Expert: John Willemsens aka Advayavadananda - 6/2/2006

Question
Dear John ,
Most of the people think that they have a soul in themself . When a man dies , the soul will take rebirth .Dead and reborn. THis goes on and on .
But what i understand from the Buddhism teaching is that there is no SOUL in us . My question is : If there is no soul in a man , what is it that is passed from one life to another ?
For example: A dog dies and then it is reborn as an elephant. WHen the elephant dies , it is reborn as a cow . After the cow dies ,it is reborn as a human being . If there is no soul , what is it that is passed down from one life to another and another ?
Probably we may say it is karma .But if there is no SOUL in a living (human or animals), what is it that is generating the Karma that goes from one life to another life ?
Please help me understand .
Thank you
From
Serious Buddhism leaner.

Answer
Dear Poh,
Sorry for the delay due to the public holiday here in Holland.
Please note that I speak for Advayavada Buddhism only.
Our considered assessment of this important issue in Buddhism is that human life is a wondrous process of concatenate multiplication over unidirectional and irreversible time, not differing from other mammals in this respect. What is born is exclusively the result of the parents' deeds, i.e. their karma. Karma is pratitya-samutpada or dependent origination as it operates here and now at the sentient level, including personal choice and responsibility. The genetic and social (nature and nurture) factors present at the beginning of a new life are the direct result of that karma. There is in our view no scientific evidence at all of an alaya-vijñana or store-house consciousness that might contain and carry forward so-called karmic seeds (vasana) into the future as is implied in the Yogacara vipaka theory, nor of a patisandhi-viññana, the connecting consciousness encountered in Theravada ontology, nor, for that matter, of any other form of rebirth, re-incarnation, transmigration, or of afterlife or resurrection. This one life is it. As for the recollection of so-called past lives, it is difficult to see why a person should inherit the shape of the nose or the ring of the voice of a forebear and not, in some way, the recollection of an experience.
Kind regards,
Advayavadananda.
http://www.advayavada.org/