicrous to think that we are the only life form in it.
All religions, including Buddhism have some type of after death teachings but the reality is that it's purely speculation.
I follow Buddhism to learn how to live better. We don't need any religion or philosophy to learn how to die.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Shaunc

Hi. In regards to your question. Yes the human population of the earth is increasing but with other species on earth their population is decreasing. With rebirth you don't necessarily get reborn on this planet. In Buddhism there is also heaven worlds and hell worlds. When you think of how large the universe is it's in my opinion ludicrous to think that we are the only life form in it.
All religions, including Buddhism have some type of after death teachings but the reality is that it's purely speculation.
I follow Buddhism to learn how to live better. We don't need any religion or philosophy to learn how to die.

A key facet of most religions is not that of dying but that of continuing to live after dying - being immortal.

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
It is been a long time now that I want to become a Buddhist but I don't know anyone offline or locally that is a Buddhist. I have a lot of questions, and I hope I don't offend anyone.
One of my questions is if there is reincarnation, how do you explain the increase of population true the centuries? The population of earth is always increasing, where they come from...
What about the years in the past that world population decreased do to war and disease. Did the reincarnations were put on hold?

As with any religion, it is interesting to study the teachings, but I think one does themselves a disservice if they try too hard to make themselves believe in any one scripted dogma. The essential meaning of a religion, its true value, does not lie within the words themselves.

Anyway, IMO, it is a great big limitless multiverse and I expect any and all of it is accessible to our consciousness. All numbers, even 7 billion is effectively infinitesimal compared to infinity.

[inavalan]

Seth answering Rob's questions:

(“What about our population explosion?”)
Partial personalities keep returning. Split entities. One whole entity may need several manifestations, even at simultaneous so-called times.

(“Will there be an end to this process on earth?”)
What process?

(“What I mean is, what happens when physically there is no room left on earth for an increase in sheer numbers?”)
It won’t be.

(“Why not?”)
Finally it will be off limits.
Spirits can go elsewhere. Violence only ur plane. Problems worked out thru action are bound to lead to violence.

—The Early Sessions Book 1 Session 4 December 8, 1963

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by tchalla

Hello
It is been a long time now that I want to become a Buddhist but I don't know anyone offline or locally that is a Buddhist. I have a lot of questions, and I hope I don't offend anyone.
One of my questions is if there is reincarnation, how do you explain the increase of population true the centuries? The population of earth is always increasing, where they come from...
What about the years in the past that world population decreased do to war and disease. Did the reincarnations were put on hold?

An interesting aspect of being re-born in Buddhism is that Western Buddhist typically believe animals can not be re-borned as people. In this inderstanding, animals can be re-borned but there is no hope for them to become human and then finally be able to reach nirvana.

This also applies to plants, minerals, etc. Jains believe you can be reborn as a plant, but virtually all Buddhists do not believe so. Buddha claimed he had lives as animals but Western Buddhists claim those accounts are not true but only analogies. Hindus also believe you can come back as an animal, plant and mineral.