Rebirth

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I had a brief discussion with a friend who appreciates many aspects of the Buddha’s teaching. But he rejects the idea of rebirth and samsara vatta.)

I wrote:

I think it seems comforting to believe that after this life all ends.

Then nothing really matters too much. Yes there could be prison, bankruptcy , poverty, disability etc. Yet It is over in less than a hundred years, even if those are very hard years.

But a hundred years is just a fingersnap of time and rebirth should be taken seriously. As the Buddha said, " I saw beings with little dust in their eyes and with much dust in their eyes, with keen faculties and with dull faculties, with good qualities and with bad qualities, easy to teach and hard to teach, and some who dwelt seeing fear and blame in the other world." Mn 26

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That doesn’t mean we should obsess about the dangers of future lives. Learn to see more about the present moment so that rather than fear of the future there becomes a corresponding interest in the moment, the ayatanas, in place of aversion.

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