Reincarnation is a difficult gig for Buddhists. Being reborn
for yet another life is not a good thing; bad karma (i.e., residue from bad
choices in life) keeps a soul on the wheel of samsara. Because life-after-life
involves suffering, a Buddhist strives for Nirvana, or enlightenment, which
releases a soul from the cycle of being reborn yet again. Reincarnation is a
difficult gig for Buddhists also because unlike Hinduism, Buddhism denies the
very existence of a soul (atman) as
an entity. How, then, can something that does not exist go on to be re-clothed
in another body for another life? Yet another problem for the devout Buddhist
concerns government officials who claim that they can decide whether a certain
soul reincarnates, and if so, into which body. In 2014, for example, the
Chinese government made it known that it would pick the next reincarnated Dalai
Lama—the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
The full essay is at “Dalai
Lama’s Reincarnation.”
