BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism Poll: Do you believe in rebirth? Is it essential?

I see your point, and in future threads that I start I will be more specific in the questions asked. However, since in this one I invited non-Buddhists to comment on how they felt about rebirth OR reincarnation, all of the posts so far are on topic, and none seem to me to be disrespectful towards Buddhism.

I also belong to another Buddhist forum, as well as an interfaith one, and they vary in approach. Because of the broad nature of BellaOnline, I think the articles and forum will always attract a lot of non-Buddhists, which is different than many other Buddhist forums, which are associated with specific Buddhist sites or sanghas. I think in the future I will have threads that are oriented for Buddhists, and some open to all.

Well, I did invite you to respond! But, I will try now to offer one Buddhist view on the matter:-)

My cousin was recently saying something very similar to me about her daughter, who has similar issues. I don't think of it in terms of good souls or bad souls (in terms of reincarnation) or even in terms of good karma or bad karma (in terms of rebirth). I know people often talk in those 'good' and 'bad' terms, but from my perspective most Buddhist teachings on the matter talk more in terms of momentums and energies that have carried forward from the past (cause and effect and all that), and they aren't intrinsically good or bad. They can each manifest as either good or bad in terms of the actions they lead to, but in and of themselves they are just energies, that can be channeled in any direction. So rage, for example, is a destructive manifestation of that kind of energy, but someone else might channel that same kind of energy into a creative or athletic achievement. This kind of transmutation of energies is central to Vajrayana or Tantric Buddism, which is more my background.

Which doesn't help you much with your son, I know, because Asperger's is another whole cup of tea. But I was just addressing the issue of fearing the rage was a sign of some latent badness, and this being part of your discomfort with the ideas of rebirth and reincarnation.