REBIRTH WITHOUT A TRANSMIGRATING SOUL
| The concept of rebirth without a transmigrating soul
commonly raises the question: How can we speak of ourselves as having lived past lives if
there is no soul, no single life going through these many lives? To answer this we have to
understand the nature of individual identity in a single lifetime. The Buddha explains
that what we really are is a functionally unified combination of five aggregates. The five
aggregates fall into two groups. First there is a material process, which is a current of
material energy. Then there is a mental process, a current of mental happenings. Both
these currents consist of factors that are subject to momentary arising and passing away.
The mind is a series of mental acts made up of feelings, perceptions, mental formations
and consciousnes. These mental acts are called in Pali "cittas". Each citta
arises, breaks up and passes away. When it breaks up it does not leave any traces behind.
It does not have any core or inner essence that remains. But as soon as the citta breaks
up, immediately afterwards there arises another citta. Thus we find the mind as a
succession of cittas, or series of momentary acts of consciousness. Now when each citta falls away it transmits to its successor whatever impression has been recorded on itself, whatever experience it has undergone. Its perceptions, emotions and volitional force are passed on to the next citta, and thus all experiences we undergo leave their imprint on the onward flow of consciousness, on the "cittasantana", the continuum of mind. This transmission of influence, this causal continuity, gives us our continued identity. We remain the same person through the whole lifetime because of this continuity. |