Buddhism presents what is arguably the most philosophically challenging account of rebirth. Unlike Hinduism and Jainism, Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent, unchanging soul (anatman / anatta). The question then becomes: what is it that is reborn if there is no self?

Rebirth, Not Reincarnation

Norman McClelland emphasizes the crucial terminological distinction: in Buddhist contexts, only “rebirth” is acceptable. “Reincarnation” implies a soul (atman) passing from body to body — precisely what Buddhism rejects. The Buddhist term is punarbhava (Pali: punabbhava) — “again-becoming.”

The Buddha’s teaching of pratityasamutpada (dependent origination) explains how one moment of consciousness conditions the next, and how the last moment of one life conditions the first moment of the next — without any unchanging entity traveling between them. The simile often used is that of one flame lighting another: the second flame is neither identical to the first nor entirely different.

Karma in Buddhism

The Buddha declared: “Intention (cetana), O monks, I declare to be karma.” This makes mental volition the essence of karmic action. Karma operates through the twelve-linked chain of dependent origination, where ignorance (avidya) conditions karmic formations (samskara), which condition consciousness (vijnana), and so on through birth, aging, and death.

As James McDermott’s chapter in the Doniger volume explains, early Buddhist texts (Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma Pitaka) developed sophisticated analyses of how karmic seeds (bija) ripen across lifetimes, with some bearing fruit in the same life, others in future lives, and others after many lifetimes.

The Rebirth Factor

The standard Buddhist term for what continues is vijnana (consciousness), though many Buddhists have rejected even this as too soul-like. The Milindapanha (Questions of King Milinda) addresses the puzzle through the famous chariot simile: just as a chariot is a convenient designation for assembled parts with no permanent essence, so the person is a stream of mental and physical events (nama-rupa) with no permanent self — yet continues across lives.

Buddhist Eschatology

Gananath Obeyesekere’s chapter in the Doniger volume traces “the rebirth eschatology and its transformations” in early Buddhism, showing how the Buddhist cosmology of multiple heavens, hells, and realms of existence (the six gatis) provided a comprehensive map of possible rebirth destinations determined by karmic balance.

Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantric Traditions

  • Theravada — Emphasizes individual effort to achieve arhatship and escape samsara.
  • Mahayana — The bodhisattva ideal: a being who voluntarily remains in samsara to liberate all sentient beings, accumulating merit across countless lifetimes.
  • Vajrayana (Tantric) — William Stablein’s chapter examines the “medical soteriology” of karma in the Buddhist Tantric tradition, where ritual practice transforms karmic traces at a subtle energetic level.

Buddhism and Taoism

The inclusion of Burton Watson’s Chuang Tzu Basic Writings in the corpus invites comparison. While not a Buddhist text, Taoist thought — particularly the idea of transformation (hua) and flowing with the Dao — resonates with Buddhist non-attachment and the critique of fixed identity. The Chuang Tzu’s famous butterfly dream poses the question of identity and transformation in a way that parallels Buddhist reflections on the self.