(Continuing from last week) Majority of various ancient civilizations, faiths (religions), customs and traditions, scholars and mystics agree that there is a form (at least) of life after death since they believe in the theory of the immortality of the soul. This leads inevitably to the question: “where are the spirits of the dead?”.
Many pagan customs and traditions have various beliefs based on superstitions on the fate of the spirits of the dead. They hold tenaciously to the idea of life after death, but have various undefined resting places for the spirits of the dead. Some say they rest in parts of the compounds of their birth, others hold that they enter and dwell in tress, streams and evil forests.
The Muslims believe in the immortality of the soul as the Koran teachers that man has an immortal soul which continues to live after the death of the body, and teaches that there is resurrection of the dead, a judgment day and a final destiny of the soul after judgment in “Barzkh” (the transition place of the souls of the dead before judgment) (see Surah 23:99,100 of the Holy Koran’). The soul is in conscious state while in Barzkha. If the soul had been in a person who had been wicked while alife on earth, the soul is consigned to punishment in a “burning hell”, but if the soul is that of a person who had been faithful and righteous, such a soul goes to “heavenly garden of “paradise”. This faithful one, according to Islamic belief must experience some measure of torment called the “chastisement of the Tomb” for his few sins. This judgment in which the souls of the dead face their eternal destiny ends the Islamic intermediate state.
Around 1500 BC, Hinduism had started in India with the arrival of the Aryans. This religion from the start, believed that the soul survived death, this led to “ancestor worship” and supply of food for the dead, and culminated, centuries later, in the idea of transmigration of the soul. The Hindu sages grappling with the universal problem of evil in the society and suffering among the people combined with the belief in the “Law of Karma” (the law of cause and effect), developed the theory of reincarnation further strengthening the idea of the immortality of the soul, whereby righteousness and evil are rewarded accordingly in the next life.
Hinduism went further to develop the concept of “Ultimate Reality” And the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics says of this: “it seems to be true that at the very time when the theory of transmigration (of the soul) and Karma was formed, or even earlier, another concept was gradually taking place in a small intellectual circle in North India the philosophic concept of the Brahman-Atman (the supreme and eternal Brahman, the ultimate reality” this idea was combined with the theory of reincarnation to define the ultimate goal of the Hindus to liberation from the cycle of transmigrating so as to become one with the “Ultimate Reality” which they believe can only be achieved by striving for socially acceptable behaviour and special Hindu knowledge.
Hindu philosophers moulded the idea of transmigration of souls into a doctrine of reincarnation by bringing the theory of the Law of Karma into it with the concept of Brahman, thus forming the main stay of today’s Hinduism. This doctrine is so strong in Hinduism, that a Hindu philosopher Nikhilananda says: “that the attainment of immortality is not the prerogative of a chosen few, but the birthright of all, is the conviction of every good Hindu”.
Therefore to the Hindu, the soul is immortal and continues living in other human beings successively, hence immortality and transmigration.
About 500BC an Indian Prince named Siddhartha Gautama (who later became known as Buddha) founded Buddhism being a breakaway from Hinduism, its teachings are in many ways similar with those of Hinduism. According to this new sect Buddhism, existence is a continuous cycle of rebirth and death, and just as in Hinduism, each individual’s state in his current life is defined by the deeds of his previous life.
However, Buddhism does not define existence in terms of personal soul that survives death. On this, Arnold Toynbee observes that: “Buddah saw in human psyche only a fleeting series of discontinuous psychological states, which are held together only by desire” And Dr. Walpora Rahula a Buddhist scholar explained that, “yet Buddha believed that something some state or force is passed on from one life to together,” He continues “A being is nothing but a combination of physical and mental forces or energies”. What we call death is the total non-functioning of the physical body. Do all these forces and energies stop altogether with the non-functioning of the body? Buddhism says “No”. Will, volition, desire, thirst to exist, to continue, to become more and more, is a tremendous force that moves whole lives, whole existences, that even moves the whole world. This is the greatest force, the greatest energy in the world. According to Buddhism, this force does not stop with the non-functioning of the body, which is death; but it continues manifesting itself in another form, producing re-existence which is called rebirth.
The Buddhist view of the hereafter is that existence is everlasting unless the individual attains the final goal of “Nirvana” liberation from the cycle of rebirth. “Nirvana” is a state neither of eternal bliss nor of becoming one with the “Ultimate Reality” it is simply a state of non-existence “the Deathless place” beyond human existence. Webster’s Nineth New Collegiate Dictionary defines “Nirvana” as “a place or state of oblivion to care, pain or external reality” Rather than seeking immortality, Buddhists are encouraged to by pass it by achieving Nirvana.
Buddhism spread to various parts of Asia in modified forms, accommodating local beliefs. In Japan and China is a form of Baddhism called Nahayana Buddhism which holds a belief in celestial “Bodhisattras” or future Buddhas who put off their Nirvana for countless lives in order to serve others and help them to attain Nirvana. Thus one can choose to continue in the cycle of rebirths even after attaining Nirvana. There is also another variety of Buddism in China and Japan the doctrine of “Pure Land” started by Buddha Amida, under which those calling on the name of Buddha Amida, in faith are said to be reborn into the “Pure land” or paradise, where conditions are more conducive to attainment of the final goal. Again Professor Smart explains this thus: “Not unnaturally, the splendor of paradise, vividly described in some to the Mahanaya scriptures, came to replace Nirvana in the popular imagination as the supreme goal”.
In Tibet is a brand of Buddhism which, according to its Book of the dead; the fate of the individual in the intermediate state before being reborn, is exposed to the bright light of the Ultimate Reality. Those who are unable to bear the light are denied liberty and are reborn into the cycle of rebirth.
Clearly, Buddhism in its various forms admits of the principal of immortality of the soul.
Taoism was founded in China around the 6th Century BC by a man called Tao-tzu with the principal driving force to harmonise human activity with Tao who has no beginning nor an end. And by living in accord with Tao, an individual participates in it and becomes eternal. This attempt to be one with nature, Taoists soon became very interested in agelessness and resilience. When Buddhism infiltrated China’s religious life in the 7th Century BC, this led to amalgamation of the principles of Buddhism, Taoism, spiritism and ancestor worship. And Prof Smart says. “Both Buddhism and Taoism gave shape and substance to beliefs about an after death which at the time were sketchy in Chinese ancient ancestor worship”.
Other Eastern Religions include Confucianism founded by a prominent Chinese sage Confucius around 6th Century BC. He did not say much about immortality of the soul; and on the life hereafter, but emphasized the importance of moral and socially acceptable behaviours, and favoured ancestor worship and reverence towards the sprits of the dead.
Jainism was founded in India by Nahavira in the 6th Century BC. Jainism believed that all living things have eternal soul, and that salvation of the soul from the bondage of Karma is only possible through extreme self-denial, self-discipline and rigid application of non-violence towards all creatures.
Sikhism also developed in India around 16th Century BC, when Gara Nanak merged his faction of Hinduism with Islam to form a united Sikhism. It adopted the Hindu beliefs of immortality of the soul, reincarnation and Karma.
Again clearly, the belief that life continues after the body dies is an integral part of most religion of the orient.
(To be continued Next Week)
