Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo

78 Rebirth and the Western Buddhist
present, any educated person in the West automatically
rejects many traditional Buddhist teachings as superstition.
All reject such doctrines as the flat Earth and spontaneous
generation of insects, but many extend the rejection
not only to all forms of ritual, monasticism, and deity
practices, but also to the teachings on rebirth, and thus
can accept most of Buddhist doctrine only in terms of
weak, symbolic interpretations. It is therefore necessary
that scientific method be absorbed into the Dharma, and
Buddhist doctrines be submitted to scientific test where
possible. While many picturesque theories will certainly
have to be discarded or modified as a result, the Dharma
can only gain in strength and universality by openminded,
impartial research -research which is neither
credulous nor dogmatically sceptical.
We have seen that rebirth is a fact of experience, now
open to scientific investigation. The beginnings of such
investigation are sketched in Chapter Six, showing that
we should not reject out of hand the possibility that we
can be reborn in non-human states, even if it is less likely
than traditionally taught, and that using hypnotic regression,
we should be able to build up a more realistic
picture of what we experience in the intermediate existence
between human lives. Buddhists surely cannot
neglect this technique, which promises to be so valuable
not merely as a means of research into areas formerly
accessible only to accomplished yogins, but as a direct aid
to individual practice.
Whether Buddhists participate or not, scientific research
into rebirth and such related areas as parapsychology,
religious experience, out-of-the-body experiences
and near-death experiences is bound to continue
and grow into a body of religious science acceptable to
people the world over, as Physics and Chemistry are