Breaking the circle: Death and the afterlife in buddhism

397 Pages·1993·0.94 MB·English

by  Carl B. Becker

Breaking the Circle : Death and the Afterlife
title:
in Buddhism
author: Becker, Carl B.
publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
isbn10 | asin: 0809319322
print isbn13: 9780809319329
ebook isbn13: 9780585039497
language: English
Future life--Buddhism, Death--Religious
subject
aspects--Buddhism.
publication date: 1993
lcc: BQ4530.B43 1993eb
ddc: 294.3/423
Future life--Buddhism, Death--Religious
subject:
aspects--Buddhism.
Page iii
Breaking the Circle
Death and The Afterlife in Buddhism
Carl B. Becker
Page iv
Copyright © 1993 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Edited by Tracey Moore
Designed by Chiquita Babb
Production supervised by Natalia Nadraga
96 95 94 93 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Becker, Carl B., 1951
Breaking the circle : death and the afterlife in
Buddhism / Carl B. Becker.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Future lifeBuddhism.2. DeathReligious as-
pectsBuddhism.
I. Title.
BQ4530.B431993
294.3'423dc20 92-43710
ISBN 0-8093-1845-8 CIP
ISBN 0-8093-1932-2 (pbk.)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Page v
Contents
Preface vii
1. Rebirth in Early Buddhism 1
The Importance of Rebirth 2
Rebirth and Identity 8
Difficulties with Rebirth 15
2. The Nirvana Alternative 23
Annihilation 25
Eternal Life 28
An Ethical State in This World 35
A Selfless State of Postmortem Existence 39
3. The Afterlife in Pure Land Buddhism 46
The Mahayana Idea of Merit Transference 47
Bodhisattvas 48
Buddha Fields 50
Descriptions of the Pure Land 52
The Ontology of the Pure Land 56
4. Finding the Pure Land Oneself 63
Meditation in Theory and Practice 63

Page vi
Deathbed Visions 69
Implications for Modern Scholarship 79
5. Tibetan Buddhism and the Book of the Dead 84
The Tibetan Worldview 84
Pre-Buddhist Tibetan Philosophy and Religion 85
Vajrayana 87
* Buddhism
The Book of the Dead 92
Philosophical Issues 102
6. Models for Survival 104
An Afterlife Conforming to Personal Expectations 105
Reincarnation 107
An Ethereal Astral World 110
An Ideational Next World 114
Impersonal Transcendental States 117
Possible Afterlife Scenarios 120
The Afterlife and Rewards for Goodness 123
7. Buddhist Ethics of Death and Dying 126
Death, Dying, and Bioethics in Japan 126
Buddhism and the Acceptance of Death 131
Early Buddhist Views of Suicide and Euthanasia 135
Buddhist Suicide and Dignified Death in Japan 137
Samurai Seppuku and Euthanasia 141
Rights and Responsibilities 144
Notes 151
Bibliography 169
Index 187
Page vii
Preface
This is an exciting time to look at Buddhism, for Buddhism is in the
process of moving from the East to the West. Whenever Buddhism
moves from one culture to a different one, it finds new interpretations
and new enlightenments. This book examines Buddhism's past moves
from India to China, Japan, and Tibet, and contemplates the new
interpretations and enlightenments that each of these moves produced,
especially concerning death and the afterlife.
Recently, there have been many books looking at the problems of
death and dying, like those by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Raymond
Moody, Jr., Philippe Ariès, and Ernest Becker. There have also been
many books on Buddhism, but few focusing on how Buddhists look at
death and dying. This study bridges that gap. The volume of literature
on non-Western death and dying has grown at a slow pace. Carol
Zalesky has attempted one study of premodern visions of death; this
book is the first American attempt to cover both the theory and
practice of death and the afterlife from a Buddhist perspective.
Understanding Buddhist death and the afterlife is another way of
understanding the Buddhist worldview: what exists and what perishes
in both the visible and invisible worlds. This is the first scholarly
study in English of the entire spectrum of Buddhist views of death and
the afterlife ranging from India through China, Japan, and Tibet. Its
emphasis is the existential
Page viii
impact of death and dying experiences on the Buddhist worldview.
Buddhism is full of apparent paradoxes. For example, Buddhists
believe in karma and rebirth, and yet they deny the existence of
permanent souls. What, then, is reborn, and why should it matter to us
today? Buddhists believe that truth can be found through meditation.
But how can enlightened inspiration be distinguished from illusion,
and how can nonmeditating Buddhists be saved? This book treats
these issues, which have confronted the leading thinkers of Buddhism
down through the centuries.
The central problem in early Buddhism was how to escape the
continuing cycle of birth and death. In Buddhist terms, this world of
suffering and rebirth is called samsara, and the escape from it,
nirvana. The question becomes: What is nirvana, and how can we
reach it? Chapters 1 and 2 focus on this subject, especially as it has
been discussed in Western languages.
In China and Japan, Buddhist concern with life after death moved to
visions of the Pure Land and worlds to come. Was this an East Asian
cultural distortion of Buddhism, or are there genuinely Buddhist bases
for these interpretations? Chapters 3 and 4 examine the deathbed
experiences and meditative visions of famous Chinese and Japanese
Buddhists to understand their faith in salvation.
The Book of the Dead is central to the Tibetan Buddhist worldview. It
is read into the ears of the dying and the dead to guide their journeys
through the realms of consciousness intermediate between samsara
and nirvana. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the Book of the Dead, showing
how it was shaped by the religious experiences of the Tibetans, and in
turn has shaped the Buddhist understanding of the period after death.
Death and the afterlife are not merely topics of armchair speculation.
They dictate how people choose to live and die. As medical facilities
have improved in East Asia, issues such as euthanasia and bioethics
have come to affect East Asia just as