Reincarnation

In Buddhist understanding, what is often called “reincarnation” is more accurately described as rebirth (*punabbhava*). Unlike the notion of an enduring soul migrating from one life to the next, Buddhist rebirth involves the continuation of a conditioned process — a stream of causes and effects — without a fixed self at its core.

At death, the momentum of karma conditions the arising of a new stream of consciousness in a new existence. This new life inherits not a soul, but karmic tendencies shaped by past intentional actions. Like one flame lighting another, continuity exists without an unchanging substance being transmitted.

This view avoids both eternalism (an eternal self) and annihilationism (complete extinction at death). Instead, it presents a middle way: a dynamic unfolding of dependent origination where ignorance and craving fuel the cycle of becoming (*samsara*).

For many, this process of rebirth spans countless lifetimes across various realms of existence — from hell realms to heavenly realms — shaped by the quality of past actions. Yet the ultimate aim of Buddhist practice is not to secure favorable rebirths, but to bring the entire cycle to an end through the cessation of craving and delusion.

Understanding rebirth sharpens one’s sense of responsibility. Actions matter not only for this life, but for future consequences beyond this lifetime. At the same time, it offers profound hope: that change is always possible, and that liberation from the cycle of becoming is attainable through insight and practice.

“With ignorance as condition, volitional formations arise; with volitional formations as condition, consciousness arises… Thus is this whole mass of suffering.”
— Samyutta Nikāya 12.1 (Dependent Origination)