Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Six Paths of Reincarnation

Why is Buddha more powerful than the gods? The answer lies in the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, or, to be precise, the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism. Other Buddhist sects may have different ideas, since reincarnation cannot be proven objectively, and it is up to anyone who claim to be somebody to come up with ideas.
According to Pure Land Buddhism, there are six paths of reincarnation. One may be born as a god, a human, an asura, an animal, a hungry ghost, or a hell-dweller. Though the immediate goal of many human Buddhist practitioners is to be born in the realm of the gods, the ultimate goal is to escape the cycle of rebirth altogether, that is, to become a Buddha.
Thus the Jade Emperor, Lao Tzu, the Monkey God may be classified as "gods", but they are still not the ultimate. Likewise, Buddhist would have treated the gods of the other religion in the same way. Thus Jesus and Allah are reborn as gods, but not fully awaken yet.
In the interview with Jacelyn Tay (郑秀珍) as published on pages 24 to 27 of Impact Magazine, Dec 2008/Jan 2009 Edition, the monk who spoke to Jacelyn Tay said that Christianity is actually something lower than Buddhism. Why? This is because based on the six paths of reincarnation, Jesus became a god and is on the way to become a Buddha. He would not object to Jacelyn being a Christian, but he thought that Buddhism, being higher, would be a better way.

No comments: