Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo
Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo
Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo
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Logical 'Proofs': <strong>the</strong> Theory of <strong>Rebirth</strong> 45<br />
<strong>and</strong> lack any attempt to show that <strong>the</strong>y actually do follow<br />
from <strong>the</strong> opponents' positions, or that <strong>the</strong> predicted effect<br />
would be large enough to detect. Losang Gyatso is so<br />
unsure what actually follows that he draws two mutually<br />
contradictory consequences. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore <strong>the</strong> consequences<br />
are not particularly unacceptable, considering<br />
that (1) development of children's intelligence as <strong>the</strong>y<br />
grow, <strong>and</strong> senility, are widely observed; (2) even if one<br />
discounts <strong>the</strong> many Tibetan stories of corpses rising,<br />
<strong>the</strong>'re are <strong>Western</strong> reports of people resuscitated after<br />
clinical death; <strong>and</strong> (3) both Lord Buddha <strong>and</strong> Jetsun<br />
Milarepa found nourishing food streng<strong>the</strong>ned <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
minds for meditation after long fasting.<br />
It is also argued that nothing material can be substantial<br />
cause of <strong>the</strong> mind because mind is formless, <strong>and</strong><br />
what is form cannot become formless or vice versa. 67 , 68<br />
This generalisation of assertion (2) (that <strong>the</strong> causes of any<br />
mind cannot be wholly material, but must include an<br />
earlier mind of <strong>the</strong> same type in <strong>the</strong> same personal<br />
continuum) is likely to be greeted still more suspiciously<br />
by those of o<strong>the</strong>r schools, who will be justifiably wary of<br />
what interpretation <strong>the</strong> <strong>Buddhist</strong> might put on <strong>the</strong><br />
words, <strong>and</strong> to whom it looks like an arbitrary dogma.<br />
Physicists have shown light is a form of energy interconvertible<br />
with o<strong>the</strong>rs, including matter, so why should<br />
not mind, which <strong>the</strong> <strong>Buddhist</strong>s <strong>the</strong>mselves say is "clear<br />
light," be interconvertible with matter too? Cannot a<br />
yogin create a new body mentally, <strong>and</strong> manifest all<br />
manner of material objects.purely by power of <strong>the</strong> mind?<br />
Ultimately, are not all dharmas of <strong>the</strong> same nature,<br />
Voidness? What do "form" <strong>and</strong> "formless" mean in relation<br />
to Einstein's demonstration that matter itself can<br />
be regarded as moving, curved space? There would seem<br />
to be room for doubt.<br />
(c) Against <strong>the</strong> remaining Lokayata position, that<br />
mind is a quality of <strong>the</strong> body, none of our authors offers