This is a companion post to my current article on rebirth at http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46824.asp. Please answer the poll and post your own thoughts or questions on rebirth. If you are Buddhist, do you consider belief in rebirth essential to your path or irrelevant? If you are not Buddhist, how do you view rebirth and/or reincarnation?

If you are interested in another (slightly heady) debate about whether or not believing in rebirth is essential to being a Buddhist, check out this article in Tricycle magazine, http://www.tricycle.com/feature/3857-1.html.

Looking forward to your responses!

I was raised Catholic, so, of course, re-birth was not an option. But now that I have been fortunate enough to be involved with someone who has helped me expand my awareness and expand my consciousness to be able to consider alternative viewpoints, I am much more comfortable with the concept that rebirth is not only possible, but both likely AND desirable. I think it is fascinating to wonder about life before and life after this one and to ponder the infinite evolution of the soul.

Rebirth and reincarnation just make sense. It took me years to accept that after much study and reading.

I have greatly enjoyed learning about Buddhism from everyone on this site, and I fully believe that there are a lot of Buddhist practices that can be incorporate into the Christian lifestyle, and actually make it better.

This, however is not one of those beliefs.

I love the idea of previous lives, I think it is very romantic and soothing - especially for people who have done great wrongs and truly want to make up for them.

But I believe that God gives us each an individual soul. That soul He makes for each person with love and great detail, much like an artist who puts love into every brushstroke of a painting - except multiply that exponentially.

I still greatly admire those of you that I have "met" on here who are Buddhists, and I never want any of you to think otherwise. I just can't agree with you on this point.

Jeanette/Michelle - thanks so much for coming by the forum and responding. Michelle, many people that I know, including my husband and even some friends that consider themselves Buddhist, do not believe in rebirth or reincarnation, so you don't need to worry about that bothering me! I just always appreciate people sharing their beliefs, and being willing to talk about them.

I have come to believe in it, but I don't consider it intrinsic to being a Buddhist or adopting many of the practices and approaches Buddhism has to offer, which as you say, anyone of any religion can really benefit from.

Well, Christianity did actually advocate a process of reincarnation.
But this was supressed early on, because Church and stare wished to ccombine power, control the masses and knew they couldn't do it without fire and brimstone.

Christians were always taught about a riencarnated soul. But it meant loss of control for the church. so they made it a bad thing.....

I believe it.
It should be no more astonishing and unbelievable to be beorn twice, than it was to be born once.

Why not?

I was just reading a book on the Gnostic Gospels that talked alot about the early removal of reincarnation from Christian gospels too...also about references to it in both Judaic Kabbalah texts and Islamic Sufi ones, so really it seems all the major religions have supported the idea of it at some point or other...

For me, I never thought about it so much as you only get one chance to do things right, but it is more about each soul being unique.

I guess I always looked at reincarnation as "reusing" a soul.

If I may, I don't believe in reincarnation as it stands from a Buddhist belief but as a Christian I believe in being "born again".

When you are born again, you are being reincarnated, so to speak, from the old, sinful flesh and put on a new flesh in Jesus Christ.

So, I believe in it from that standpoint.