Expert: Joe McSorley - 2/9/2007

Question
Is it possible for me to discover the my past lives and the past lives of others in my life? If so, how can I accomplish this?

Answer
Hi Dan,
   Zen does not believe in reincarnation and admonishes that if it were true then it is of the utmost importance that you awaken in this life due to the fact that you might not be human again.  Buddhism teaches that the self is ultimate empty which means there is no self.  If the self is truly empty then there must be no soul in Buddhism for if there is a soul then the self is not empty.  What then reincarnates?  Yet, there are Buddhists who will argue this point and not see their self-contradiction.  Whether we reincarnate or if there is or is not a soul does nothing to alleviate suffering in this lifetime.  If we do reincarnate what good would it do to know your past lives because is would mean we reincarnated because we didn’t get it right before.  We  must concentrate in the here and now to awaken.   
  In terms of self-identity or understanding who we are and what being empty means there is a famous Buddhist story that goes like this: a man comes to study with the historical Buddha and is having a difficult time understanding its ideas.  The Buddha welcomes him but does not face his questions rather he asks him about his journey to meet him.  The Buddha asks ‘how did you get here’ and the man replies ‘ on a chariot’, the Buddha then says ‘I’m sorry but I don’t know what a chariot is, can you describe it to me?’ The fellow proceeds to tell him how a chariot is constructed and its layout from axel, wheels, buckboard, shroud to harness and horses.  The Buddha takes this in and says ‘ so all of these things together make a chariot?  When is it no longer a chariot?  When you take away the wheels is it no longer a chariot or the buckboard or the axel?  At what point does it become or not become a chariot?  This is a conglomeration of things you call a chariot but what really is the chariot?’  The man is puzzled by this and ponders it but the Buddha says ‘who are you, your thoughts, desires, senses, memories?  Remove what and you are no longer you?  When do you become you or not you by this composite of aggregates?’  Now this plunges the man into a deep inquiry of who the self really is.  Any particular aggregate that reincarnates somewhere else is not the true self, when you break down the components of self, who are you?
   There is also the story of the poison arrow sutra where a person asks the teacher about reincarnation.  The teacher replies that it is like a man being hit with a poison arrow who asks all about the arrow, how it was made, the type of feathers and poison used, etc.   What he fails to do is get the arrow out.  Zen is about getting the arrow out while you can.
  

  From the Zen standpoint it does  not waste time with concepts like reincarnation for it can accomplish nothing. But all of this begs the most important question; who are you?  Who is it that perceives an ‘I’, was born, fears death and contemplates all these things? Who is it that thinks they reincarnate?  If you know the source of this I then you know the root of all being and are free from the constraints of birth and death. This is to face the problem in the moment and not as any theoretical idea. Know who it is that asks this and you will no longer be concerned with who it is that reincarnates.
 I hope this helps you.  Take care,
         Joe