AboutJustin Choo Expertise When in doubt seek it out. All your questions will be answered, and you may not have to agree with the answers. Such is the beauty of Buddhism. You are free to decide. I follow the Theravada tradition, and have been studying Buddhism for more than 40 years. Please view my profile for more details. I have answered more than a thousand questions since joining this category. You are welcome to try me.
Experience I was brought up in the 50's as a Buddhist. For the past 40 years I have read numerous books on Buddhism and listened to numerous talks on Buddhism by well-respected and learned monks and lay teachers. I conduct Buddhist classes for parents of Sunday School children in a Theravada Buddhist Temple.
My teacher was the late Chief Reverend, The Ven. K Sri Dhammananda of The Brickfields Buddhist Mahavihara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You can view the relevent website in memory of my revered late teacher @
http://www.ksridhammananda.com
Organizations I am a life member of the Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia.
Publications YOU ARE INVITED TO VISIT MY BLOG @
http://lifeislikethat999.blogspot.com/
Published a book called "The Rainbow And The Treasure". It is a compilation of extracts from various sources to introduce Buddhism to beginners. (Currently out of print)
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Commerce And Administration, Victoria University Of Wellington, NZ.(1974)
Question I am trying to understand the concept of rebirth, anatta, and genetics.
When the physical body is gone, the consciousness is immediately reborn in another physical body? Or does it linger for the moment of rebirth? My contention is that it does as the 'evidence' of spirits of the departed seem to indicate so. Is that the Buddhist view? My 5 children may be bearing the consciousness of 5 different very disparate persons and yet they may share the parents traits, e.g bad temper, love of music etc which are all mental attributes. How is this so?
Answer Hi Sek Keong,
Thank you for asking me.
In the Theravada tradition, it is said that rebirth takes place immediately after death. The other schools of Buddhism may have different interpretations.
"Spirits" are beings in a different plane of existence. That is, rebirth as a spirit. It is already a rebirth and not some "lingering" existence waiting to be reborn.
Each person's traits are the results of his accumulated storehouse of kammic consciousness. This consciousness will seek to reborn in the approriate place for the kammic energy to actualize its results (eg. personality traits). It is not so much that the new life takes on the traits of the parents, but more on the fact that it seeks out the parents that possess traits similar to theirs, so that their kammic consciousness could actualize in this conducive setting. After being born, we can explain that the children take after the traits of the parents.
Hope this makes sense.
Justin Choo
You are invited to visit my blog
and Rev. Dhammika's :
