Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo

18 Rebirth and the Western Buddhist
nothing but sheer illusion, and only in experience is there
truth." 21 So before approaching the logical "proofs" of
rebirth, let us tum now to the observational evidence.
The Western literature on rebirth is vast and rapidly
increasing. Here I can give only. a brief survey of the
types of evidence to be found, referring the reader to the
original sources for all the details, which are, of course,
indispensable for generating conviction.
One can learn about one or more of one'spast lives (1)
by recollecting it oneself or (2) by being told about it by
another. If one recollects it oneself, it can be (1) spontaneous
recall without any training; (2) recall through deliberate
training in this or previous lives; or (3) recall under
hypnotic regression. In any case, to serve as evidence for
rebirth, the recollection needs to be verified in some way
to demonstrate that it is not just a fantasy. Even people
who have recalled their own past life under hypnosis or
otherwise do not necessarily "believe" in rebirth as a
result. In hypnotic recall it is common to feel "I must be
making all this up." 21
RECOLLECTING REBIRTH ONESELF
1. Spontaneous recall
Spontaneous recall, generally the recollection by a child of
his immediately preceding life, and often of how he
passed from that death to the present birth, is more
common than is often thought. Normally, especially in
the West, a young child who talks of its previous life soon
learns not to. Doubtless any mother would tend to tire of
repeated requests by her child to go "home" to its previous
family, perhaps telling her "My own mother is
much better than you." 23
A life spontaneously recalled is generally very recent,
so that there are likely to be persons still living who
remember the deceased person. In these circumstances,
very strong confirmation is often possible.