View source for Reincarnation

{{Short description|Concept of rebirth in different physical form}}
{{Redirect2|Reincarnate|Past lives|other uses|Reincarnation (disambiguation)|and|Past Lives (disambiguation){{!}}Past Lives}}
{{distinguish|Resurrection}}
{{For|the Futurama episode|Reincarnation (Futurama)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
[[Image:Reincarnation AS.jpg|thumb|Illustration of reincarnation in [[Hindu art]]]]
[[File:Gati or existences.jpg|right|thumb|In [[Jainism]], a [[soul]] travels to any one of the four states of existence after death depending on its [[karma]]s.]]

'''Reincarnation''', also known as '''rebirth''' or '''transmigration''', is the [[Philosophy|philosophical]] or [[Religion|religious]] concept that the non-physical essence of a living [[being]] begins a new [[lifespan (disambiguation)|lifespan]] in a different physical form or [[physical body|body]] after biological [[death]].<ref name=":6">{{cite book |last=McClelland |first=Norman C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma |publisher=McFarland |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8 |pages=24–29, 171, 259 |access-date=2016-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126104519/https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |archive-date=2016-11-26 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 =Juergensmeyer | first1 = Mark | last2 = Roof | first2 = Wade Clark | year = 2011 | title = Encyclopedia of Global Religion | publisher = SAGE Publications | isbn = 978-1-4522-6656-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ | access-date = 2016-09-25 | archive-date = 2019-03-31 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190331224443/https://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ | url-status = live |pages =271–272}}</ref> In most beliefs involving reincarnation, the [[soul]] of a human being is [[immortality|immortal]] and does not disperse after the physical body has perished. Upon death, the soul merely transmigrates into a newborn baby or into an animal to continue its [[immortality]]. (The term "transmigration" means the passing of a soul from one body to another after death.)

Reincarnation (''[[punarjanman]]'') is a central tenet of [[Indian religions]] such as [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Jainism]], and [[Sikhism]].{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp= 271–272}}<ref>{{cite book 
 |first =Stephen J. |last =Laumakis |title =An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_29ZDAcUEwYC |year =2008 |publisher =Cambridge University Press |isbn =978-1-139-46966-1 |access-date =2016-09-25 |archive-date =2017-01-21 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170121233453/https://books.google.com/books?id=_29ZDAcUEwYC |url-status =live |pages =90–99}}</ref><ref name="Gross1993p148">{{cite book |author =Rita M. Gross |title =Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism |url =https://archive.org/details/buddhismafterpat00gros |url-access =registration |year =1993|publisher =State University of New York Press|isbn =978-1-4384-0513-1 |page =[https://archive.org/details/buddhismafterpat00gros/page/148 148]}}</ref><ref>[[Gavin Flood|Flood, Gavin D.]] (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press</ref> In various forms, it occurs as an esoteric belief in many streams of [[Judaism]], in certain [[Paganism|pagan religions]] (including [[Wicca]]), and in some beliefs of the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]]<ref>Gananath Obeyesekere, ''Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth''. University of California Press, 2002, p. 15.</ref> and of [[Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology#Views on death|Aboriginal Australians]] (though most believe in an afterlife or [[Spirit world (Spiritualism)|spirit world]]).<ref>Crawley{{full citation needed|date= September 2022}}</ref> Some [[ancient Greek]] historical figures, such as [[Pythagoras]], [[Socrates]], and [[Plato]], expressed belief in the soul's rebirth or migration (''[[metempsychosis]]'').<ref>see Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, Philip L. Quinn, ''A Companion to Philosophy of Religion''. John Wiley and Sons, 2010, p. 640, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SSCx-67Tk6cC&dq=reincarnation+and+rebirth&pg=PA640 Google Books] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163105/https://books.google.com/books?id=SSCx-67Tk6cC&pg=PA640&dq=reincarnation+and+rebirth&cd=8#v=onepage&q=reincarnation%20and%20rebirth&f=false |date =2022-12-12 }}</ref>

Although the majority of denominations within the [[Abrahamic religions]] do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular groups within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include mainstream historical and contemporary followers of [[Catharism]], [[Alawites]], [[Hasidic Judaism]], the [[Druze]],<ref>Hitti, Philip K (2007) [1924]. ''Origins of the Druze People and Religion, with Extracts from their Sacred Writings (New Edition)''. Columbia University Oriental Studies. '''28'''. London: Saqi. pp. 13–14. {{ISBN |0-86356-690-1}}</ref> [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistics]], [[Rastafarians]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1 =Fernández Olmos |first1 =Margarite |url =https://www.worldcat.org/title/702357503 |title =Creole religions of the Caribbean: an introduction from Vodou and Santería to Obeah and Espiritismo |last2 =Paravisini-Gebert |first2 =Lizabeth |publisher =New York University Press |year =2011 |isbn =978-0-8147-6227-1 |edition =2 |series =Religion, race, and ethnicity |location =New York |pages =186 |oclc =702357503}}</ref> and the [[Rosicrucians]].<ref>[[Max Heindel|Heindel, Max]] (1985) [1939, 1908] ''The Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures (Collected Works)'': [http://www.rosicrucian.com/rcl/rcleng01.htm#lecture1 The Riddle of Life and Death] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629063357/http://www.rosicrucian.com/rcl/rcleng01.htm#lecture1 |date =2010-06-29 }}. Oceanside, California. 4th edition. {{ISBN|0-911274-84-7}}</ref> Recent scholarly research has explored the historical relations between different sects and their beliefs about reincarnation. This research includes the views of [[Neoplatonism]], [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]], [[Hermeticism]], [[Manichaeism|Manichaenism]], and the [[Gnosticism]] of the [[Roman era]], as well as those in Indian religions.<ref>For discussion of the mutual influence of ancient Greek and Indian philosophy regarding these matters, see ''[[The Shape of Ancient Thought]]'' by [[Thomas McEvilley]]:
{{cite book
 |last1                = McEvilley
 |first1               = Thomas
 |author-link1         = Thomas McEvilley
 |date                 = 7 February 2012
 |orig-date            = 2002
 |title                = The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=KmqCDwAAQBAJ
 |publication-place    = New York
 |publisher            = Simon and Schuster
 |isbn                 = 9781581159332
 |access-date          = 8 January 2025
}} 
</ref> In recent decades, many [[Europeans]] and [[North Americans]] have developed an interest in reincarnation,<ref name=Haraldsson2006>{{cite journal |last1=Haraldsson |first1=Erlendur |title=Popular psychology, belief in life after death and reincarnation in the Nordic countries, Western and Eastern Europe |journal=Nordic Psychology |date=January 2006 |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=171–180 |doi=10.1027/1901-2276.58.2.171 |s2cid=143453837 }}</ref> and [[Reincarnation in popular culture|contemporary works]] sometimes mention the topic.<ref>
[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=reincarnation%2C+re-incarnation%2C+transmigration%2C+metempsychosis&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3 Chart of some recorded occurrences of terminology in English]
</ref>

==Conceptual definitions==
The word ''reincarnation'' derives from a [[Latin]] term that literally means 'entering the flesh again'. Reincarnation refers to the [[belief]] that an aspect of every human being (or all living beings in some cultures) continues to exist after death. This aspect may be the soul, mind, consciousness, or something transcendent which is reborn in an interconnected cycle of existence; the transmigration belief varies by culture, and is envisioned to be in the form of a newly born human being, animal, plant, spirit, or as a being in some other non-human realm of existence.<ref>{{cite web|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/reincarnation|access-date=25 June 2016|publisher=Concise.britannica.com}}</ref>{{Sfn|Keown|2013|pp=35–40}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Key Chapple|title=Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2006|isbn=978-81-208-2045-6|page=39|author-link=Christopher Chapple}}</ref>

An alternative term is ''transmigration'', implying migration from one life (body) to another.<ref>{{cite web|author=Oxford Dictionaries|year=2016|title=Transmigration|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/transmigrate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105185254/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/transmigrate|archive-date=January 5, 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The term has been used by modern philosophers such as [[Kurt Gödel]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Karl Sigmund|title=Gödel Exhibition: Gödel's Century|url=http://www.goedelexhibition.at/goedel/goedel.html|access-date=6 December 2011|publisher=Goedelexhibition.at|archive-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021185849/http://www.goedelexhibition.at/goedel/goedel.html}}</ref> and has entered the English language.

The Greek equivalent to reincarnation, ''[[metempsychosis]]'' ({{Langx|el|μετεμψύχωσις|label=none}}), derives from ''meta'' ('change') and {{Transliteration|el|empsykhoun}} ('to put a soul into'),<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=metempsychosis metempsychosis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818075859/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=metempsychosis |date=2016-08-18 }}, Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper (2015)</ref> a term attributed to [[Pythagoras]].<ref>[[Carl A. Huffman]] (2014), [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras/ Pythagoras, 4.1 The Fate of the Soul–Metempsychosis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007201148/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras |date=2008-10-07 }} Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University</ref> Another Greek term sometimes used synonymously is ''[[palingenesis]]'', 'being born again'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Heart of Hinduism: Reincarnation and Samsara|url=http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/102.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110419232238/http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/102.htm|archive-date=19 April 2011|access-date=6 December 2011|publisher=Hinduism.iskcon.com}}</ref>

Rebirth is a key concept found in major Indian religions, and discussed using various terms. ''[[Punarjanman]]'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनर्जन्मन्}}, 'rebirth, transmigration'),<ref name="Monier-Williams582">{{cite book|author=Monier Monier-Williams|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1872|page=582}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&pg=PA106|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1986|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|pages=88–89}}</ref> is discussed in the ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, with many alternate terms such as ''punarāvṛtti'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनरावृत्ति|label=none}}), ''punarājāti'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनराजाति|label=none}}), ''punarjīvātu'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनर्जीवातु|label=none}}), ''punarbhava'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनर्भव|label=none}}), ''āgati-gati'' ({{Langx|sa|आगति-गति|label=none}}, common in [[Buddhist Páli literature|Buddhist Pali]] text), ''nibbattin'' ({{Langx|sa|निब्बत्तिन्|label=none}}), ''upapatti'' ({{Langx|sa|उपपत्ति|label=none}}), and ''uppajjana'' ({{Langx|sa|उप्पज्जन|label=none}}).<ref name="Monier-Williams582" /><ref>{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids|title=Pali-English Dictionary|author2=William Stede|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1921|isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|pages=95, 144, 151, 361, 475}}</ref> These religions believe that reincarnation is cyclic and an endless [[Saṃsāra]], unless one gains spiritual insights that ends this cycle leading to liberation.{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|pp=90–99}} The reincarnation concept is considered in Indian religions as a step that starts each "cycle of aimless drifting, wandering or mundane existence",{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}} but one that is an opportunity to seek spiritual liberation through ethical living and a variety of meditative, yogic (''marga''), or other spiritual practices.<ref>{{harv|John Bowker|2014|pp=84–85}} Gavin Flood (2010), ''Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism'' (Editor: Knut Jacobsen), Volume II, Brill, {{ISBN|978-90-04-17893-9}}, pp. 881–884</ref> They consider the release from the cycle of reincarnations as the ultimate spiritual goal, and call the liberation by terms such as [[moksha]], [[nirvana]], ''mukti'' and ''kaivalya''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klostermaier |first1=Klaus |title=Mokṣa and Critical Theory |journal=Philosophy East and West |date=1985 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=61–71 |id={{ProQuest|1301471616}} |doi=10.2307/1398681 |jstor=1398681 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Norman E. |title=Liberation for Life: A Hindu Liberation Philosophy |journal=Missiology: An International Review |date=April 1988 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=149–162 |doi=10.1177/009182968801600202 |s2cid=170870237 }}</ref><ref>Gerhard Oberhammer (1994), La Délivrance dès cette vie: Jivanmukti, Collège de France, Publications de l'Institut de Civilisation Indienne. Série in-8°, Fasc. 61, Édition-Diffusion de Boccard (Paris), {{ISBN|978-2-86803-061-0}}, pp. 1–9</ref>

''[[Gilgul]]'', ''Gilgul neshamot'', or ''Gilgulei Ha Neshamot'' ({{Langx|he|גלגול הנשמות}}) is the concept of reincarnation in [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] [[Judaism]], found in much [[Yiddish literature]] among [[Ashkenazi Jews]]. ''Gilgul'' means 'cycle' and ''neshamot'' is 'souls'. Kabbalistic reincarnation says that humans reincarnate only to humans unless [[YHWH]]/[[Ein Sof]]/[[God]] chooses.

==History==

===Origins===

The origins of the notion of reincarnation are obscure.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Theosophical Society in America|title=Reincarnation: The Hope of the World|page=15|author=Irving Steiger Cooper|year=1920}}</ref> Discussion of the subject appears in the philosophical traditions of [[Ancient India]]. The Greek [[Pre-Socratics]] discussed reincarnation, and the Celtic [[druids]] are also reported to have taught a doctrine of reincarnation.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] thought the druids might have been influenced by the teachings of [[Pythagoras]]. Diodorus Siculus v.28.6; Hippolytus ''Philosophumena'' i.25.</ref>

===Early Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism===

The concepts of the cycle of birth and death, ''[[Saṃsāra|saṁsāra]]'', and [[moksha|liberation]] partly derive from [[Śramaṇa|ascetic traditions]] that arose in India around the middle of the first millennium BCE.<ref>Flood, Gavin. Olivelle, Patrick. 2003. ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism.'' Malden: Blackwell. pp. 273–274. "The second half of the first millennium BCE was the period that created many of the ideological and institutional elements that characterize later Indian religions. The renouncer tradition played a central role during this formative period of Indian religious history....Some of the fundamental values and beliefs that we generally associate with Indian religions in general and Hinduism in particular were in part the creation of the renouncer tradition. These include the two pillars of Indian theologies: samsara—the belief that life in this world is one of suffering and subject to repeated deaths and births (rebirth); moksa/nirvana—the goal of human existence....."</ref> The first textual references to the idea of reincarnation appear in the [[Rig Veda|Rigveda]], [[Yajur Veda|Yajurveda]] and [[Upanishads]] of the late [[Vedic period]] (c. 1100 – c. 500 BCE), predating the [[Buddha]] and [[Mahavira]].<ref name=damienkeown32>{{cite book|first=Damien |last=Keown |title=Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction |year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-966383-5 |pages=28, 32–38 }}</ref>{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|p=}} Though no direct evidence of this has been found, the tribes of the [[Ganges]] valley or the [[Dravidian peoples|Dravidian]] traditions of [[South India]] have been proposed as another early source of reincarnation beliefs.<ref>Gavin D. Flood, ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press (1996), UK {{ISBN|0-521-43878-0}} p. 86 – "A third alternative is that the origin of transmigration theory lies outside of vedic or sramanian traditions in the tribal religions of the Ganges valley, or even in Dravidian traditions of south India."</ref>

The idea of reincarnation, ''saṁsāra'', did exist in the early [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic religions]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/rig-veda-english-translation/d/doc839140.html|title=Rig Veda 10.58.1 [English translation]|date=27 August 2021|website=www.wisdomlib.org|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref><ref>A.M. Boyer: "Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara." ''Journal Asiatique'', (1901), Volume 9, Issue 18, S. 451–453, 459–468</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Krishan |first1=Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bi6FWX1NOgC |title=The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and Jaina Traditions |last2=Krishan |first2=Yuvraj |date=1997 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |isbn=978-81-208-1233-8 |pages=3–37 |language=en}}</ref> The early Vedas mention the doctrine of [[karma]] and rebirth.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|pp=90–99}}<ref>{{cite book|title=A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy|author=R.D.Ranade|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |pages=147–148 |year = 1926 |url= https://archive.org/stream/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926.djvu/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926#page/n181/mode/2up |quote= There we definitely know that the whole hymn is address to a departed spirit, and the poet [of the Rigvedic hymn] says that he is going to recall the departed soul in order that it may return again and live."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Atsushi Hayakawa |title=Circulation of Fire in the Veda |year=2014| publisher=LIT Verlag Münster| isbn=978-3-643-90472-0| pages=66–67, 101–103 with footnotes}}</ref> It is in the early Upanishads, which are pre-[[Buddha]] and pre-[[Mahavira]], where these ideas are developed and described in a general way.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|p=90}}<ref name="amboyer">A.M. Boyer (1901), "Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara", ''Journal Asiatique'', Volume 9, Issue 18, pp. 451–453, 459–468</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The way to Nirvana: six lectures on ancient Buddhism as a discipline of salvation|author=Vallee Pussin|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1917|pages=24–25}}</ref> The earliest layers of Vedic text incorporate the concept of life, followed by an [[afterlife]] in heaven and hell based on cumulative virtues (merit) or vices (demerit).<ref>{{cite book |author1=James Hastings |author1-link=James Hastings |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.500005 |title=Volume 12: Suffering-Zwingli |author2=John Alexander Selbie |author3=Louis Herbert Gray |author3-link=Louis Herbert Gray |publisher=T. & T. Clark |year=1922 |series=[[Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics]] |pages=616–618}}</ref> However, the ancient Vedic [[rishi]]s challenged this idea of afterlife as simplistic, because people do not live equally moral or immoral lives. Between generally virtuous lives, some are more virtuous; while evil too has degrees, and the texts assert that it would be unfair for people, with varying degrees of virtue or vices, to end up in heaven or hell, in "either or" and disproportionate manner irrespective of how virtuous or vicious their lives were.{{Sfn|Jessica Frazier|Gavin Flood|2011|pp=84–86}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Kusum P. Merh |title=Yama, the Glorious Lord of the Other World |publisher=Penguin |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-246-0066-5 |pages=213–215}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Anita Raina Thapan |title=The Penguin Swami Chinmyananda Reader |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-14-400062-3 |pages=84–90}}</ref> They introduced the idea of an afterlife in heaven or hell in proportion to one's merit.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jessica Frazier |title=The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies |author2=Gavin Flood |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8264-9966-0 |pages=84–86}}</ref><ref name="Krishan1997p17">{{cite book |author=Yuvraj Krishan |title=The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and Jaina Traditions |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |year=1997 |isbn=978-81-208-1233-8 |pages=17–27}}</ref>

Detailed descriptions first appear around the mid-1st millennium BCE in diverse traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism and various schools of [[Hindu philosophy]], each of which gave unique expression to the general principle.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|pp=90–99}}

The [[Purananuru]], part of Sangam literature<ref name="Kailas">{{cite book |author=K Kailasapathy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kF9kAAAAMAAJ |title=Tamil Heroic Poetry |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1968 |isbn=978-0-19-815434-1 |page=1}}</ref>(ancient [[Tamil literature]]) contains several mentions of rebirth and moksha.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/purananuru-part-134|title=Poem: Purananuru – Part 134 by George L. III Hart|website=www.poetrynook.com|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> The text explains Hindu rituals surrounding death such as making riceballs called [[Pinda (riceball)|pinda]] and cremation. The text states that good souls get a place in [[Svarga|Indraloka]] where [[Indra]] welcomes them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/purananuru-part-241|title=Poem: Purananuru – Part 241 by George L. III Hart|website=www.poetrynook.com|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref>

The texts of ancient [[Jainism]] that have survived into the modern era are post-Mahavira, likely from the last centuries of the first millennium BCE, and extensively discuss the doctrines of rebirth and karma.<ref>{{cite book |first=Padmanabh |last=Jaini |editor=Wendy Doniger |title=Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4WZTj3M71y0C |year=1980|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-03923-0 |pages=217–236}}</ref><ref name=dundasp14>{{cite book|author= Paul Dundas|title=The Jains |year=2003|publisher= [[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 |pages= 14–16, 102–105 }}</ref> Jaina philosophy assumes that the soul (''[[jiva]]'' in Jainism; ''[[Ātman (Hinduism)|atman]]'' in Hinduism) exists and is eternal, passing through cycles of transmigration and rebirth.{{Sfn|Jaini|1980|pp=226–228}} After death, reincarnation into a new body is asserted to be instantaneous in early Jaina texts.<ref name=dundasp14/> Depending upon the accumulated karma, rebirth occurs into a higher or lower bodily form, either in heaven or hell or earthly realm.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley |title=The A to Z of Jainism |year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow  |isbn=978-0-8108-6337-8 |page=186}}</ref>{{Sfn|Jaini|1980|pp=227-228}} No bodily form is permanent: everyone dies and reincarnates further. Liberation (''kevalya'') from reincarnation is possible, however, through removing and ending karmic accumulations to one's soul.<ref>{{cite book|author= Paul Dundas|title=The Jains  |year=2003|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 |pages= 104–105 }}</ref> From the early stages of Jainism on, a human being was considered the highest mortal being, with the potential to achieve liberation, particularly through [[asceticism]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffery D Long|title=Jainism: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajAEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|year=2013|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-0-85773-656-7|pages=36–37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Paul Dundas|title=The Jains |year=2003|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 |pages= 55–59 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John E. Cort|title=Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India| year=2001|publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803037-9|pages=118–119}}</ref>

The [[Buddhist texts#Texts of the Early schools|early Buddhist texts]] discuss rebirth as part of the doctrine of ''[[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]]''. This asserts that the nature of existence is a "suffering-laden cycle of life, death, and rebirth, without beginning or end".<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam>{{cite book|author=Jeff Wilson|year= 2010|title= Saṃsāra and Rebirth, in Buddhism| publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-539352-1| doi=10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0141}}</ref><ref name="Trainor2004p63">{{cite book|first=Kevin |last=Trainor |title= Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-517398-7 |pages=62–63 }}; ''Quote:'' "Buddhist doctrine holds that until they realize nirvana, beings are bound to undergo rebirth and redeath due to their having acted out of ignorance and desire, thereby producing the seeds of karma".</ref> Also referred to as the wheel of existence (''[[Bhavacakra]]''), it is often mentioned in Buddhist texts with the term ''punarbhava'' (rebirth, re-becoming). Liberation from this cycle of existence, ''Nirvana'', is the foundation and the most important purpose of Buddhism.<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/><ref name="Conze2013p71">{{cite book|author=Edward Conze |title= Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-54231-4|page=71|quote="Nirvana is the ''raison d'être'' of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last =Gethin | first =Rupert | year =1998 | title =Foundations of Buddhism | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =978-0-19-289223-2 | page =[https://archive.org/details/foundationsofbud00rupe/page/119 119] | url =https://archive.org/details/foundationsofbud00rupe/page/119 }}</ref> Buddhist texts also assert that an [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightened]] person knows his previous births, a knowledge achieved through high levels of [[samadhi|meditative concentration]].<ref>Paul Williams, Anthony Tribe, ''Buddhist thought: a complete introduction to the Indian tradition.'' Routledge, 2000, p. 84.</ref> Tibetan Buddhism discusses death, [[bardo]] (an intermediate state), and rebirth in texts such as the ''[[Bardo Thodol|Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''. While Nirvana is taught as the ultimate goal in the Theravadin Buddhism, and is essential to Mahayana Buddhism, the vast majority of contemporary lay Buddhists focus on accumulating good karma and acquiring merit to achieve a better reincarnation in the next life.<ref name="Merv Fowler 1999 65">{{cite book|author=Merv Fowler |title=Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices|year=1999|publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1-898723-66-0 |page=65|quote="For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a better rebirth."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Gowans|title=Philosophy of the Buddha: An Introduction|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-46973-4|page=169}}</ref>

In early Buddhist traditions, ''saṃsāra'' cosmology consisted of five realms through which the wheel of existence cycled.<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/> This included hells (''[[niraya]]''), [[hungry ghosts]] (''[[pretas]]''), animals (''[[Tiryakas realm|tiryaka]]''), humans (''[[manushya]]''), and gods (''[[Deva (Buddhism)|deva]]s'', heavenly).<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/><ref name="Trainor2004p63"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert DeCaroli |title=Haunting the Buddha: Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803765-1|pages=94–103}}</ref> In latter Buddhist traditions, this list grew to a list of six realms of rebirth, adding demigods (''[[Asura (Buddhism)|asuras]]'').<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/><ref>{{cite book|author=Akira Sadakata|title=Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins|year=1997|publisher= Kōsei Publishing 佼成出版社, Tokyo|isbn=978-4-333-01682-2|pages=68–70}}</ref>

====Comparison====
Early texts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism share the concepts and terminology related to reincarnation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Paul |last2=Tribe |first2=Anthony |last3=Wynne |first3=Alexander | year=2012 |title=Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-52088-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLfCgAAQBAJ |access-date=2016-09-25 |archive-date=2020-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120065316/https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLfCgAAQBAJ |url-status=live |pages=30–42}}</ref> They also emphasize similar virtuous practices and [[karma]] as necessary for liberation and what influences future rebirths.<ref name="damienkeown32"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Michael D. Coogan|title=The Illustrated Guide to World Religions | year=2003| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-521997-5| page=192}}</ref> For example, all three discuss various virtues—sometimes grouped as [[Yamas]] and [[Niyama]]s—such as [[Ahimsa|non-violence]], [[Satya|truthfulness]], [[Asteya|non-stealing]], [[Aparigraha|non-possessiveness]], [[compassion]] for all living beings, [[Dāna|charity]] and many others.<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Carpenter|author2=Ian Whicher|title=Yoga: The Indian Tradition|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79606-8|page=116}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rita Langer |title=Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins |year=2007|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-15873-7 |pages=53–54 }}</ref>

Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism disagree in their assumptions and theories about rebirth. Hinduism relies on its foundational belief that the 'soul, Self exists' ([[Atman (Hinduism)|''atman'']] or ''attā''), while Buddhism aserts that there is 'no soul, no Self' ([[Anattā|''anatta'']] or ''anatman'').<ref>{{cite book|author=Christmas Humphreys|title=Exploring Buddhism |year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22877-3 |pages=42–43 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8|page=51|quote="(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps—the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Theravada Buddhism|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90352-8|page=47|quote="(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."}}</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210185046/http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=2015-12-10 }}, Encyclopedia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self").";</ref><ref>Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, p. 64; "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."</ref><ref>Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|page=2}} to ''Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad'', pp. 2–4;</ref><ref>Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206211126/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=2015-02-06 }}, Philosophy Now;</ref><ref name=Loy1982/><ref>KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0619-1}}, pp. 246–249, from note 385 onwards;</ref><ref name=johnplott3>John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0158-5}}, p. 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".</ref> Hindu traditions consider soul to be the unchanging eternal essence of a living being, which journeys through reincarnations until it attains self-knowledge.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce M. Sullivan|title=Historical Dictionary of Hinduism|year=1997|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-3327-2|pages=235–236 (See: Upanishads)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Klaus K. Klostermaier|title=A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition|year=2007|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-7082-4|pages=119–122, 162–180, 194–195}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kalupahana |first=David J. |date=1992 |title=The Principles of Buddhist Psychology |location=Delhi |publisher=ri Satguru Publications |pages=38–39}}</ref> Buddhism, in contrast, asserts a rebirth theory without a Self, and considers realization of non-Self or Emptiness as Nirvana (''[[nibbana]]'').

The reincarnation doctrine in Jainism differs from those in Buddhism, even though both are non-theistic [[Sramana]] traditions.<ref name=naomiappleton76/><ref>{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=Historical Dictionary of Jainism|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-5051-4|page=91}}</ref> Jainism, in contrast to Buddhism, accepts the foundational assumption that soul (''[[Jiva]]'') exists and asserts that this soul is involved in the rebirth mechanism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=Historical Dictionary of Jainism|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-5051-4|pages=10–12, 111–112, 119}}</ref> Furthermore, Jainism considers [[asceticism]] as an important means to spiritual liberation that ends the cycle of reincarnation, while Buddhism does not.<ref name=naomiappleton76>{{cite book|author=Naomi Appleton |title=Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories  |year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91640-0|pages=76–89 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere |title=Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study |year=2006|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-2609-0 |pages=107–108 }};<br />{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=Historical Dictionary of Jainism|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-5051-4|pages=118–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John E. Cort|title=Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India | year=2001|publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803037-9|pages=118–123}}</ref>

===Classical Greek Philosophy===
{{see also|Metempsychosis}}
[[Image:2161 - Taormina - Badia Vecchia - Sarcofago romano del sec. II d.C. - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 20-May-2008.jpg|thumb|A second-century Roman sarcophagus shows the mythology and symbolism of the Orphic and Dionysiac Mystery schools. Orpheus plays his lyre to the left.]]
Early Greek discussion of the concept dates to the sixth century BCE. An early Greek thinker known to have considered rebirth is [[Pherecydes of Syros]] (fl. 540 BCE).<ref>Schibli, S., Hermann, Pherekydes of Syros, p. 104, Oxford Univ. Press 2001</ref> His younger contemporary [[Pythagoras]] (c. 570–c. 495 BCE<ref>"The dates of his life cannot be fixed exactly, but assuming the approximate correctness of the statement of Aristoxenus (ap. Porph. ''V.P.'' 9) that he left Samos to escape the tyranny of Polycrates at the age of forty, we may put his birth round about 570 BCE, or a few years earlier. The length of his life was variously estimated in antiquity, but it is agreed that he lived to a fairly ripe old age, and most probably he died at about seventy-five or eighty." [[William Keith Chambers Guthrie]], (1978), ''A history of Greek philosophy, Volume 1: The earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans'', p. 173. Cambridge University Press</ref>), its first famous exponent, instituted societies for its diffusion. Some authorities believe that Pythagoras was Pherecydes' pupil, others that Pythagoras took up the idea of reincarnation from the doctrine of [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]], a [[Thrace|Thracian]] religion, or brought the teaching from India.

[[Plato]] (428/427–348/347 BCE) presented accounts of reincarnation in his works, particularly the ''[[Myth of Er]]'', where Plato makes Socrates tell how Er, the son of [[Arminius|Armenius]], miraculously returned to life on the twelfth day after death and recounted the secrets of the other world. There are myths and theories to the same effect in other dialogues, in the [[Chariot allegory]] of the ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'',<ref>''The Dialogues of Plato'' (Benjamin Jowett trans., 1875 ed), vol. 2, p. 125</ref> in the ''[[Meno]]'',<ref>''The Dialogues of Plato'' (Benjamin Jowett trans., 1875 ed), vol. 1, p. 282</ref> ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]''. The soul, once separated from the body, spends an indeterminate amount of time in the intelligible realm (see the [[Allegory of the Cave]] in ''[[The Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'') and then assumes another body. In the ''Timaeus'', Plato believes that the soul moves from body to body without any distinct reward-or-punishment phase between lives, because the reincarnation is itself a punishment or reward for how a person has lived.<ref>See Kamtekar 2016 for a discussion of how Plato's view of reincarnation changes across texts, especially concerning the existence of a distinct reward-or-punishment phase between lives. Rachana Kamtekar. 2016. "The Soul’s (After-) Life," ''Ancient Philosophy'' 36 (1):115–132.</ref>

In ''[[Phaedo]]'', Plato has his teacher [[Socrates]], prior to his death, state: "I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, and that the living spring from the dead." However, [[Xenophon]] does not mention Socrates as believing in reincarnation, and Plato may have systematized Socrates' thought with concepts he took directly from Pythagoreanism or Orphism. Recent scholars have come to see that Plato has multiple reasons for the belief in reincarnation.<ref>See Campbell 2022 for more on why Plato believes in reincarnation. Douglas R. Campbell. 2022.  "Plato's Theory of Reincarnation: Eschatology and Natural Philosophy," ''Review of Metaphysics'' 75 (4): 643–665. See also the discussion in Chad Jorgensen. 2018. ''The Embodied Soul in Plato's Later Thought''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> One argument concerns the theory of reincarnation's usefulness for explaining why non-human animals exist: they are former humans, being punished for their vices; Plato gives this argument at the end of the ''Timaeus''.<ref>See ''Timaeus'' 90–92.</ref>

====Mystery cults====
The [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic religion]], which taught reincarnation, about the sixth century BCE, produced a copious literature.<ref>Linforth, Ivan M. (1941) ''The Arts of Orpheus'' Arno Press, New York, {{OCLC|514515}}</ref><ref>Long, Herbert S. (1948) ''A Study of the doctrine of metempsychosis in Greece, from Pythagoras to Plato'' (Long's 1942 Ph.D. dissertation) Princeton, New Jersey, {{OCLC|1472399}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Herbert S. |title=Plato's Doctrine of Metempsychosis and Its Source |journal=The Classical Weekly |date=1948 |volume=41 |issue=10 |pages=149–155 |id={{ProQuest|1296280468}} |doi=10.2307/4342414 |jstor=4342414 }}</ref> [[Orpheus]], its legendary founder, is said to have taught that the immortal soul aspires to freedom while the body holds it prisoner. The wheel of birth revolves, the soul alternates between freedom and captivity round the wide circle of necessity. Orpheus proclaimed the need of the grace of the gods, [[Dionysus]] in particular, and of self-purification until the soul has completed the spiral ascent of destiny to live forever.

An association between [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean philosophy]] and reincarnation was routinely accepted throughout antiquity, as Pythagoras also taught about reincarnation. However, unlike the Orphics, who considered metempsychosis a cycle of grief that could be escaped by attaining liberation from it, Pythagoras seems to postulate an eternal, neutral reincarnation where subsequent lives would not be conditioned by any action done in the previous.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans|author=Leonid Zhmud|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-928931-8|pages=232–233}}</ref>

====Later authors====
In later Greek literature the doctrine is mentioned in a fragment of [[Menander]]<ref>Menander, ''The Inspired Woman''</ref> and satirized by [[Lucian]].<ref>Lucian, ''Gallus'', 18 et seq.</ref> In [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] literature it is found as early as [[Ennius]],<ref>Poesch, Jessie (1962) "Ennius and Basinio of Parma" ''[[Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes]]'' 25(1/2):116–118 [117 n15].</ref> who, in a lost passage of his ''Annals'', told how he had seen [[Homer]] in a dream, who had assured him that the same soul which had animated both the poets had once belonged to a peacock. [[Persius]] in his satires (vi. 9) laughs at this; it is referred to also by [[Lucretius]]<ref>Lucretius, (i. 124)</ref> and [[Horace]].<ref>Horace, ''Epistles'', II. i. 52</ref>

[[Virgil]] works the idea into his account of the Underworld in the sixth book of the ''[[Aeneid]]''.<ref>Virgil, ''The Aeneid'', vv. 724 et seq.</ref> It persists down to the late classic thinkers, [[Plotinus]] and the other [[Neoplatonist]]s. In the [[Hermetica]], a Graeco-Egyptian series of writings on cosmology and spirituality attributed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]]/[[Thoth]], the doctrine of reincarnation is central.

===Celtic paganism===
In the first century BCE [[Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor]] wrote:

{{blockquote|The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the [[Gauls]]' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body.}}

[[Julius Caesar]] recorded that the [[druids]] of Gaul, Britain and Ireland had metempsychosis as one of their core doctrines:<ref>Julius Caesar, "De Bello Gallico", VI</ref>

{{blockquote|The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another... the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed.}}

[[Diodorus]] also recorded the Gaul belief that human souls were immortal, and that after a prescribed number of years they would commence upon a new life in another body. He added that Gauls had the custom of casting letters to their deceased upon the funeral pyres, through which the dead would be able to read them.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[T. Rice Holmes]]|title=Caesar's Conquest of Gaul: An Historical Narrative|date=1903|publisher=|isbn=|page=}}</ref> [[Valerius Maximus]] also recounted they had the custom of lending sums of money to each other which would be repayable in the next world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kendrick |first=T.D. |date=2003 |orig-date=1927 |title=Druids and Druidism |publisher=Dover |isbn=0-486-42719-6 |page=106}}</ref> This was mentioned by [[Pomponius Mela]], who also recorded Gauls buried or burnt with them things they would need in a next life, to the point some would jump into the funeral piles of their relatives in order to cohabit in the new life with them.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=108}}

[[Hippolytus of Rome]] believed the Gauls had been taught the doctrine of reincarnation by a slave of [[Pythagoras]] named [[Zalmoxis]]. Conversely, [[Clement of Alexandria]] believed Pythagoras himself had learned it from the Celts and not the opposite, claiming he had been taught by [[Galatians (people)|Galatian]] Gauls, [[Hinduism|Hindu]] priests and [[Zoroastrians]].{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=105}}<ref name=Lopez>{{cite book|author=Robin Melrose|title=The Druids and King Arthur: A New View of Early Britain|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-07-864600-5-2}}</ref> However, author [[T. D. Kendrick]] rejected a real connection between Pythagoras and the Celtic idea reincarnation, noting their beliefs to have substantial differences, and any contact to be historically unlikely.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=108}} Nonetheless, he proposed the possibility of an ancient common source, also related to the [[Orphic religion]] and [[Thracian]] systems of belief.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=109}}

===Germanic paganism===
{{Main|Rebirth in Germanic paganism}}
Surviving texts indicate that there was a belief in [[rebirth in Germanic paganism]]. Examples include figures from [[eddic poetry]] and [[saga]]s, potentially by way of a process of naming and/or through the family line. Scholars have discussed the implications of these attestations and proposed theories regarding belief in reincarnation among the [[Germanic peoples]] prior to [[Christianization]] and potentially to some extent in [[folk belief]] thereafter.

===Judaism===
The belief in reincarnation developed among Jewish mystics in the medieval world, among whom differing explanations were given of the afterlife, although with a universal belief in an immortal soul.<ref>''Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals'', By George Robinson, Simon and Schuster 2008, p. 193</ref> It was explicitly rejected by [[Saadiah Gaon]].<ref>''The Book of Beliefs and Opinions'', chap. VIII</ref> Today, reincarnation is an [[esoteric]] belief within many streams of modern Judaism. [[Kabbalah]] teaches a belief in ''[[gilgul]]'', transmigration of souls, and hence the belief in reincarnation is universal in [[Hasidic Judaism]], which regards the Kabbalah as sacred and authoritative, and is also sometimes held as an esoteric belief within other strains of [[Orthodox Judaism]]. In [[Judaism]], the [[Zohar]], first published in the 13th century, discusses reincarnation at length, especially in the [[Torah]] portion "Balak." The most comprehensive [[Kabbalah|kabbalistic]] work on reincarnation, ''[[Shaar HaGilgulim]]'',<ref>"Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", p. 104, by B. Alan Wallace</ref><ref>"Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism", p. 190, by [[J. H. Chajes]]</ref> was written by [[Hayyim ben Joseph Vital|Chaim Vital]], based on the teachings of his mentor, the 16th-century kabbalist [[Isaac Luria]], who was said to know the past lives of each person through his [[Ruach HaKodesh|semi-prophetic]] abilities. The 18th-century Lithuanian master scholar and kabbalist, Elijah of Vilna, known as the [[Vilna Gaon]], authored a commentary on the biblical [[Book of Jonah]] as an allegory of reincarnation.

The practice of conversion to Judaism is sometimes understood within Orthodox Judaism in terms of reincarnation. According to this school of thought in Judaism, when non-Jews are drawn to Judaism, it is because they had been Jews in a former life. Such souls may "wander among nations" through multiple lives, until they find their way back to Judaism, including through finding themselves born in a gentile family with a "lost" Jewish ancestor.<ref>''Jewish Tales of Reincarnation'', By Yonasson Gershom, Yonasson Gershom, Jason Aronson, Incorporated, 31 January 2000</ref>

There is an extensive literature of Jewish folk and traditional stories that refer to reincarnation.<ref>Yonasson Gershom (1999), ''Jewish Tales of Reincarnation''. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. {{ISBN|0-7657-6083-5}}</ref>

===Christianity===
'''Reincarnationism''' or '''biblical reincarnation''' is the belief that certain people are or can be [[reincarnations]] of [[biblical figures]], such as [[Jesus Christ]] and the [[Virgin Mary]].<ref name="cinemaseekers1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cinemaseekers.com/Christ/reincarnation.html |title=Biblical Accounts that Suggest Reincarnation |access-date=2023-08-27 |archive-date=2021-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608232803/http://www.cinemaseekers.com/christ/reincarnation.html }}</ref> Some Christians believe that certain New Testament figures are reincarnations of Old Testament figures. For example, [[John the Baptist]] is believed by some to be a reincarnation of the prophet [[Elijah]], and a few take this further by suggesting Jesus was the reincarnation of Elijah's disciple [[Elisha]].<ref name="cinemaseekers1"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://yoganandafortheworld.com/who-was-jesus-before-the-last-incarnation-elias-and-elijah-the-second-coming-of-christ/ |title=Who Was Jesus Before the Last Incarnation? |date=9 January 2012 |access-date=2023-09-07}}</ref> Other Christians believe the [[Second Coming]] of Jesus would be fulfilled by reincarnation. [[Sun Myung Moon]], the founder of the [[Unification Church]], considered himself to be the fulfillment of Jesus' return.

The Catholic Church does not believe in reincarnation, which it regards as incompatible with [[death]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a11.htm#1013 |title=CCC – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 11 |publisher=Vatican.va |date= |access-date=2012-05-23}}</ref> Nonetheless, the leaders of certain [[sects]] in the church have taught that there are reincarnations of Mary – for example, Marie-Paule Giguère of the [[Community of the Lady of All Nations|Army of Mary]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cccb.ca/site/Files/armyofmary.html |title=Army of Mary Doctrinal Note |publisher=Cccb.ca |date= |access-date=2012-05-23 |archive-date=2012-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504170432/http://www.cccb.ca/site/Files/armyofmary.html }}</ref><ref name="vsu">{{Cite web|url=https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/army-of-mary/|title=Army of Mary / Community of the Lady of All Peoples – WRSP|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> and [[Feliksa Kozłowska|Maria Franciszka]] of the former [[Mariavite Church|Mariavites]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Pius X |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_05041906_tribus-circiter_en.html |title=Pius X, Tribus Circiter (05/04/1906) |publisher=Vatican.va |date=1904-09-04 |access-date=2012-05-23}}</ref> The [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] excommunicated the Army of Mary for teaching heresy, including reincarnationism.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/decl_excomm_english.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-05-23 |archive-date=2012-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504170442/http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/decl_excomm_english.pdf }}</ref>

====Gnosticism====
Several [[Gnostic]] sects professed reincarnation. The [[Sethians]] and followers of [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] believed in it.<ref>Much of this is documented in R.E. Slater's book ''Paradise Reconsidered.''</ref> The followers of [[Bardaisan]] of [[Mesopotamia]], a sect of the second century deemed heretical by the Catholic Church, drew upon [[Babylon|Chaldean]] [[astrology]], to which Bardaisan's son Harmonius, educated in Athens, added Greek ideas including a sort of metempsychosis. Another such teacher was [[Basilides]] (132–? CE/AD), known to us through the criticisms of [[Irenaeus]] and the work of [[Clement of Alexandria]] (see also [[Neoplatonism and Gnosticism]] and [[Buddhism and Gnosticism]]).

In the third Christian century [[Manichaeism]] spread both east and west from [[Babylonia]], then within the [[Sassanid Empire]], where its founder [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] lived about 216–276. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 AD. Noting Mani's early travels to the [[Kushan Empire]] and other Buddhist influences in Manichaeism, [[Richard Foltz]]<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], ''Religions of the Silk Road'', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010</ref> attributes Mani's teaching of reincarnation to Buddhist influence. However the inter-relation of Manicheanism, Orphism, Gnosticism and neo-Platonism is far from clear.

===Taoism===
[[Taoist]] documents from as early as the [[Han dynasty]] claimed that [[Lao Tzu]] appeared on earth as different persons in different times beginning in the legendary era of [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]]. The (ca. third century BC) ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Chuang Tzu]]'' states: "Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting-point. Existence without limitation is Space. Continuity without a starting point is Time. There is birth, there is death, there is issuing forth, there is entering in."<ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/chuangtzmysticm00chuagoog|title=Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer (translated by Herbert Allen Giles)|publisher= Bernard Quaritch|year= 1889|page= [https://archive.org/details/chuangtzmysticm00chuagoog/page/n338 304]|author1=Zhuangzi}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2019}}

===European Middle Ages===
Around the 11–12th century in Europe, several reincarnationist movements were persecuted as heresies, through the establishment of the [[Medieval Inquisition|Inquisition]] in the Latin west. These included the [[Cathar]], Paterene or Albigensian church of western Europe, the [[Paulician]] movement, which arose in Armenia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11583b.htm |title=Newadvent.org |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1 February 1911 |access-date=6 December 2011}}</ref> and the [[Bogomils]] in [[Bulgaria]].<ref>Steven Runciman, ''The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy'', 1982, {{ISBN|0-521-28926-2}}, Cambridge University Press, ''The Bogomils''</ref>

Christian sects such as the Bogomils and the Cathars, who professed reincarnation and other gnostic beliefs, were referred to as "Manichaean", and are today sometimes described by scholars as "Neo-Manichaean".<ref>For example Dondaine, Antoine. O.P. ''Un traite neo-manicheen du XIIIe siecle: Le Liber de duobus principiis, suivi d'un fragment de rituel Cathare'' (Rome: Institutum Historicum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1939)</ref> As there is no known Manichaean mythology or terminology in the writings of these groups there has been some dispute among historians as to whether these groups truly were descendants of Manichaeism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01267e.htm |title=Newadvent.org |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1 March 1907 |access-date=6 December 2011}}</ref>

===Renaissance and Early Modern period===
During the [[Renaissance]] translations of Plato, the [[Hermetica]], and other works fostered new European interest in reincarnation. [[Marsilio Ficino]]<ref>Marsilio Ficino, ''Platonic Theology'', 17.3–4</ref> argued that Plato's references to reincarnation were intended allegorically, Shakespeare alluded to the doctrine of reincarnation<ref>"Again, Rosalind in "As You Like It" (Act III., Scene 2), says: ''I was never so be-rhimed that I can remember since Pythagoras's time, when I was an Irish rat"''—alluding to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls." William H. Grattan Flood, quoted at [http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XVII-2.php Libraryireland.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421065024/http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XVII-2.php|date=2009-04-21}}</ref> but [[Giordano Bruno]] was burned at the stake by authorities after being found guilty of heresy by the [[Roman Inquisition]] for his teachings.<ref>Boulting, 1914. pp. 163–164</ref> But the Greek philosophical works remained available and, particularly in north Europe, were discussed by groups such as the [[Cambridge Platonists]]. [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] believed that we leave the physical world once, but then go through several lives in the spiritual world—a kind of hybrid of Christian tradition and the popular view of reincarnation.<ref>{{cite web |date=10 March 2017 |title=Swedenborg and Life Recap: Do We Reincarnate? 3/6/2017 |url=https://swedenborg.com/recap-do-we-reincarnate/ |access-date=24 October 2019 |publisher=Swedenborg Foundation}}</ref>

===19th to 20th centuries===
By the 19th century the philosophers [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]]<ref>Schopenhauer, A: "Parerga und Paralipomena" (Eduard Grisebach edition), On Religion, Section 177</ref> and [[Nietzsche]]<ref>Nietzsche and the Doctrine of Metempsychosis, in J. Urpeth & J. Lippitt, ''Nietzsche and the Divine'',  Manchester: Clinamen, 2000</ref> could access the Indian scriptures for discussion of the doctrine of reincarnation, which recommended itself to the [[American Transcendentalism|American Transcendentalists]] [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Walt Whitman]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and was adapted by [[Francis Bowen]] into ''Christian Metempsychosis''.<ref name="shirleymaclaine.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/articles/reincarnation/article-318 |title=Shirleymaclaine.com |publisher=Shirleymaclaine.com |access-date=6 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106160539/http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/articles/reincarnation/article-318 |archive-date=6 November 2011 }}</ref>

By the early 20th century, interest in reincarnation had been introduced into the nascent discipline of [[psychology]], largely due to the influence of [[William James]], who raised aspects of the [[philosophy of mind]], [[comparative religion]], the psychology of religious experience and the nature of empiricism.<ref>David Hammerman, Lisa Lenard, ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reincarnation'', Penguin, p. 34. For relevant works by James, see; William James, ''Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine (the Ingersoll Lecture, 1897)'', ''The Will to Believe, Human Immortality'' (1956) Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-20291-7}}, ''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature'' (1902), {{ISBN|0-14-039034-0}}, ''Essays in Radical Empiricism'' (1912) Dover Publications 2003, {{ISBN|0-486-43094-4}}</ref> James was influential in the founding of the [[American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) in [[New York City]] in 1885, three years after the British [[Society for Psychical Research]] (SPR) was inaugurated in London,<ref name="Berger">{{cite book |last=Berger |first=Arthur S. |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00berg |title=The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research |author2=Berger, Joyce |publisher=Paragon House Publishers |year=1991 |isbn=1-55778-043-9}}</ref> leading to systematic, critical investigation of paranormal phenomena. Famous World War II American General George Patton was a strong believer in reincarnation, believing, among other things, he was a reincarnation of the Carthaginian General Hannibal.

At this time popular awareness of the idea of reincarnation was boosted by the [[Theosophical Society]]'s dissemination of systematised and universalised Indian concepts and also by the influence of magical societies like [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|The Golden Dawn]]. Notable personalities like [[Annie Besant]], [[W. B. Yeats]] and [[Dion Fortune]] made the subject almost as [[Reincarnation in popular culture|familiar an element of the popular culture]] of the west as of the east. By 1924 the subject could be satirised in popular children's books.<ref>Richmal Crompton, ''More William'', George Newnes, London, 1924, XIII. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17125/17125-h/17125-h.htm William and the Ancient Souls] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529165615/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17125/17125-h/17125-h.htm |date=2012-05-29 }}; "The memory usually came in a flash. For instance, you might remember in a flash when you were looking at a box of matches that you had been Guy Fawkes."</ref> Humorist [[Don Marquis]] created a fictional cat named Mehitabel who claimed to be a reincarnation of Queen Cleopatra.<ref>Marquis, "Archy and Mehitabel" (1927)</ref>

[[Théodore Flournoy]] was among the first to study a claim of past-life recall in the course of his investigation of the medium [[Hélène Smith]], published in 1900, in which he defined the possibility of [[cryptomnesia]] in such accounts.<ref>Théodore Flournoy, [http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/-Des-Indes-a-la-planete-Mars-.html Des Indes à la planète Mars] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201172115/http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/-Des-Indes-a-la-planete-Mars-.html |date=2009-12-01 }}, Étude sur un cas de somnambulisme avec glossolalie, Éditions Alcan et Eggimann, Paris et Genève, 1900</ref>
[[Carl Gustav Jung]], like Flournoy based in Switzerland, also emulated him in his thesis based on a study of cryptomnesia in psychism. Later Jung would emphasise the importance of the persistence of memory and ego in psychological study of reincarnation: "This concept of rebirth necessarily implies the continuity of personality... (that) one is able, at least potentially, to remember that one has lived through previous existences, and that these existences were one's own...."<ref name="shirleymaclaine.com"/> [[Hypnosis]], used in [[psychoanalysis]] for retrieving forgotten memories, was eventually tried as a means of studying the phenomenon of past life recall.

More recently, many people in the West have developed an interest in and acceptance of reincarnation.<ref name=Haraldsson2006/> Many new religious movements include reincarnation among their beliefs, e.g. modern [[Neopaganism|Neopagans]], [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]], Astara,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Astara |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/astara/ |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> [[Dianetics]], and [[Scientology]]. Many [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] philosophies also include reincarnation, e.g. [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]], [[Anthroposophy]], [[Kabbalah]], and [[Gnostic]] and [[Esoteric Christianity]] such as the works of [[Martinus Thomsen]].

Demographic survey data from 1999 to 2002 shows a significant minority of people from Europe (22%) and America (20%) believe in the existence of life before birth and after death, leading to a physical rebirth.<ref name=Haraldsson2006/><ref>David W. Moore, [https://news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113011455/https://news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx |date=2020-01-13 }}</ref> The belief in reincarnation is particularly high in the Baltic countries, with [[Lithuania]] having the highest figure for the whole of Europe, 44%, while the lowest figure is in East Germany, 12%.<ref name=Haraldsson2006/> A quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10% of all [[born again]] Christians, embrace the idea.<ref>[http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/buddhism-china/ Buddhism China]{{dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref>

Academic psychiatrist [[Ian Stevenson]] reported that belief in reincarnation is held (with variations in details) by adherents of almost all major religions except [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]]. In addition, between 20 and 30 percent of persons in western countries who may be nominal Christians also believe in reincarnation.<ref name="jh">Jane Henry (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=EaIhapm-4UgC&dq=%22Parapsychology:+Research+on+Exceptional+Experiences%22+%22Jane+Henry%22&pg=PP5 Parapsychology: research on exceptional experiences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163105/https://books.google.com/books?id=EaIhapm-4UgC&pg=PP5&lpg=PP5&dq=%22Parapsychology:+Research+on+Exceptional+Experiences%22+%22Jane+Henry%22&source=bl&ots=tReXJKfiIh&sig=IIE8o603PaUPxN2RT21gedmeoP8&hl=en&ei=k_VKSpL6HIvkNduOrJsB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 |date=2022-12-12 }} Routledge, p. 224.</ref> One 1999 study by Walter and Waterhouse reviewed the previous data on the level of reincarnation belief and performed a set of thirty in-depth interviews in Britain among people who did not belong to a religion advocating reincarnation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walter |first1=Tony |last2=Waterhouse |first2=Helen |title=A Very Private Belief: Reincarnation in Contemporary England |journal=Sociology of Religion |date=1999 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=187–197 |doi=10.2307/3711748 |jstor=3711748 }}</ref> The authors reported that surveys have found about one fifth to one quarter of Europeans have some level of belief in reincarnation, with similar results found in the USA. In the interviewed group, the belief in the existence of this phenomenon appeared independent of their age, or the type of religion that these people belonged to, with most being Christians. The beliefs of this group also did not appear to contain any more than usual of "new age" ideas (broadly defined) and the authors interpreted their ideas on reincarnation as "one way of tackling issues of suffering", but noted that this seemed to have little effect on their private lives.

Waterhouse also published a detailed discussion of beliefs expressed in the interviews.<ref name="Waterhouse1999">{{Cite journal |author=Waterhouse, H. |year=1999 |title=Reincarnation belief in Britain: New age orientation or mainstream option? |journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=97–109 |doi=10.1080/13537909908580854}}</ref> She noted that although most people "hold their belief in reincarnation quite lightly" and were unclear on the details of their ideas, personal experiences such as past-life memories and [[near-death experience]]s had influenced most believers, although only a few had direct experience of these phenomena. Waterhouse analyzed the influences of second-hand accounts of reincarnation, writing that most of the people in the survey had heard other people's accounts of past-lives from regression hypnosis and dreams and found these fascinating, feeling that there "must be something in it" if other people were having such experiences.

Other influential contemporary figures that have written on reincarnation include [[Alice Ann Bailey]], one of the first writers to use the terms [[New Age]] and [[age of Aquarius]], [[Torkom Saraydarian]], an [[Armenian-American]] musician and religious author, Dolores Cannon, [[Atul Gawande]], [[Michael Newton (hypnotist)|Michael Newton]], [[Bruce Greyson]], [[Raymond Moody]] and [[Unity Church]] founder [[Charles Fillmore (Unity Church)|Charles Fillmore]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Unity Magazine November 1938 – Reincarnation {{!}} Truth Unity |url=https://www.truthunity.net/monthly-magazine/1938-11-unity-reincarnation |access-date=2023-02-20 |website=www.truthunity.net}}</ref> [[Neale Donald Walsch]], an American author of the series ''[[Conversations with God]]'' claims that he has reincarnated more than 600 times.<ref>{{cite web |title=Being at One: Neale Donald Walsch Interview with Gil Dekel (Part 3 of 3, paragraphs 18–19) |work=Poetic Mind - Gil and Natalie Dekel &#124; Official website of Dr. Gil Dekel & Natalie Dekel, MPhil |date=19 September 2010 |url=http://www.poeticmind.co.uk/creative-thoughts/being-at-one-neale-donald-walsch-interview-with-gil-dekel-phd-part-3-of-3/ |author1=Gil }}</ref> The Indian spiritual teacher [[Meher Baba]] who had significant following in the West taught that reincarnation followed from human desire and ceased once a person was freed from desire.<ref>[[Meher Baba|Baba, Meher]] (1967), [http://www.discoursesbymeherbaba.org ''Discourses''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708200229/http://www.discoursesbymeherbaba.org/ |date=2018-07-08 }}, Volume III, Sufism Reoriented, 1967, {{ISBN|1-880619-09-1}}, p. 96.</ref>

== Religions and philosophies ==

===Buddhism===
{{Main|Rebirth (Buddhism)|Saṃsāra (Buddhism)}}
[[Image:Buddhist Wheel of Life.jpg|upright|thumb|In this 8-meter (25-foot) tall Buddhist relief, made between 1177 and 1249, located at [[Dazu Rock Carvings]], Chongqing, China, [[Mara (demon)|Mara]], Lord of Death and Desire, clutches a Wheel of Reincarnation which outlines the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation. ]]
{{Buddhism|collapsed=1}}

According to various Buddhist scriptures, [[Gautama Buddha]] believed in the existence of an afterlife in another world and in reincarnation,

{{Blockquote|
Since there actually is another world (any world other than the present human one, i.e. different rebirth realms), one who holds the view 'there is no other world' has wrong view...
|Buddha|''[[Majjhima Nikaya]]'' i.402, Apannaka Sutta, translated by Peter Harvey<ref name="Harvey2012p46">{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|pages=32–33, 38–39, 46–49}}</ref>|source=}}

The Buddha also asserted that karma influences rebirth, and that the cycles of repeated births and deaths are endless.<ref name="Harvey2012p46"/><ref name="Neufeldt1986p123">{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt |title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments | year=1986| publisher=State University of New York Press| isbn=978-0-87395-990-2| pages=123–131}}</ref> Before the birth of Buddha, materialistic school such as [[Charvaka]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Ray Billington|title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-79348-8|page=60}}</ref> posited that death is the end, there is no afterlife, no soul, no rebirth, no karma, and they described death to be a state where a living being is completely annihilated, dissolved.<ref>{{cite book|author= Ray Billington|title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy |year=2002|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-79349-5 |pages=43–44, 58–60 }}</ref> Buddha rejected this theory, adopted the alternative existing theories on rebirth, criticizing the materialistic schools that denied rebirth and karma, states [[Damien Keown]].<ref name=danielkeownucchedavada/> Such beliefs are inappropriate and dangerous, stated Buddha, because such annihilationism views encourage moral irresponsibility and material hedonism;{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|p=21}} he tied moral responsibility to rebirth.<ref name="Harvey2012p46"/><ref name=danielkeownucchedavada>{{cite book|isbn= 978-0-19-860560-7 |title=A Dictionary of Buddhism (Articles titled ucchedavāda, śāśvata-vāda, rebirth) |publisher=Oxford University Press |first=Damien |last=Keown |year=2004 |pages= 80, 162, 225, 255, 315 <!-- |access-date=4 December 2013 -->}}</ref>

The Buddha introduced the concept of ''[[anattā]],'' which asserts that there is no permanent self (soul).<ref name="Kalupahana1975p115">{{cite book|first=David J. |last=Kalupahana |title=Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism |year=1975|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|isbn=978-0-8248-0298-1|pages=115–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|pages=57–62}}</ref><ref name="Leaman2002p23">{{cite book|author= Oliver Leaman|title= Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |year=2002|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-68919-4 |pages=23–27 }}</ref> Major contemporary Buddhist traditions such as Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions accept the teachings of Buddha. These teachings assert there is rebirth, there is no permanent self and no irreducible [[Atman (Buddhism)|''ātman'']] (soul) moving from life to another and tying these lives together, there is [[anicca|impermanence]], that all compounded things such as living beings are [[Skandha|aggregates]] dissolve at death, but every being reincarnates.<ref>{{cite book|author=Malcolm B. Hamilton|title=The Sociology of Religion: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives|year= 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-97626-3|pages=73–80}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Raju | first =P. T. | year =1985 | title =Structural Depths of Indian Thought | publisher =State University of New York Press | isbn =978-0-88706-139-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju| url-access =registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju/page/147 147]–151}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|McClelland|2010|p=89}};<br />{{cite book|author=Hugh Nicholson|title=The Spirit of Contradiction in Christianity and Buddhism |year=2016| publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-045534-7|pages=23–25}}</ref> The rebirth cycles continue endlessly, states Buddhism, and it is a source of ''[[Duḥkha|duhkha]]'' (suffering, pain), but this reincarnation and ''duhkha'' cycle can be stopped through nirvana. The ''[[anattā]]'' doctrine of Buddhism is a contrast to Hinduism, the latter asserting that "soul exists, it is involved in rebirth, and it is through this soul that everything is connected".<ref>{{cite book|first=Walpola |last=Rahula|title=What the Buddha Taught|location=London|publisher=Gordon Fraser |year=1990|page=51}}</ref>{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=58, ''Quote:'' "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next.}}<ref name="buswelllopezp708">{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=708–709}}</ref>

Different traditions within Buddhism have offered different theories on what reincarnates and how reincarnation happens. One theory suggests that it occurs through consciousness (Sanskrit: ''[[vijñāna]]''; Pali: ''samvattanika-viññana'')<ref>([[Majjhima Nikaya|M]].1.256) "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism." by Bruce Matthews. in ''Karma and Rebirth: Post-Classical Developments'' State Univ of New York Press: 1986 {{ISBN|0-87395-990-6}} p. 125</ref><ref>Collins, Steven. ''Selfless persons: imagery and thought in Theravāda Buddhism'' Cambridge University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-521-39726-X}} p. 215, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ruJvjdNQVPIC&dq=samvattanika&pg=RA1-PA115 Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163107/https://books.google.com/books?id=ruJvjdNQVPIC&pg=RA1-PA115&lpg=RA1-PA115&dq=samvattanika&source=bl&ots=d_WluqzeuL&sig=SX1Ua5bfFDZJB16eOueopPtVntw&hl=en&ei=bfpFS5WzOs-UtgfU16z7AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=14&ved=0CD8Q6AEwDQ#v=onepage&q=samvattanika&f=false |date=2022-12-12 }}</ref> or stream of consciousness (Sanskrit: ''[[citta-santāna]]'', ''vijñāna-srotām, or vijñāna-santāna''; Pali: ''viññana-sotam'')<ref>([[Digha Nikaya|D]].3.105) "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism. by Bruce Matthews. in Karma and Rebirth: ''Post-Classical Developments'' State Univ of New York Press: 1986 {{ISBN|0-87395-990-6}} p. 125</ref> upon death, which reincarnates into a new aggregation. This process, states this theory, is similar to the flame of a dying candle lighting up another.{{sfn|Kalupahana|1975|p=83}}<ref>{{cite book|author1=William H. Swatos |author2=Peter Kivisto |title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society |year=1998|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7619-8956-1|page=66}}</ref> The consciousness in the newly born being is neither identical to nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream in this Buddhist theory. Transmigration is influenced by a being's past ''[[karma]]'' (Pali: ''kamma'').<ref>His Holiness the Dalai Lama, ''How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life'' (New York: Atria Books, 2002), p. 46</ref><ref>Bruce Matthews in Ronald Wesley Neufeldt, editor, ''Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments.'' SUNY Press, 1986, p. 125. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&dq=Bija+Niyama&pg=PA126 Google.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163105/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&pg=PA126&dq=Bija+Niyama&lr=#PPA125,M1 |date=2022-12-12 }}</ref> The root cause of rebirth, states Buddhism, is the abiding of consciousness in ignorance (Sanskrit: ''[[avidya (Buddhism)|avidya]]''; Pali: ''avijja'') about the nature of reality, and when this ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases.<ref>Peter Harvey, ''The Selfless Mind.'' Curzon Press 1995, p. 247.</ref>

[[File:Shamon jigoku zôshi.jpg|thumb|A 12th-century Japanese painting showing one of the six Buddhist realms of reincarnation (''rokudō'', 六道)]]
Buddhist traditions also vary in their mechanistic details on rebirth. Most [[Theravada]] Buddhists assert that rebirth is immediate while the [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan]] and most Chinese and Japanese schools hold to the notion of a ''[[bardo]]'' (intermediate state) that can last up to 49 days.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=49–50, 708–709}}</ref><ref>The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Translator. Wisdom Publications. Sutta 44.9</ref> The ''bardo'' rebirth concept of Tibetan Buddhism, originally developed in India but spread to Tibet and other Buddhist countries, and involves 42 peaceful deities, and 58 wrathful deities.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Karma-gliṅ-pa|author2=Chogyam Trungpa|author3=Francesca Fremantle|title=The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo|year=2000|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=978-1-57062-747-7|pages=xi, xvii–xxiii}}</ref> These ideas led to maps on karma and what form of rebirth one takes after death, discussed in texts such as ''[[Bardo Thodol|The Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Karma-gliṅ-pa|author2=Chogyam Trungpa|author3=Francesca Fremantle|title=The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo|year=2000|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=978-1-57062-747-7|pages=4–23}}</ref>{{Sfn|Trainor|2004|pp=210–211}} The major Buddhist traditions accept that the reincarnation of a being depends on the past karma and merit (demerit) accumulated, and that there are six realms of existence in which the rebirth may occur after each death.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|pp=62–63}}{{Sfn|Keown|2013|pp=35–40}}<ref name="Merv Fowler 1999 65"/>

Within Japanese [[Zen]], reincarnation is accepted by some, but rejected by others. A distinction can be drawn between 'folk Zen', as in the Zen practiced by devotional lay people, and 'philosophical Zen'. Folk Zen generally accepts the various supernatural elements of Buddhism such as rebirth. Philosophical Zen, however, places more emphasis on the present moment.{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|p=281}}<ref name=warner>{{citation|last=Warner|first=Brad|title=Hardcore Zen|isbn= 978-0-86171-989-1|publisher=Wisdom Publications|year=2005|page=155}}</ref>

Some schools conclude that [[karma]] continues to exist and adhere to the person until it works out its consequences. For the [[Sautrantika]] school, each act "perfumes" the individual or "plants a seed" that later germinates. Tibetan Buddhism stresses the state of mind at the time of death. To die with a peaceful mind will stimulate a virtuous seed and a fortunate rebirth; a disturbed mind will stimulate a non-virtuous seed and an unfortunate rebirth.<ref>''Transform Your Life'': A Blissful Journey, p. 52), [[Tharpa Publications]] (2001, US ed. 2007) {{ISBN|978-0-9789067-4-0}}</ref>

===Christianity===
In a survey carried out by the [[Pew Forum]] in 2009, 22% of American Christians expressed a belief in reincarnation,<ref>{{cite web |author= ANALYSIS |url= http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/Many-Americans-Mix-Multiple-Faiths.aspx |title= Pewforum.org |publisher= Pewforum.org |date= 9 December 2009 |access-date= 15 April 2025 |archive-date =10 December 2011 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111210074029/http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/Many-Americans-Mix-Multiple-Faiths.aspx |url-status=dead | quote = Many [...] blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation, astrology and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects. [...] Though the U.S. is an overwhelmingly Christian country, significant minorities profess belief in a variety of Eastern or New Age beliefs. For instance, 24% of the public overall and 22% of Christians say they believe in reincarnation -- that people will be reborn in this world again and again.}}</ref> and in a 1981 survey 31% of regular churchgoing European Catholics expressed a belief in reincarnation.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.spirituale-wholeness.org/faqs/reinceur/reineuro.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20010425113340/http://spiritual-wholeness.org/faqs/reinceur/reineuro.htm |archive-date= 25 April 2001 |title= Spiritual-wholeness.org |publisher= Spiritual-wholeness.org |access-date=6 December 2011 }}</ref>

Some Christian theologians interpret certain Biblical passages as referring to reincarnation. These passages include the questioning of Jesus as to whether he is [[Elijah]], [[John the Baptist]], [[Jeremiah]], or another prophet ([[Matthew 16]]:13–15 and [[John 1]]:21–22) and, less clearly (while Elijah was said not to have died, but to have been taken up to heaven), John the Baptist being asked if he is not Elijah (John 1:25).<ref>Rudolf Frieling, ''Christianity and Reincarnation'', Floris Books 2015</ref><ref>Mark Albrecht, ''Reincarnation, a Christian Appraisal'', InterVarsity Press, 1982</ref><ref>Lynn A. De Silva, ''Reincarnation in Buddhist and Christian Thought'', Christian Literature Society of Ceylon, 1968</ref> [[Geddes MacGregor]] (1909-1998), who became an Episcopalian priest and a professor of philosophy, has made a case for the compatibility of Christian doctrine and reincarnation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cranston |first=Sylvia |title= Reincarnation in Christianity: A New Vision of the Role of Rebirth in Christian Thought (Quest Books) (9780835605014): Geddes MacGregor: Books |isbn= 0-8356-0501-9 |year=1990 |publisher= Quest Books }}</ref> The [[Catholic Church]] and theologians such as [[Norman Geisler]] (1932-2019) argue that reincarnation is unorthodox and reject the reincarnationist interpretation of texts about John the Baptist and biblical texts used to defend this belief.<ref>{{Cite web |title= Part One Section Two I. The Creeds Chapter Three I Believe In The Holy Spirit Article 11 I Believe In The Resurrection Of The Body II. Dying In Christ Jesus |url= https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_three/article_11/ii_dying_in_christ_jesus.html |access-date= 2024-05-13 |website= www.vatican.va}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1= Geisler |first1= Norman L. |title= The reincarnation sensation |last2= Amano |first2= J. Yutaka |date= 1986 |publisher= Tyndale House Publishers |isbn= 978-0-8423-5404-2 |location= Wheaton, Ill}}</ref> In fact, the figure of Elijah is clearly used as a [[metaphor]] for John the Baptist in {{bibleverse|Matthew|11,14|NKJV}}: "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. [...] And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come."<ref>{{cite web |author=Cardinal [[Gianfranco Ravasi]] |url= https://www.famigliacristiana.it/blogpost/la-reincarnazione-nella-bibbia.aspx |title=La reincarnazione nella Bibbia |language=it |trans-title=The reincarnation in the Bible? |website=[[Famiglia Cristiana]] |access-date=October 23, 2024 |date=April 25, 2024}} Quote: "Elijah's death had been described as an assumption into heaven for perfect and eternal fellowship with the Lord (2 Kings 2:11–13). Thus had arisen the conviction that the prophet, living forever with God after his ascension to heaven, would be the divine messenger destined to announce to the world the coming of the Messiah: in the Judaism of the 3rd–2nd centuries B.C.E. it was above all an apocrypha (i.e., a text that was neither 'canonical' nor 'inspired'), the Book of Enoch, that introduced this hope, which remained ever alive acquiring various forms and applications."</ref>

[[N. T. Wright]] (1948- ) emphasises resurrection of the body over reincarnation of the soul.<ref>
{{cite book
 |chapter              = Insights from Chapter 1
 |title                =  Summary of N. T. Wright's Surprised by Hope
 |date = 23 May 2022
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=hr96EAAAQBAJ
 |publisher            = Everest Media LLC
 |page                 = 5
 |isbn                 = 9798822520714
 |access-date          = 15 April 2025
 |quote                = The classic Christian position is that we believe in the resurrection of the body.
}}
</ref>

====Early====
Some evidence<ref>''The Big Book of Reincarnation'', by Roy Stemman, p. 14</ref><ref name="autogenerated1"/> suggests that [[Origen]] ( ({{circa | 185}} – {{circa | 253}}), sometimes regarded as an early [[Church Father]], taught reincarnation in his lifetime but that when his works were translated into Latin these references were concealed. One of the epistles written by [[St. Jerome]], "To Avitus" (Letter 124; Ad Avitum. Epistula CXXIV),<ref name="mlat.uzh.ch">{{Cite web |url=https://mlat.uzh.ch/browser?path=MLS/text.php |title=Corpus Corporum |website=mlat.uzh.ch}}</ref> asserts that Origen's ''[[On the First Principles]]'' ({{langx | la |De Principiis}}; {{langx | grc | Περὶ Ἀρχῶν}})<ref name="Cross">Cross, F. L., and Elizabeth A. Livingstone. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (Second Edition). New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. p. 1009.</ref> was mistranscribed:

{{Blockquote| About ten years ago that saintly man [[Saint Pammachius|Pammachius]] sent me a copy of a certain person's [ [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]]'s<ref name="mlat.uzh.ch"/> ] rendering, or rather misrendering, of Origen's ''First Principles''; with a request that in a Latin version I should give the true sense of the Greek and should set down the writer's words for good or for evil without bias in either direction. When I did as he wished and sent him the book, he was shocked to read it and locked it up in his desk lest being circulated it might wound the souls of many.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001124.htm|title=Church Fathers: Letter 124 (Jerome) |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>}}

Under the impression that Origen was a heretic like [[Arius]], St. Jerome criticizes ideas described in ''On the First Principles''. Further in "To Avitus" (Letter 124), St. Jerome writes about "convincing proof" that Origen teaches reincarnation in the original version of the book:

{{Blockquote|The following passage is a convincing proof that he holds the transmigration of the souls and annihilation of bodies. 'If it can be shown that an incorporeal and reasonable being has life in itself independently of the body and that it is worse off in the body than out of it; then beyond a doubt bodies are only of secondary importance and arise from time to time to meet the varying conditions of reasonable creatures. Those who require bodies are clothed with them, and contrariwise, when fallen souls have lifted themselves up to better things, their bodies are once more annihilated. They are thus ever vanishing and ever reappearing.'<ref name=autogenerated1 />}}

The original text of ''On First Principles'' has been almost completely lost. It remains extant as ''De Principiis'' in fragments faithfully translated into Latin by St. Jerome and in "the not very reliable Latin translation of [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]]".<ref name=Cross />

However, Origen's supposed belief in reincarnation is controversial. Christian scholar [[Dan Schlesinger|Dan R. Schlesinger]] has written an extensive monograph in which he argues that Origen never taught reincarnation.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title= Did Origen teach reincarnation? a response to neo-Gnostic theories of Christian reincarnation with particular reference to Origen and to the Second Council of Constantinople (553) |url= https://eleanor.lib.gla.ac.uk/record=b3269054 |publisher= University of Glasgow |date= 2016 |place= Glasgow |first= Dan R. |last= Schlesinger}}</ref>

Reincarnation was taught by several [[Gnostics]] such as [[Marcion of Sinope]] ({{circa | 85}} – {{circa | 160}}).<ref name="Bjorling 2013 p. 96">{{cite book | last= Bjorling | first= J. | title= Reincarnation: A Bibliography | publisher= Taylor & Francis | series= Sects and Cults in America | year= 2013 | isbn= 978-1-136-51133-2 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mdeAAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 | language= de | access-date=2023-06-27 | page= 96}}</ref> Belief in reincarnation was rejected by several Church Fathers, including [[Augustine of Hippo]] in ''[[The City of God]]''.<ref>{{cite book | author = Augustine of Hippo |translator= Marcus Dods |translator-link= Marcus Dods (theologian born 1834) | url = https://archive.org/details/cityofgodtransla01auguuoft | title = The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo |volume= I: The city of God | via = [[Internet Archive]] | location = Edinburgh |publisher= T. & T. Clark | year = 1913 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/cityofgodtransla01auguuoft/page/508 508]–509 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20181225012037/https://archive.org/stream/cityofgodtransla01auguuoft/cityofgodtransla01auguuoft_djvu.txt | archive-date = 25 December 2018 | url-status = live | access-date = 25 December 2018 }}</ref>{{request quotation|date=April 2025}}<ref>{{Cite web |title= Reincarnation – Did The Church Suppress It? |url= https://www.issuesetcarchive.org/issues_site/resource/archives/gudel.htm |access-date= 2024-05-13 |website=www.issuesetcarchive.org}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

====Roman Catholic Church====
Citing {{bibleverse|Hebrews|9,27|NKJV}} ("27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."), the [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] completely rejects any doctrine of reincarnation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/266/ |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church |quote=There is no 'reincarnation' after death |publisher=[[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] |page=264}} (n°. 1913).</ref>

Same thing is expressed about Christ in {{bibleverse|1 Peter|3,18|NKJV}}: "For Christ also ''suffered once'' for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,..."

===Druze===
{{Druze|collapsed=1}}
{{See also|Druze#Beliefs}}
Reincarnation is a paramount tenet in the [[Druze]] faith.<ref>Seabrook, W. B., ''Adventures in Arabia'', Harrap and Sons 1928, (chapters on Druze religion)</ref> There is an eternal [[dualism (philosophy of mind)|duality]] of the body and the soul and it is impossible for the soul to exist without the body. Therefore, reincarnations occur instantly at one's death. While in the Hindu and Buddhist belief system a soul can be transmitted to any living creature, in the Druze belief system this is not possible and a human soul will only transfer to a human body. Furthermore, souls cannot be divided into different or separate parts and the number of souls existing is finite.<ref name=Dwairy2006>{{cite journal |last1=Dwairy |first1=Marwan |title=The Psychosocial Function Of Reincarnation Among Druze In Israel |journal=Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry |date=March 2006 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=29–53 |doi=10.1007/s11013-006-9007-1 |pmid=16721673 |s2cid=9132055 }}</ref>

The few Druzes who claim to remember their past are called ''Nateq''. Typically souls who have died violent deaths in their previous incarnation will be able to recall memories. Since death is seen as a quick transient state, mourning is discouraged.<ref name=Dwairy2006/> Unlike other Abrahamic faiths, heaven and hell are spiritual. Heaven is the ultimate happiness received when soul escapes the cycle of rebirths and reunites with the Creator, while hell is conceptualized as the bitterness of being unable to reunite with the Creator and escape from the cycle of rebirth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=James |title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2002 |isbn=1-61592-738-7}}</ref>

===Hinduism===
{{Further|Punarjanman|Saṃsāra|Karma|Moksha}}
[[Image:Reincarnation2.jpg|thumb|right|Hindus believe the self or soul ([[Atman (Hinduism)|atman]]) repeatedly takes on a physical body, until [[moksha]].]]
{{Hinduism|collapsed=1}}
Hindu traditions assert that the body dies, but not the soul, which they believe to be eternal, indestructible, and blissful.{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|p=272}} Everything and all existence is believed to be connected and cyclical in many Hinduism-sects, all living beings composed of two things, the soul and the body or matter.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jeaneane D. |last=Fowler |title=Hinduism: Practices and Beliefs |date=1997 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn= |page=10}}</ref> In Hindu belief, [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] does not change and cannot change by its innate nature.{{Sfn|Fowler|1997|p=10}} Current [[karma]] impacts the future circumstances in this life, as well as the future forms and realms of lives.<ref>Christopher Chapple (1986), ''Karma and creativity'', State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|0-88706-251-2}}, pp. 60–64</ref> Good intent and actions lead to good future, bad intent and actions lead to bad future, impacting how one reincarnates.{{Sfn|Fowler|1997|p=11}}

There is no permanent heaven or hell in most Hinduism-sects.<ref name="JuliusLipner263">{{cite book|author=Julius Lipner|author-link=Julius Lipner|title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-24061-5|pages=263–265}}</ref> In the afterlife, based on one's karma, the soul is reborn as another being in heaven, hell, or a living being on earth (human, animal).<ref name="JuliusLipner263"/> Gods, too, die once their past karmic merit runs out, as do those in hell, and they return getting another chance on earth. Reincarnation continues, endlessly in cycles, until one embarks on a spiritual pursuit, realizes self-knowledge, and thereby gains ''[[Moksha|mokṣa]]'', the final release out of the reincarnation cycles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jacobsen |first1=Knut |title=Three Functions of Hell in the Hindu Traditions |journal=Numen |date=2009 |volume=56 |issue=2–3 |pages=385–400 |doi=10.1163/156852709X405071 |jstor=27793797 }}</ref> This release is believed to be a state of utter bliss, which Hindu traditions believe is either related or identical to [[Brahman]], the unchanging reality that existed before the creation of universe, continues to exist, and shall exist after the universe ends (in simpler terms, the Hindu concept of an all-powerful God).<ref>{{cite book|author=Julius Lipner|author-link=Julius Lipner|title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-24061-5|pages=251–252, 283, 366–369}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Roy W. Perrett |title=Hindu Ethics: A Philosophical Study |year=1998|publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2085-5 |pages=53–54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce M. Sullivan |title=The A to Z of Hinduism  |year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-4070-6 |page=137 }}</ref>

The [[Upanishads]], part of the scriptures of the Hindu traditions, primarily focus on the liberation from reincarnation.{{Sfn|Fowler|1997|pp=111-112}}<ref>{{cite book|author1=Yong Choon Kim|author2=David H. Freeman|title=Oriental Thought: An Introduction to the Philosophical and Religious Thought of Asia|year=1981|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8226-0365-8|pages=15–17}}</ref> The [[Bhagavad Gita]] discusses various paths to liberation.{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|p=272}} The Upanishads, states Harold Coward, offer a "very optimistic view regarding the perfectibility of human nature", and the goal of human effort in these texts is a continuous journey to self-perfection and self-knowledge so as to end ''Saṃsāra''—the endless cycle of rebirth and redeath.<ref>{{cite book |first=Harold |last=Coward |year=2008 |title=The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought: The Central Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkE_8uch5P0C |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7336-8 |page=129}}</ref> The aim of spiritual quest in the Upanishadic traditions is find the true self within and to know one's soul, a state that they assert leads to blissful state of freedom, moksha.{{Sfn|Coward|2008|p=129, also see pages 130–155}}

The [[Bhagavad Gita]] states:
{{blockquote|
Just as in the body childhood, adulthood and old age happen to an embodied being. So also he (the embodied being) acquires another body. The wise one is not deluded about this. (2:13)<ref>{{cite book |first=Christopher Key |last=Chapple |date=2010 |title=The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-1-4384-2842-0 |page=98}}</ref>

As, after casting away worn out garments, a man later takes new ones. So after casting away worn out bodies, the embodied Self encounters other new ones. (2:22){{Sfn|Chapple|2010|p=107}}

When an embodied being transcends, these three qualities which are the source of the body, Released from birth, death, old age and pain, he attains immortality. (14:20){{Sfn|Chapple|2010|p=582}}
|author=|title=|source=}}

There are internal differences within Hindu traditions on reincarnation and the state of [[moksha]]. For example, the dualistic devotional traditions such as [[Madhvacharya]]'s Dvaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism champion a theistic premise, assert that human soul and Brahman are different, loving devotion to Brahman (god Vishnu in Madhvacharya's theology) is the means to release from Samsara, it is the grace of God which leads to moksha, and spiritual liberation is achievable only in after-life (''[[videhamukti]]'').<ref>{{cite book|first=Jeaneane D. |last=Fowler |title=Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism|year=2002|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-93-6|pages=340–347, 373–375}}</ref> The non-dualistic traditions such as [[Adi Shankara]]'s [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition of Hinduism champion a monistic premise, asserting that the individual human soul and Brahman are identical, only ignorance, impulsiveness and inertia leads to suffering through Saṃsāra, in reality there are no dualities, meditation and self-knowledge is the path to liberation, the realization that one's soul is identical to Brahman is moksha, and spiritual liberation is achievable in this life (''[[Jivanmukta|jivanmukti]]'').<ref name=Loy1982>{{cite journal |last1=Loy |first1=David |title=Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same? |journal=International Philosophical Quarterly |date=1982 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=65–74 |doi=10.5840/ipq19822217 }}</ref>{{sfn|Fowler|2002|pp=238–240, 243–245, 249–250, 261–263, 279–284}}

Twentieth-century Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo said that rebirth was the mechanism of [[evolution]] – plants are reborn as animals, which are reborn as humans, gaining intelligence each time.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Aurobindo |first=Sri |title=The Problem of Rebirth |date=1915–1921 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |location=Pondicherry, India |publication-date=1952 |pages=3–119, 178–9}}</ref> He said that this progression was irreversible, and that a human cannot be reborn as an animal.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Aurobindo |first=Sri |title=The Life Divine |date=1914–1919 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |edition=5th |location=Pondicherry, India |publication-date=1970 |pages=742–823}}</ref>

===Islam===
Most Islamic schools of thought reject any idea of reincarnation of living beings.<ref name="SmithHaddad2002p24"/>{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|pp=122–123}}<ref>{{cite book|author=John L. Esposito |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam  |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975726-8 |pages=137, 249 }}</ref> It teaches a linear concept of life, wherein a human being has only one life and upon death he or she is judged by [[God in Islam|God]], then rewarded in heaven or punished in hell.<ref name="SmithHaddad2002p24"/><ref>{{cite book|author1=Norman L. Geisler |author2=Abdul Saleeb |title=Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross |year=2002|publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0-8010-6430-2 |page=109}}</ref> Islam teaches final resurrection and Judgement Day,{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|pp=122–123}} but there is no prospect for the reincarnation of a human being into a different body or being.<ref name="SmithHaddad2002p24">{{cite book|author1=Jane Idelman Smith|author2=Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad |title=The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection |year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-028880-8 |pages=23–24 }}</ref> During the early history of Islam, some of the [[Caliphate|Caliphs]] persecuted all reincarnation-believing people, such as [[Manichaeism]], to the point of extinction in Mesopotamia and Persia (modern day Iraq and Iran).{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|pp=122–123}} However, some Muslim minority sects such as those found among [[Sufism|Sufis]], and some Muslims in [[South Asia]] and [[Indonesia]] have retained their pre-Islamic Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in reincarnation.{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|pp=122–123}} For instance, historically, South Asian Isma'ilis performed chantas yearly, one of which is for seeking forgiveness of sins committed in past lives.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081217021533/http://www.gnosticliberationfront.com/sufi_message_of_hazrat_inayat%20khan.htm Gnostic liberation front]}} The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan</ref>

====Ghulat sects====
The idea of reincarnation is accepted by a few heterodox sects, particularly of the [[Ghulat]].<ref>Wilson, Peter Lamborn, ''Scandal: Essays in Islamic Heresy'', Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia. (1988). {{ISBN|0-936756-13-6}} hardcover 0-936756-12-2 paperback</ref> [[Alawites]] hold that they were originally stars or divine lights that were cast out of heaven through disobedience and must undergo repeated reincarnation (or [[metempsychosis]]) before returning to heaven.<ref name= Peters>{{Cite book| last1 = Peters | first1 = Francis E. | author-link = Francis E. Peters | last2 = Esposito | first2 = John L. | author2-link = John L. Esposito | title = The children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 2006| isbn = 978-0-691-12769-9}}</ref> They can be reincarnated as Christians or others through sin and as animals if they become infidels.<ref name=cs>[http://countrystudies.us/syria/32.htm Alawis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304203947/http://countrystudies.us/syria/32.htm |date=2016-03-04 }}, Countrystudies.us, U.S. Library of Congress.</ref>

===Jainism===
{{Further|Saṃsāra (Jainism)|Karma in Jainism}}
[[File:Seven Jain Hells.jpg|thumb|right|200px|17th-century cloth painting depicting seven levels of [[Naraka (Jainism)|Jain hell]] according to [[Jain cosmology]]. Left panel depicts the demi-god and his animal vehicle presiding over each hell.]]
{{Jainism|collapsed=1}}
In [[Jainism]], reincarnation, along with its theories of ''Saṃsāra'' and Karma, are central to its theological foundations, as evidenced by the extensive literature on it in the major sects of Jainism, and their pioneering ideas on these topics from the earliest times of the Jaina tradition.{{Sfn|Jaini|1980|pp=217–236}}<ref name=dundasp14/> Reincarnation in contemporary Jainism traditions is the belief that the worldly life is characterized by continuous rebirths and suffering in various realms of existence.{{Sfn|Jaini|1980|pp=226–228}}<ref name="dundasp14"/><ref name="Sethia2004p31">{{cite book|author=Tara Sethia |title=Ahimsā, Anekānta, and Jainism  |year=2004|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-2036-4|pages=30–31}}</ref>

Karma forms a central and fundamental part of Jain faith, being intricately connected to other of its philosophical concepts like transmigration, reincarnation, liberation, non-violence (''[[Ahimsa in Jainism|ahiṃsā]]'') and non-attachment, among others. Actions are seen to have consequences: some immediate, some delayed, even into future incarnations. So the doctrine of karma is not considered simply in relation to one life-time, but also in relation to both future incarnations and past lives.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp. 226–230</ref> ''[[Uttarâdhyayana Sûtra|Uttarādhyayana Sūtra]]'' 3.3–4 states: "The ''jīva'' or the soul is sometimes born in [[devaloka|the world of gods]], sometimes in [[Naraka (Jainism)|hell]]. Sometimes it acquires the body of a [[asura|demon]]; all this happens on account of its karma. This ''jīva'' sometimes takes birth as a worm, as an insect or as an ant."<ref name=krishan43>Krishan, Yuvraj (1997): p. 43.</ref> The text further states (32.7): "Karma is the root of birth and death. The souls bound by karma go round and round in the cycle of existence."<ref name=krishan43 />

Actions and emotions in the current lifetime affect future incarnations depending on the nature of the particular karma. For example, a good and virtuous life indicates a latent desire to experience good and virtuous themes of life. Therefore, such a person attracts karma that ensures that their future births will allow them to experience and manifest their virtues and good feelings unhindered.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp. 70–71</ref> In this case, they may take birth in heaven or in a prosperous and virtuous human family. On the other hand, a person who has indulged in immoral deeds, or with a cruel disposition, indicates a latent desire to experience cruel themes of life.<ref name=Kuhn64>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp. 64–66</ref> As a natural consequence, they will attract karma which will ensure that they are reincarnated in hell, or in lower life forms, to enable their soul to experience the cruel themes of life.<ref name=Kuhn64/>

There is no retribution, judgment or reward involved but a natural consequences of the choices in life made either knowingly or unknowingly. Hence, whatever suffering or pleasure that a soul may be experiencing in its present life is on account of choices that it has made in the past.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) p. 15</ref> As a result of this doctrine, Jainism attributes supreme importance to pure thinking and moral behavior.<ref>Rankin, Aidan (2006) p. 67</ref>

The Jain texts postulate four ''gatis'', that is states-of-existence or birth-categories, within which the soul transmigrates. The four ''gatis'' are: ''[[Deva (Jainism)|deva]]'' (demigods), ''[[Manusya-gati|manuṣya]]'' (humans), ''[[Naraka (Jainism)|nāraki]]'' (hell beings), and ''tiryañca'' (animals, plants, and microorganisms).<ref name=Jaini108>Jaini, Padmanabh (1998) p. 108</ref> The four ''gatis'' have four corresponding realms or habitation levels in the vertically tiered [[Jain cosmology#Jain geography|Jain universe]]: ''deva'' occupy the higher levels where the heavens are situated; ''manuṣya'' and ''tiryañca'' occupy the middle levels; and ''nāraki'' occupy the lower levels where seven hells are situated.<ref name=Jaini108/>

Single-sensed souls, however, called ''[[nigoda]]'',<ref>The Jain hierarchy of life classifies living beings on the basis of the senses: five-sensed beings like humans and animals are at the top, and single sensed beings like microbes and plants are at the bottom.</ref> and element-bodied souls pervade all tiers of this universe. ''Nigodas'' are souls at the bottom end of the existential hierarchy. They are so tiny and undifferentiated, that they lack even individual bodies, living in colonies. According to Jain texts, this infinity of ''nigodas'' can also be found in plant tissues, root vegetables and animal bodies.<ref>Jaini, Padmanabh (1998) pp. 108–109</ref> Depending on its karma, a soul transmigrates and reincarnates within the scope of this cosmology of destinies. The four main destinies are further divided into sub-categories and still smaller sub-sub-categories. In all, Jain texts speak of a cycle of 8.4 million birth destinies in which souls find themselves again and again as they cycle within ''[[Samsara (Jainism)|samsara]]''.<ref>Jaini, Padmanabh (2000) p. 130</ref>

In Jainism, God has no role to play in an individual's destiny; one's personal destiny is not seen as a consequence of any system of reward or punishment, but rather as a result of its own personal karma. A text from a volume of the ancient Jain canon, ''[[Vyakhyaprajnapti|Bhagvati sūtra]]'' 8.9.9, links specific states of existence to specific karmas. Violent deeds, killing of creatures having five sense organs, eating fish, and so on, lead to rebirth in hell. Deception, fraud and falsehood lead to rebirth in the animal and vegetable world. Kindness, compassion and humble character result in human birth; while austerities and the making and keeping of vows lead to rebirth in heaven.<ref>Krishan, Yuvraj (1997) p. 44</ref>

Each soul is thus responsible for its own predicament, as well as its own salvation. Accumulated karma represent a sum total of all unfulfilled desires, attachments and aspirations of a soul.<ref name=Kuhn28>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) p. 28</ref><ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) p. 69</ref> It enables the soul to experience the various themes of the lives that it desires to experience.<ref name=Kuhn28 /> Hence a soul may transmigrate from one life form to another for countless of years, taking with it the karma that it has earned, until it finds conditions that bring about the required fruits. In certain philosophies, heavens and hells are often viewed as places for eternal salvation or eternal damnation for good and bad deeds. But according to Jainism, such places, including the earth are simply the places which allow the soul to experience its unfulfilled karma.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp. 65–66, 70–71</ref>

===Judaism===
{{See also|Gilgul}}
{{Kabbalah||collapsed=1}}
The doctrine of reincarnation has had a complex evolution within Judaism. Initially alien to Jewish tradition, it began to emerge in the 8th century, possibly influenced by Muslim mystics, gaining acceptance among [[Karaite Judaism|Karaites]] and Jewish dissenters.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Louis |title=The Jewish religion: a companion |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-826463-7 |location=Oxford Berlin |pages=417–418}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Fine |first=Lawrence |title=Physician of the soul, healer of the cosmos: Isaac Luria and his kabbalistic fellowship |date=2003 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-3825-5 |series=Stanford studies in Jewish history & culture |location=Stanford, Calif |pages=304}}</ref> It was first mentioned in Jewish literature by [[Saadia Gaon]], who criticized it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transmigration of souls  |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14479-transmigration-of-souls |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=JewishEncyclopedia.com |first1=Kaufmann  |last1=Kohler |first2=Isaac  |last2=Broydé }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> However, it remained a minority belief, facing little resistance until the spread of Kabbalah in the 12th century. The "[[Bahir|Book of Clarity]]" (Sefer ha-Bahir) of this period introduced concepts such as the transmigration of souls, strengthening the foundation of Kabbalah with mystical symbolism.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-02 |title=Kabbala {{!}} Definition, Beliefs, & Facts  |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kabbala |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref> Kabbalah also teaches that "The soul of Moses is reincarnated in every generation."<ref>Tikunei Zohar, Tikkun 69, 112a and 114a. Literally, "There is an extension of Moses in every generation and to each and every righteous man."</ref> This teaching found more significant ground in Kabbalistic circles in Provence and Spain.<ref name=":2" />

Despite not being widely accepted in [[Orthodox Judaism]], the doctrine of reincarnation attracted some modern Jews involved in mysticism.<ref name=":1" /> [[Hasidic Judaism]] and followers of [[Kabbalah]] remained firm in their belief in the transmigration of souls. Other branches of Judaism, such as [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], do not teach it.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained: 001 |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-7876-5383-5 |location=Detroit |pages=48 |last1=Steiger |first1=Brad |last2=Steiger |first2=Sherry Hansen }}</ref>

The 16th century mystical renaissance in communal [[Safed]] marked an important development in Kabbalistic thought, with a significant impact on mystical circles and Jewish spirituality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Horwitz |first=Daniel M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPTNCwAAQBAJ |title=A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-8276-1286-0 |pages=223 |language=en |quote=Throughout most of the sixteenth century, this community attracted a very impressive array of kabbalistic thinkers, whose scholarship abounded in virtually every aspect of Jewish life. Among them were Moses Cordovero, Elijah de Vidas, Eliezer Azikri, and above all Isaac Luria (1534–72), whose ideas formed the basis for a whole new kabbalistic school of thought (although, as we will see, some of his ideas have roots in earlier Jewish tradition)}}</ref> It was also the time when Kabbalah was most widely disseminated.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Karp |first1=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXQ6DwAAQBAJ |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 7, The Early Modern World, 1500–1815 |last2=Sutcliffe |first2=Adam |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-108-13906-9 |pages=465 |language=en |quote=The most important influences upon mystical speculation and practice in eastern Europe, however, emanated from the two prominent "schools" that had flourished in sixteenth-century Safed, those of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria. It is hard to overstate the influence that these two original kabbalistic figures had upon the subsequent history of Kabbalah. By the end of the seventeenth century, various combinations and configurations of their teachings became firmly rooted in eastern Europe, and began to transform its spiritual landscape.}}</ref> References to gilgul in former Kabbalah became systematized as part of the metaphysical purpose of creation. Isaac Luria (the Ari) brought the issue to the centre of his new mystical articulation, for the first time, and advocated identification of the reincarnations of historic Jewish figures that were compiled by [[Haim Vital]] in his [[Shaar HaGilgulim]].<ref>''Sha'ar Ha'Gilgulim, The Gate of Reincarnations'', Chaim Vital</ref> ''Gilgul'' is contrasted with the other processes in Kabbalah of [[Ibbur]] ('pregnancy'), the attachment of a second soul to an individual for (or by) good means, and [[Dybuk]] ('possession'), the attachment of a spirit, demon, etc. to an individual for (or by) "bad" means.

In [[Lurianic Kabbalah]], reincarnation is not retributive or fatalistic, but an expression of Divine compassion, the microcosm of the doctrine of cosmic rectification of creation. ''Gilgul'' is a heavenly agreement with the individual soul, conditional upon circumstances. Luria's radical system focused on [[Tohu and Tikkun|rectification]] of the Divine soul, played out through Creation. The true essence of anything is the divine spark within that gives it existence. Even a stone or leaf possesses such a soul that "came into this world to receive a rectification". A human soul may occasionally be exiled into lower inanimate, vegetative or animal creations. The most basic component of the soul, the [[nefesh]], must leave at the cessation of blood production. There are four other soul components and different nations of the world possess different forms of souls with different purposes. Each Jewish soul is reincarnated in order to fulfill each of the [[613 Mitzvot|613 Mosaic commandments]] that elevate a particular spark of holiness associated with each commandment. Once all the Sparks are redeemed to their spiritual source, the [[Mashiach|Messianic Era]] begins. Non-Jewish observance of the [[7 Laws of Noah]] assists the Jewish people, though Biblical adversaries of Israel reincarnate to oppose.

Among the many rabbis who accepted reincarnation are Kabbalists like [[Nahmanides]] (the Ramban) and Rabbenu [[Bahya ben Asher]], [[Levi ibn Habib]] (the Ralbah), [[Shelomoh Alkabez]], [[Moses Cordovero]], [[Moses Chaim Luzzatto]]; early Hasidic masters such as the [[Baal Shem Tov]], [[Schneur Zalman of Liadi]] and [[Nachman of Breslov]], as well as virtually all later Hasidic masters; contemporary Hasidic teachers such as DovBer Pinson, [[Moshe Weinberger]] and [[Joel Landau (rabbi)|Joel Landau]]; and key Mitnagdic leaders, such as the [[Vilna Gaon]] and [[Chaim Volozhin]] and their school, as well as Rabbi [[Shalom Sharabi]] (known at the RaShaSH), the [[Ben Ish Chai]] of Baghdad, and the [[Baba Sali]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://limmudbayarea2016.sched.com/event/7YDY/judaism-and-reincarnation|title=Limmud Bay Area 2016: Judaism and Reincarnation|website=limmudbayarea2016.sched.com|access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref> Rabbis who have rejected the idea include [[Saadia Gaon]], [[David Kimhi]], [[Hasdai Crescas]], [[Joseph Albo]], [[Abraham ibn Daud]], [[Leon de Modena]], [[Solomon ben Aderet]], [[Maimonides]] and [[Asher ben Jehiel]]. Among the [[Geonim]], [[Hai Gaon]] argued in favour of ''gilgulim''.

===Inuit===
In the Western Hemisphere, belief in reincarnation is most prevalent in the now heavily [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Polar region|Polar North]] (now mainly parts of [[Greenland]] and [[Nunavut]]).<ref name="Amerindian Rebirth">{{cite book|title=Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief Among North American Indians and Inuit|year=1994|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-7703-5|editor=Antonia Mills and Richard Slobodin}}</ref> The concept of reincarnation is enshrined in the [[Inuit languages]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Rink|first=Henry|title=Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/inu/tte/index.htm|work=adapted by Weimer, Christopher, M.|access-date=1 December 2011}}</ref> and in many [[Inuit culture]]s it is traditional to name a newborn child after a recently deceased person under the belief that the child is the namesake reincarnated.<ref name="Amerindian Rebirth"/>

===Ho-Chunk===
Reincarnation is an intrinsic part of some [[Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands|Northeastern Native American]] traditions.<ref name="Amerindian Rebirth"/> The following is a story of human-to-human reincarnation as told by Thunder Cloud, a [[Ho-Chunk|Winnebago (Ho-Chunk)]] [[Shamanism|shaman]]. Here Thunder Cloud talks about his two previous lives and how he died and came back again to this his third lifetime. He describes his time between lives, when he was "blessed" by Earth Maker and all the abiding spirits and given special powers, including the ability to heal the sick.

Thunder Cloud's account of his two reincarnations:
{{blockquote|I ''(my ghost)'' was taken to the place where the sun sets ''(the west)''. ... While at that place, I thought I would come back to earth again, and the old man with whom I was staying said to me, "My son, did you not speak about wanting to go to the earth again?" I had, as a matter of fact, only thought of it, yet he knew what I wanted. Then he said to me, "You can go, but you must ask the chief first." Then I went and told the chief of the village of my desire, and he said to me, "You may go and obtain your revenge upon the people who killed your relatives and you." Then I was brought down to earth. ... There I lived until I died of old age. ... As I was lying [in my grave], someone said to me, "Come, let us go away." So then we went toward the setting of the sun. There we came to a village where we met all the dead. ... From that place I came to this earth again for the third time, and here I am.|author=Radin (1923)<ref name=Jefferson2008 >{{Cite book |last=Jefferson |first=Warren |year=2008 |title=Reincarnation beliefs of North American Indians: soul journeys, metamorphoses, and near-death experiences |publisher=Native Voices |isbn=978-1-57067-212-5 |oclc=272306114 }}</ref>|title=|source=}}

===Sikhism===
In the 15th century, [[Sikhism]]'s founder [[Guru Nanak]] maintained a cyclical concept of time.<ref name=colesambhi13>{{cite book|author1=W.O. Cole |author2=Piara Singh Sambhi |title=Sikhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study  |year=2016|publisher=Springer |isbn= 978-1-349-23049-5 |pages= 13–14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair|title= Sikhism: A Guide for the Perplexed  |year=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-4411-5366-1 |page=176 }}</ref> Sikhism teaches reincarnation theory similar to those in Hinduism, but with some differences from its traditional doctrines.<ref name="Mandair2013p145"/> Sikh rebirth theories about the nature of existence are similar to ideas that developed during the devotional [[Bhakti movement]] particularly within some [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava traditions]], which define liberation as a state of union with God attained through the grace of God.<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Gordon Melton|author2=Martin Baumann|title=Religions of the world: a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices|volume=2|year=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-223-3|page=632}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Eric J. Lott|title=Vision, Tradition, Interpretation: Theology, Religion, and the Study of Religion |year=1988|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-009761-0|pages=49–53}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Flood | first =Gavin | year =1996 | title =An introduction to Hinduism | publisher =Cambridge University Press| isbn= 978-0-521-43878-0 | url= https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo | url-access =registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/137 137]}}</ref>

Sikhism teaches that the soul passes from one body to another in endless cycles of [[Saṃsāra]], until liberation from the death and rebirth cycle. Each birth begins with karma (''[[Karma#Sikhism|karam]]''), and these actions leave a karmic signature (''karni'') on one's soul which influences future rebirths, but it is [[God in Sikhism|God]] whose grace that liberates from the death and rebirth cycle.<ref name="Mandair2013p145"/> The way out of the reincarnation cycle, asserts Sikhism, is to live an ethical life, devote oneself to God and constantly remember God's name.<ref name="Mandair2013p145">{{cite book|author=Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair |title=Sikhism: A Guide for the Perplexed |year=2013|publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-0231-7 |pages=145–147 }}</ref> The precepts of Sikhism encourage the [[bhakti]] of One Lord for ''[[Moksha|mukti]]'' (liberation from the death and rebirth cycle).<ref name="Mandair2013p145"/><ref>{{cite book|author=H. S. Singha |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism  |year=2000|publisher=Hemkunt Press|isbn=978-81-7010-301-1 |pages=68, 80}}</ref>

===Traditional African religions===
{{Traditional African religion}}

The [[Traditional African religions]] generally hold the beliefs of life after death (a spirit world or realms), with some also having a concept of reincarnation, in which deceased humans may reincarnate into their family lineage (blood lineage), if they want to, or have something to fulfill.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ndemanu |first=Michael T. |date=January 2018 |title=Traditional African religions and their influences on the worldviews of Bangwa people of Cameroon |journal=Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad |volume=30 |pages=70–84 |url=https://frontiersjournal.org/index.php/Frontiers/article/view/405 |publisher=Ball State University; Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad |doi=10.36366/frontiers.v30i1.405 |quote=There is an unwavering belief in life after death in traditional African religions with some even believing in reincarnation...|doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Yoruba====
{{See also|Yoruba religion}}

The Yoruba religion teaches that [[Olódùmarè|Olodumare]], the Supreme Being and divine Creator who rules over His Creation, created ''eniyan'', or humanity, to achieve balance between heaven and earth and bring about ''Ipo Rere'', or the Good Condition.<ref name="yoruba_obafemi_re">{{cite web |last1=O |first1=Obafemi |title=Reincarnation |url=https://www.obafemio.com/reincarnation.html |website=ObafemiO.com |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref> To cause achievement of the Good Condition, humanity reincarnates.<ref name="yoruba_obafemi">{{cite web |last1=O |first1=Obafemi |title=ObafemiO |url=https://www.obafemio.com/ |website=ObafemiO.com |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref> Once achieved, Ipo Rere provides the ultimate state of supreme existence with Olodumare, a goal which elevates reincarnation to a key position in the Yoruba religion.<ref name="yoruba_learnreligions">{{cite web |title=Yoruba Religion: History and Beliefs |url=https://www.learnreligions.com/yoruba-religion-4777660 |website=LearnReligions |access-date=30 August 2023 }}</ref>

''Atunwaye''<ref name="yoruba_pulse">{{cite web |last1=Dunmade |first1=Oluwatumininu |title=The concept of reincarnation in Igbo and Yoruba culture |url=https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/the-concept-of-reincarnation-in-igbo-and-yoruba-culture/rdxdkw0 |website=Pulse Nigeria |access-date=30 August 2023 |language=en |date=20 September 2022}}</ref> (also called ''atunwa''<ref name="yoruba_obafemi_re"/>) is the Yoruba term for reincarnation. [[Predestination (disambiguation)|Predestination]] is a foundational component of ''atunwaye''. Just prior to incarnation, a person first chooses their ''Ayanmo'' (destiny) before also choosing their ''Akunyelan'' (lot) in the presence of Olodumare and [[Ọrunmila|Orunmila]] with Olodumare's approval.<ref name="yoruba_dopamu">{{cite journal |last1=Dopamu |first1=Abiola |title=Predestination, destiny and faith in Yorubaland: Any meeting point? |journal=Global Journal of Humanities |date=2008 |volume=7 |issue=1&2 |pages=37–39 |url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjh/article/view/79372 |access-date=30 August 2023 |ref=yoruba_dopamu |language=en |issn=1596-6232}}</ref> By ''atunwaye'', a person may incarnate only in a human being and may choose to reincarnate in either sex, regardless of choice in the prior incarnation.<ref name="yoruba_learnreligions"/>

'''Ipadaway'''

The most common, widespread Yoruba reincarnation belief is ''ipadawaye'', meaning "the ancestor's rebirth".<ref name="yoruba_pulse"/> According to this belief, the reincarnating person will reincarnate along their familial lineage.<ref name="yoruba_obafemi"/><ref name="yoruba_learnreligions"/><ref name="yoruba_akinola">{{cite web |last1=Akinola |first1=Temilorun |title=From Life to Death: Death and Dying Beliefs of the Yoruba |url=https://www.processjmus.org/temilorun-akinola-from-life-to-death |website=Process |access-date=30 August 2023 |archive-date=30 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830082941/https://www.processjmus.org/temilorun-akinola-from-life-to-death |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="yoruba_cambridge">{{cite journal |last1=Olaleye-Oruene |first1=Taiwo O. |title=The Yoruba's Cultural Perspective of Death with Special Reference to Twins |journal=Twin Research and Human Genetics |date=June 2002 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=154–155 |doi=10.1375/136905202320227790|pmid=12184881 |s2cid=5982761 |doi-access=free }}</ref> When a person dies, they go to ''orun'' (heaven) and will live with the ancestors in either ''orunrere'' (good heaven) or ''orunapaadi'' (bad heaven). Reincarnation is believed to be a gift bestowed on ancestors who lived well and experienced a "good" death. Only ancestors living in ''orunrere'' may return as grandchildren, reincarnating out of their love for the family or the world. Children may be given names to indicate which ancestor is believed to have returned, such as Babatide ("father has come"), Babatunde ("father has come again"), and Yetunde ("mother has come again").<ref name="yoruba_pulse"/><ref name="yoruba_akinola"/>

A "bad" death (which includes deaths of children, cruel, or childless people and deaths by punishments from the gods, accidents, suicides, and gruesome murders) is generally believed to prevent the deceased from joining the ancestors and reincarnating again,<ref name="prothero">{{cite book |last1=Prothero |first1=Stephen R. |title=God is not one: the eight rival religions that run the world |date=2011 |publisher=HarperOne |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-06-157128-2 }}</ref> though some practitioners also believe a person experiencing a "bad" death will be reborn much later into conditions of poverty.<ref name="yoruba_obafemi_re"/>

'''Abiku'''

Another Yoruba reincarnation belief is ''[[abiku]]'', meaning "born to die"<ref name="yoruba_obafemi_re"/><ref name="yoruba_pulse"/><ref name="mobolade_abiku">{{cite journal|jstor=3334754|title=The Concept of Abiku|last=Mobolade|first=Timothy|journal=African Arts |date=September 1, 1973|volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=62–64 |publisher=UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center|doi=10.2307/3334754 }}</ref>
According to Yoruba custom, an abiku is a reincarnating child who repeatedly experiences death and rebirth with the same mother in a vicious cycle. Because childlessness is considered a curse in Yoruba culture,<ref name="mobolade_abiku"/> parents with an abiku child will always attempt to help the abiku child by preventing their death. However, abiku are believed to possess a power to ensure their eventual death, so rendering assistance is often a frustrating endeavor causing significant pain to the parents. This pain is believed to bring happiness to the abiku.<ref name="mobolade_abiku"/>

Abiku are believed to be a "species of spirit" thought to live apart from people in, for example, secluded parts of villages, jungles, and footpaths. Modern belief in abiku has significantly waned among urban populations, with the decline attributed to improved hygiene and medical care reducing infant mortality rates.<ref name="mobolade_abiku"/>

'''Akudaaya'''

''Akudaaya'', meaning "born to die and reappear"<ref name="yoruba_pulse"/> (also called ''akuda''<ref name=orisa_akudaaya>{{cite web |author=AJE |title=AKUDAAYA (Meaning and Explanation) |url=https://www.orisa.com.ng/2023/06/akudaaya-meaning-and-explanation.html |website=orisa.com.ng |date=23 June 2023 |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref>), is a Yoruba reincarnation belief of "a person that is dead[] but has not gone to heaven".<ref name=orishada_akudaaya>{{cite web |last1=Aworeni |first1=Babalawo |title=The Araba Agbaya: The Akudaaya |url=https://orishada.com/wordpress/?p=365 |website=orishada.com |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref> Akudaaya is based on the belief that, if a recently deceased person's destiny in that life remained unfulfilled, the deceased cannot join the ancestors and therefore must roam the world.<ref name=orisa_akudaaya/> Following death, an akudaaya returns to their previous existence by reappearing in the same physical form. However, the new existence will be lived in a different physical location from the first, and the akudaaya will not be recognized by a still-living relative, should they happen to meet. The akudaaya lives their new existence working to fulfill their destiny from the previous life.

The concept of akudaaya is the subject of ''Akudaaya (The Wraith)'', a 2023 Nigerian drama film in the Yoruba language.<ref name=akudaaya_movie_1>{{cite web |last1=Irabor |first1=Joan |title="Akudaaya" is Bringing Back the Chills |url=https://thenollywoodreporter.com/film/akudaaya-is-bringing-back-the-chills/ |website=thenollywoodreporter.com |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref> The film is said to center on a deceased son who "has begun living life as a spirit in another state and has fallen in love".<ref name=akudaaya_movie_2>{{cite web |last1=Irabor |first1=Joan |title="Akudaaya" Dramatizes The Dilemma Of A Man Caught Between Worlds  |url=https://thenollywoodreporter.com/film/akudaaya-dramatizes-the-dilemma-of-a-man-caught-between-worlds/ |website=thenollywoodreporter.com |access-date=30 November 2023}}</ref>

====Serer religion====
{{main|Ciiɗ (Serer religion)|Pangool}}
{{see also|Serer religion|Serer creation myth}}
[[Ciiɗ (Serer religion)|Ciiɗ]] is the [[Serer people|Serer]] process of a spirit's (''o laaw'') reincarnation as found within the tenets of [[Serer religion|Serer spirituality (''A fat Roog'')]]. In the [[Serer language]], "Ciiɗ", in its literal definition is the reincarnated or the dead who seek to reincarnate or the pre-foetal spirit. This Ciiɗ has the capability to reincarnate and become a man. In A fat Roog (Serer spirituality), only those human [[Pangool]] (ancestral spirits) who have reached ''Jaaniiw'' (the place where good souls go) are able to reincarnate.<ref>[[Louis Diène Faye|Faye, Louis Diène]], "Mort et Naissance Le Monde Sereer." Les Nouvelles Edition Africaines (1983), pp 9-10, 71-2, {{ISBN|2-7236-0868-9}}</ref><ref>[[Henry Gravrand|Gravrand, Henry]], "La civilisation sereer: ''Cosaan'' : les origines", vol. 1, Nouvelles Editions africaines (1983), p. 33, 220 {{ISBN|2-7236-0877-8}}</ref><ref>[[Issa Laye Thiaw|Thiaw, Issa Laye]] "La femme Seereer." Sénégal,  Sociétés africaines et diaspora. Edition L'Harmattan (2005),  p. 64-68 {{ISBN|2-7475-8907-2}}</ref>

===New religious and spiritual movements===
{{Paranormal|state=collapsed}}

====Spiritism====
[[File:Tombe Allan Kardec.JPG|thumb|upright|Tomb of [[Allan Kardec]], founder of spiritism. The inscription says in French "To be born, die, again be reborn, and so progress unceasingly, such is the law".]]
[[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]], a [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualist]] philosophy codified in the 19th century by the French educator [[Allan Kardec]], teaches reincarnation or rebirth into human life after death.

According to the Spiritist doctrine, an "intelligent principle", also called the "spiritual principle", evolves from simpler organisms such as bacteria, plants, then into non-human animals, then into humans, and then into further stages, including the angelical one of higher wisdom and morality. The period in between physical lives is called ''erraticity'', in which a spirit may wander on Earth or in (either good or bad) spiritual realms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=O Livro dos Espíritos » Parte Segunda - Do mundo espírita ou mundo dos Espíritos » Capítulo XI - Dos três reinos » Os animais e o homem |url=https://www.ipeak.net/site/estudo/6671/1/os-animais-e-o-homem |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=www.ipeak.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Prada |first=Irvênia L. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYHxDwAAQBAJ&dq=info:qqVTAAWtnioJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=PT10 |title=A Questão Espiritual dos Animais |date=2020-07-16 |publisher=FE Editora |isbn=978-65-990939-6-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spiritism {{!}} Beliefs, Practices, & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Spiritism |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> According to this doctrine, free will and cause and effect are the corollaries of reincarnation, and reincarnation provides a mechanism for a person's spiritual evolution in successive lives.<ref name="Hess2010">{{cite book |author=David J. Hess |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGxsfV-lTtEC&pg=PA16 |title=Spirits and Scientists: Ideology, Spiritism and Brazilian Culture |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-271-04080-6 |pages=16–}}</ref> The introduction of reincarnation into Spiritist doctrines was mediated by a series of mediums and "magnetizers", such as M. Roustan, a practitioner of [[animal magnetism]], also known as mesmerism, who believed in reincarnation. Roustan played an important role in the development of the mediumistic abilities of Celina Japhet, a medium who assisted Allan Kardec in the codification of his doctrine.<ref name=":8" />

These ideas were consolidated in France. Their spread was facilitated by a movement to reinterpret spiritualism, strongly influenced by mystical, Hindu, Buddhist and socialist tendencies.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Sharp |first=Lynn L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsFbaq9ysOIC |title=Secular Spirituality: Reincarnation and Spiritism in Nineteenth-century France |date=2006 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-1339-4 |pages=xii, 3, 33 |language=en}}</ref> One of the first groups in France to embrace reincarnation was the Saint-Simonian movement in the 1820s, a group of progressive and utopian thinkers, including [[Jean Reynaud]] and [[Pierre Leroux]], who sought to reform society and integrate socialist ideals with a new spiritual vision. These thinkers, influenced by Eastern philosophies "newly discovered" in the West, such as those of Hindu and Buddhist thinkers, adopted the belief that the soul evolved over multiple lives. Reynaud and Leroux, in particular, popularized the idea of reincarnation, arguing that it was a more rational and progressive explanation for the fate of the soul. They drew on the Catholic thinker [[Pierre-Simon Ballanche]].<ref name=":7" /> This belief was also promoted by other socialist and mystical thinkers, such as [[Henri de Saint-Simon|Henri de St. Simon]], [[Barthélemy-Prosper Enfantin]] and [[Charles Fourier]], who, in addition to discussing the evolution of the soul, saw reincarnation as a key to understanding human progress, both from a spiritual and social point of view.<ref name=":8" /> In an attempt to make the theory more "French", Reynaud stated that the ancient Druids, representatives of the Celtic culture of France, also believed in reincarnation, which gave the doctrine a legitimate ancestral origin and connection with national identity. This belief in reincarnation was appropriated by groups of [[Liberal Christianity|liberal Protestants]], [[Freethought|freethinkers]] and mesmerists, reaching Kardec through the latter.<ref name=":7" />

The doctrine of reincarnation was criticized by spiritualists outside of France. In the United States, [[Andrew Jackson Davis]] considered it a "magnificent mansion built on sand", although he believed in the pre-existence of souls. In England, [[William Howitt]] was one of the main critics, describing the doctrine as pitiful and repulsive, arguing that, if it were true, many spirits would have searched in vain for their loved ones in the afterlife.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Shepard |first=Leslie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZYQAQAAIAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology |date=1984 |publisher=Gale Research Company |isbn=978-0-8103-0196-2 |pages=1301 |language=en}}</ref>

====Theosophy====
{{See also|Theosophy#Reincarnation and karma}}
The [[Theosophical Society]] draws much of its inspiration from India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Theosophical Society {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/miscellaneous-religion/theosophical-society |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> In the Theosophical world-view reincarnation is the vast rhythmic process by which the soul, the part of a person which belongs to the formless non-material and timeless worlds, unfolds its spiritual powers in the world and comes to know itself.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Chajes |first=Julie |title=Reincarnation in H.P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine |year=2017 |pages=66–90}}</ref> It descends from sublime, free, spiritual realms and gathers experience through its effort to express itself in the world. Afterwards there is a withdrawal from the physical plane to successively higher levels of reality, in death, a purification and assimilation of the past life. Having cast off all instruments of personal experience it stands again in its spiritual and formless nature, ready to begin its next rhythmic manifestation, every lifetime bringing it closer to complete self-knowledge and self-expression.<ref name=":0" /> However, it may attract old mental, emotional, and energetic ''karma'' patterns to form the new personality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campbell |first=Bruce F. |title=Ancient Wisdom Revived: A History of the Theosophical Movement |publisher=Berkeley: University of California Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0520039681}}</ref>

====Anthroposophy====
[[Anthroposophy]] describes reincarnation from the point of view of Western philosophy and culture. The ego is believed to transmute transient soul experiences into universals that form the basis for an individuality that can endure after death. These universals include ideas, which are intersubjective and thus transcend the purely personal (spiritual consciousness), intentionally formed human character (spiritual life), and becoming a fully conscious human being (spiritual humanity). [[Rudolf Steiner]] described both the general principles he believed to be operative in reincarnation, such as that one's will activity in one life forms the basis for the thinking of the next,<ref>See e.g. ''Reincarnation and Karma'' by Steiner</ref> and a number of successive lives of various individualities.<ref>Steiner, ''Karmic Relationships'', volumes 1–6</ref>

{{blockquote|Similarly, other famous people's life stories are not primarily the result of genes, upbringing or biographical vicissitudes. Steiner relates that a large estate in north-eastern France was held during the early Middle Ages by a martial feudal lord. During a military campaign, this estate was captured by a rival. The previous owner had no means of retaliating, and was forced to see his property lost to an enemy. He was filled with a smoldering resentment towards the propertied classes, not only for the remainder of his life in the Middle Ages, but also in a much later incarnation—as Karl Marx. His rival was reborn as Friedrich Engels.<ref name="Hammer2003">{{cite book|first=Olav|last=Hammer|title=Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZYsPQgBNioC&pg=PA495|year=2003|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-13638-X|page=495}}</ref>|[[Olav Hammer]]|Coda. On Belief and Evidence}}

====Modern astrology====
Inspired by [[Helena Blavatsky]]'s major works, including ''[[Isis Unveiled]]'' and ''[[The Secret Doctrine]]'', [[astrology|astrologers]] in the early twentieth-century integrated the concepts of [[karma]] and reincarnation into the practice of [[Western astrology]]. Notable astrologers who advanced this development included [[Alan Leo]], Charles E. O. Carter, [[Marc Edmund Jones]], and [[Dane Rudhyar]]. A new synthesis of East and West resulted as Hindu and Buddhist concepts of reincarnation were fused with Western astrology's deep roots in [[Hermeticism]] and [[Neoplatonism]]. In the case of Rudhyar, this synthesis was enhanced with the addition of [[Carl Jung|Jungian]] [[depth psychology]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Jutta |last1=Woods |title=The Theosophical Heritage in Modern Astrology |journal=The Mountain Astrologer |date=2013 }}</ref> This dynamic integration of astrology, reincarnation and depth psychology has continued into the modern era with the work of astrologers [[Steven Forrest (astrologer)|Steven Forrest]] and Jeffrey Wolf Green. Their respective schools of Evolutionary Astrology are based on "an acceptance of the fact that human beings incarnate in a succession of lifetimes".<ref>{{cite web |author=Steven Forrest and Jeffrey Wolf Green |title=About Evolutionary Astrology |url=http://www.forrestastrology.com/about-us/about-evolutionary-astrology |access-date=22 November 2014}}</ref>

====Scientology====
{{See also|Scientology beliefs and practices}}

Past reincarnation, usually termed '''past lives''', is a key part of the principles and practices of the [[Church of Scientology]]. Scientologists believe that the human individual is actually a ''[[thetan]]'', an immortal spiritual entity, that has fallen into a degraded state as a result of past-life experiences. Scientology [[Auditing (Scientology)|auditing]] is intended to free the person of these past-life traumas and recover past-life memory, leading to a higher state of spiritual awareness.

This idea is echoed in their highest fraternal religious order, [[Sea Org]], whose motto is "''Revenimus''" ('We Come Back'), and whose members sign a "[[Billion year contract|billion-year contract]]" as a sign of commitment to that ideal. [[L. Ron Hubbard]], the founder of Scientology, does not use the word "reincarnation" to describe its beliefs, noting that: "The common definition of reincarnation has been altered from its original meaning. The word has come to mean 'to be born again in different life forms' whereas its actual definition is 'to be born again into the flesh of another body.' Scientology ascribes to this latter, original definition of reincarnation."<ref>{{cite web |title=Scientology Church & Religion – What is Scientology? |url=http://www.scientology.org/html/opencms/cos/scientology/en_US/news-media/faq/pg016.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613231607/http://www.scientology.org/html/opencms/cos/scientology/en_US/news-media/faq/pg016.html |archive-date=13 June 2006 |work=Scientology}}</ref>

The first writings in Scientology regarding past lives date from around 1951 and slightly earlier. In 1960, Hubbard published a book on past lives entitled ''[[Have You Lived Before This Life]]''. In 1968 he wrote ''[[Bibliography of Scientology#Mission Into Time|Mission Into Time]]'', a report on a five-week sailing expedition to Sardinia, Sicily and Carthage to see if specific evidence could be found to substantiate L. Ron Hubbard's recall of incidents in his own past, centuries ago.

====Wicca====
[[Wicca]] is an eclectic [[new religious movement]] [[Earth religion|focused on nature]], and guided by the philosophy of [[Wiccan Rede]] that advocates the tenets "Harm None, Do As Ye Will". Wiccans believe in a form of karmic return where one's deeds are returned, either in the current life or in another life, threefold or multiple times in order to teach one lessons (the [[Threefold law|Threefold Law]]). Reincarnation is therefore an accepted part of the Wiccan faith.<ref>Encyclopedia of Wicca and Witchcraft, Raven Grimassi</ref>{{full citation needed|date=December 2016}} Wiccans also believe that death and afterlife are important experiences for the soul to transform and prepare for future lifetimes.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

== {{anchor|Reincarnation research}} Reincarnation and science ==
{{See also|Relationship between religion and science}}

[[File:Dalailama1_20121014_4639.jpg|thumb|The [[14th Dalai Lama]] has stated his belief that it would be difficult for science to disprove reincarnation.]]

While there has been no scientific confirmation of the physical reality of reincarnation, where the subject has been discussed, there are questions of whether and how such beliefs may be justified within the discourse of [[science]] and religion. Some champions of academic [[parapsychology]] have argued that they have scientific evidence even while their detractors have accused them of practicing a form of [[pseudoscience]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=John |title=Spooky Science: Debunking the Pseudoscience of the Afterlife |date=2015 |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-4549-1654-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Paul |title=Reincarnation: a critical examination |date=1996 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-57392-005-6 |location=Amherst, N.Y. |language=English |oclc=33439860}}</ref> [[Scientific skepticism|Skeptic]] [[Carl Sagan]] asked the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] what he would do if a fundamental tenet of his religion (reincarnation) were definitively disproved by science. The Dalai Lama answered, "If science can disprove reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism would abandon reincarnation...but it's going to be mighty hard to disprove reincarnation."<ref>''The Boundaries of Knowledge in Buddhism, Christianity, and Science'', by Paul David Numrich, p. 13, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, {{ISBN|978-3-525-56987-0}}</ref> Sagan considered claims of memories of past lives to be worthy of research, although he considered reincarnation to be an unlikely explanation.<ref>[https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/after-the-afterlife-debate/ After the afterlife debate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228225637/https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/after-the-afterlife-debate/ |date=2019-12-28 }}, referencing Sagan's book ''The Demon Haunted World''</ref>

===Claims of memories of past lives===

Over a period of 40 years, psychiatrist [[Ian Stevenson]], from the [[University of Virginia]], recorded [[case study|case studies]] of young children who claimed to remember past lives, and published twelve books. In his cases he reported the child's statements and testimony from family members and others, often along with what he considered to be correlates to a [[deceased]] person who in some ways seemed to match the child's memory. Stevenson also investigated cases where he thought that [[birthmark]]s and [[birth defects]] seemed to match wounds and scars on the deceased. Sometimes included in his documentation were [[medical records]] like [[autopsy]] photographs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cadoret |first1=Remi J. |title=European Cases of the Reincarnation Type |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |date=April 2005 |volume=162 |issue=4 |pages=823–824 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.162.4.823 }}</ref> As any claim of past life memory is subject to charges of [[false memory|false memories]] and the ease with which such claims can be [[hoax]]ed, Stevenson expected the controversy and [[skepticism]] of his beliefs that followed. He said that he looked for disconfirming evidence and alternative explanations for reports, but, as the ''Washington Post'' reported, he typically concluded that no normal explanation sufficed.<ref name=Shroder2007>{{cite news |last1=Shroder |first1=Tom |title=Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in Children |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021001393.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=11 February 2007 }}</ref>

Stevenson's work in this regard was impressive enough to [[Carl Sagan]] that he referred to what were apparently Stevenson's investigations in his book ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]'' as an example of carefully collected empirical data, and though he rejected reincarnation as a parsimonious explanation for the stories, he wrote that the phenomenon of alleged past-life memories should be further researched.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Jim B. |editor1-last=Presti |editor1-first=David E. |title=Mind Beyond Brain: Buddhism, Science, and the Paranormal |date=2018 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-54839-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2NbDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 |chapter=Reports of Past-life Memories}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sagan, Carl|title=Demon Haunted World|publisher=[[Random House]]|year=1996|isbn=978-0-394-53512-8|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ulqPDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA300 300]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=ulqPDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA302 302]|author-link=Carl Sagan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulqPDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA300}}</ref> [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]] cited Stevenson's works in his book ''[[The End of Faith]]'' as part of a body of data that seems to attest to the reality of psychic phenomena.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Sam|url=https://archive.org/details/endoffaithreligi00harr|title=The End of Faith|date=17 September 2005|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=0-393-32765-5|edition=Reprint|page=[https://archive.org/details/endoffaithreligi00harr/page/n41 41] endnote 18 on [https://archive.org/details/endoffaithreligi00harr/page/n243 page 242]|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Emily Williams |title=Science, the Self, and Survival after Death: Selected Writings of Ian Stevenson |date=2012 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=978-1-4422-2115-4 |page=386 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvzTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA386}}</ref>

Stevenson's claims have been subject to criticism and [[debunking]], for example by the philosopher [[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Paul Edwards]], who contended that Ian Stevenson's accounts of reincarnation were purely [[anecdotal evidence|anecdotal]] and [[Cherry picking|cherry-picked]].<ref name="skepticreport.com">Rockley, Richard. (2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20090807184113/http://skepticreport.com/sr/?p=482 "Book Review: Children who Remember Previous Lives"]. SkepticReport. Retrieved 11 October 2014.</ref> Edwards attributed the stories to [[selective thinking]], [[suggestion]], and [[false memory syndrome|false memories]] that result from the family's or researcher's belief systems and thus did not rise to the standard of fairly sampled [[empirical evidence]].<ref name="Paul Edwards 1996">[[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Edwards, Paul]]. (1996, reprinted in 2001). ''Reincarnation: A Critical Examination''. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|1-57392-921-2}}</ref> The philosopher Keith Augustine wrote in critique that the fact that "the vast majority of Stevenson's cases come from countries where a religious belief in reincarnation is strong, and rarely elsewhere, seems to indicate that cultural conditioning (rather than reincarnation) generates claims of spontaneous past-life memories."<ref>{{cite web |date=31 March 1997 |title=The Case Against Immortality |url=http://infidels.org/library/modern/keith_augustine/immortality.html |access-date=11 April 2014 |publisher=Infidels.org}}</ref> Edwards also objected that reincarnation invokes assumptions that are inconsistent with modern science.<ref>Cogan, Robert. (1998). ''Critical Thinking: Step by Step''. University Press of America. pp. 202–203. {{ISBN|0-7618-1067-6}} "Edwards catalogs common sense objections which have been made against reincarnation. 1) How does a soul exist between bodies? 2) Tertullian's objection: If there is reincarnation, why are not babies born with the mental abilities of adults? 3) Reincarnation claims an infinite series of prior incarnations. Evolution teaches that there was a time when humans did not yet exist. So reincarnation is inconsistent with modern science. 4) If there is reincarnation, then what is happening when the population increases? 5) If there is reincarnation, then why do so few, if any people, remember past lives?... To answer these objections believers in reincarnation must accept additional assumptions... Acceptance of these silly assumptions, Edwards says, amounts to a crucifixion of one's intellect."</ref><ref name="Paul Edwards 1996"/> As the vast majority of people do not remember previous lives and there is no empirically documented mechanism known that allows personality to survive death and travel to another body, positing the existence of reincarnation is subject to the principle that "[[extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence]]". Further, [[Ian Wilson (author)|Ian Wilson]] wrote that a large number of Stevenson's cases consisted of poor children remembering wealthy lives or belonging to a [[Caste system in India|higher caste]]. In these societies, claims of reincarnation have been used as schemes to obtain money from the richer families of alleged former incarnations.<ref>[[Ian Wilson (author)|Wilson, Ian]]. (1981). ''Mind Out of Time: Reincarnation Investigated''. Gollancz. {{ISBN|0-575-02968-4}}</ref>

Stevenson also claimed there were a handful of cases that suggested evidence of [[xenoglossy]], including two where a subject under hypnosis allegedly conversed with people speaking the foreign language, instead of merely being able to recite foreign words. [[Sarah Thomason]], a linguist (and skeptical researcher) at the University of Michigan, reanalyzed these cases, concluding that "the linguistic evidence is too weak to provide support for the claims of xenoglossy".<ref>[[Sarah Thomason|Thomason, Sarah G.]] [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~thomason/papers/xenogl.pdf "Xenoglossy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911112406/http://www-personal.umich.edu/~thomason/papers/xenogl.pdf |date=2008-09-11 }}. In [[Gordon Stein]]. (1996). ''The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|1-57392-021-5}}</ref>

Other academic researchers who have undertaken similar pursuits include [[Jim B. Tucker]], [[Antonia Mills]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Mills|url=http://jamesgmatlock.net/resources/researchers/mills/|work=Signs of Reincarnation}}</ref> [[Satwant Pasricha]], [[Godwin Samararatne]], and [[Erlendur Haraldsson]], but Stevenson's publications remain the most well known.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moraes |first1=Lucam J. |last2=Barbosa |first2=Gabrielle S. |last3=Castro |first3=João Pedro G.B. |last4=Tucker |first4=Jim B. |last5=Moreira-Almeida |first5=Alexander |title=Academic studies on claimed past-life memories: A scoping review |journal=Explore |date=May 2022 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=371–378 |doi=10.1016/j.explore.2021.05.006 |pmid=34147343 |s2cid=235491940 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Past life regression===

Some believers in reincarnation (Stevenson not among them) give much importance to supposed past-life memories retrieved under [[hypnosis]] during [[past life regression]]s. Popularized by psychiatrist [[Brian Weiss]], who claims he has regressed more than 4,000 patients since 1980,<ref name="rl1xxx">[http://www.post-gazette.com/seen/breakfast/20020805break0805p1.asp Breakfast with Brian Weiss] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041212040150/http://www.post-gazette.com/seen/breakfast/20020805break0805p1.asp |date=2004-12-12 }}, ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', 5 August 2002, Accessed 25 April 2009.</ref><ref>Weinstein-Moser, Edie. [http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/478/ "Interview with Brian Weiss"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719172533/http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/478/ |date=2019-07-19 }}. ''Wisdom'' magazine. ''Wisdom-Magazine.com''. 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2015.</ref> the technique is often identified as a kind of [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific practice]].<ref name="Spanos">{{cite book |author=Spanos NP |title=Multiple Identities & False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] (APA) |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-55798-340-4 |pages=135–40 |author-link=Nicholas Spanos}}</ref> Such supposed memories have been documented to contain historical inaccuracies originating from modern popular culture, common beliefs about history, or books that discuss historical events. Experiments with subjects undergoing past life regression indicate that a belief in reincarnation and suggestions by the hypnotist are the two most important factors regarding the contents of memories reported.<ref name="Skepdic">{{cite book |author=Carroll RT |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions |title-link=The Skeptic's Dictionary |publisher=Wiley |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-471-27242-7 |location=New York |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA276 276–277] |author-link=Robert Todd Carroll}}</ref><ref name="Spanos" /><ref name="Sumner">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3vOLM-qpXdoC&pg=PA50 |title=Just Smoke and Mirrors: Religion, Fear and Superstition in Our Modern World |vauthors=Sumner D |publisher=Writers Club Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-595-26523-7 |location=San Jose, [Calif.] |page=50}}</ref> The use of hypnosis and [[suggestive question]]s can tend to leave the subject particularly likely to hold distorted or [[False memory|false memories]].<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&pg=PA206 |title=The Skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience |vauthors=Linse P, Shermer M |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |location=Santa Barbara, Calif |pages=206–207}}</ref> Rather than recall of a previous existence, the source of the memories is more likely [[cryptomnesia]] and [[confabulation]]s that combine experiences, knowledge, imagination and [[suggestion]] or guidance from the hypnotist. Once created, those memories are indistinguishable from memories based on events that occurred during the subject's life.<ref name="Skepdic" /><ref name="Cordon">{{cite book |author=Cordón LA |url=https://archive.org/details/popularpsycholog0000cord/page/183 |title=Popular psychology: an encyclopedia |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-313-32457-4 |location=Westport, Conn |pages=[https://archive.org/details/popularpsycholog0000cord/page/183 183–185]}}</ref>

Past-life regression has been critiqued for being unethical on the grounds that it lacks any evidence to support its claims and that it increases one's susceptibility to false memories. Luis Cordón states that this can be problematic as it creates [[delusion]]s under the guise of therapy. The memories are experienced as being as vivid as those based on events experienced in one's life and impossible to differentiate from true memories of actual events, and accordingly any damage can be difficult to undo.<ref name="Cordon" /><ref name="Andrade_2017">{{cite journal |vauthors=Andrade G |date=December 2017 |title=Is past life regression therapy ethical? |journal=Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine |volume=10 |page=11 |pmc=5797677 |pmid=29416831}}</ref>

APA accredited organizations have challenged the use of past-life regressions as a therapeutic method, calling it unethical. Additionally, the hypnotic methodology that underpins past-life regression has been criticized as placing the participant in a vulnerable position, susceptible to implantation of false memories.<ref name="Andrade_2017" /> Because the implantation of false memories may be harmful, Gabriel Andrade argues that past-life regression violates the principle of ''[[Primum non nocere|first, do no harm]]'' ([[Medical ethics#Non-maleficence|non-maleficence]]), part of the [[Hippocratic Oath]].<ref name="Andrade_2017" />

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Ada F. Kay]]
* [[Arthur Flowerdew]]
* [[Arthur Guirdham]]
* [[Barbro Karlén]]
* [[Joan Grant]]
* [[Shanti Devi]]
* [[Incarnation]]
* [[List of people claimed to be Jesus]]
* [[Karmic astrology]]
* [[Plane (esotericism)|Planes of existence]]
* [[Pre-existence]]
* [[Rebirth (Buddhism)]]
* [[Reincarnation in popular culture]]
* [[Soulmate]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite book |author=John Bowker |date=2014 |title=God: A Very Short Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te9wBAAAQBAJ |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870895-7}}
*{{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=Tamil Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC |year=1974|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-01582-0}}

==External links==
{{Commons and category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* ''[[Columbia Encyclopedia]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20080821030150/http://www.bartleby.com/65/tr/transmig.html Transmigration of Souls or Metempsychosis]
* ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'': [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10234d.htm Metempsychosis]
* [http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?scope=6198&kid=6569 Jewish View of Reincarnation]

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