Reincarnation.

[Diamond]

I can't count the times I have prayed that I would be a girl in my next incarnation and like it. Every day it's a struggle. I'm too angry to have faith, I'm too desperate to wait, and I'm too jealous of other physically-female people.

I'm hoping to live all my dreams and only live a short life. I really don't feel like going through this anymore. My conclusions: I may have always been male in my previous incarnations and wanna be female for once. I've always wanted to know what it was like... or... I may have always been a female and this is one of my first male incarnations... OR... I was just given this birth defectg randomly!!!

So, I just wanted to address the topic of reincarnations because all I can do now is pray that I be a girl in my next incarnation and I'm losing hope and they say only ask once...

[Padma]

One of my all-time favourite cartoons:

[Janet_Girl]

I totally believe in reincarnation.  This is not my first trip here.  I know it, but I just can not prove it to you.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora Diamond,

  I know this might be slightly off track but........

The Buddhist line of thought that I personally follow is there's no such thing as any permanent entity like a "soul"...Even though reincarnation and rebirth are often used in an interchangeable way, there is a big difference, reincarnation literally means a permanent entity [like a soul or self] passes from one body into the next, where as rebirth according to the Buddha, mean the initial consciousness that vitalises the foetus is conditioned by the karmic "energy" from the past which forms the mental and physical being...

When one dies, the stream of consciousness [the mental components of a human being] doesn't just disappear, it continues to manifest into another being, dependant upon the karma and craving force of the individual...

Some Thai Buddhist believe that along with the craving force, the karmic reaction to commit adultery[balancing out the karmic energy] in this or a past life, is to be reborn "transgender" and the suffering one experiences as a transgender would also depend on other unskilful actions of the past...

As you are aware some trans-people seem to breeze through transition and live a normal life, this would be due according to Buddhism to past skilful actions...

However on the subject of Karma and Rebirth the Buddha did have this to say...

"With Karma as the field, and craving, the moisture, consciousness, the seed...continues to grow!"

" As long as there is craving, there is attachment, and as long as there is attachment, there is becoming, and as long as there is becoming, there is birth!"

"But when craving ceases, attachment also ceases, when there is no attachment, there is no becoming, no birth...That is how "Rebirth" is ended!" 


Now depending on where you sourced your reincarnation beliefs from, if it was from the Hindu religion, then they too believe in karmic "energy"[past skillful or unskilful actions] being carried [with the "soul" in their case]into the next body...So whichever way one looks at it, it would seem "Karma" tends to play a major role in how ones future lives will pan out...

My advice to you is don't waste this precious human "rebirth" by "worrying about or" hoping for a better one in the future, in other words wishing this life was over sooner than later [ for your next life could be worse than this one]...So make the most of the gift you have now!

Metta Zenda  

[Medusa]

I dreamed lot about reincarnation or about releasing soul and inhabit some body for example in coma (I was really interested in cultism until I admitted that I can reach my goal conventional way - HRT and SRS)
I even have a thought about sit to car and drive like 130+mph to wall to make a progress in that thing

[rejennyrated]

The trouble with waiting to solve your problems in your next life is twofold :-

1. What do you do if there isn't one? ... There is no law that says that your cycle must go on forever.
2. If you do have another turn of the wheel, then life is meant to be lived. This means that the problems that you refuse to solve in this life will certainly reoccur in the next one. So if you duck the issue in this life and refuse to take the logical steps to resolve it prepare for a re-run in the next one.

If you cannot reach a point of internal/external balance over the issue of gender then I firmly believe you WILL be confronted with the problem again and again until you do. So for someone who believes in reincarnation procrastination, running away, or suicide are the worst possible unthinkable things to do. They pretty much guarantee that you will go on facing the issue again and again and again without let up until you do whatever must be done to balance your spiritual books.

(and yes I do believe in reincarnation - which is precisely why I do my best to keep myself in reasonable karmic balance - I'm far from perfect at it, but I do try...)

[Padma]

I think the person who gets born next time round will both be and not be me. There will be some continuity (especially given what a strong will we all have behind "staying the same" ), but every experience we have changes us, and changes doesn't come much bigger than death - so the person getting born will be very changed by that death (and the birth!) from the person I think I am. It feels to me more like a relay race, and my enjoyable challenge is to hand on a brightly burning torch (it's just a motivating metaphor, don't start taking me literally, please).

I too prefer to think in terms of rebirth rather than reincarnation, because I don't believe in anything at all being unchanging - so I think we're changing all the time, being reborn all the time even in this life (even though we put masses of effort into walking up the down escalator...) "Reincarnation" has too much of an historic weight of "the soul goes upstairs, takes a shower, and comes down again in a clean outfit" and I don't believe in a soul like that.

All that said, I think now is all we have for certain, so now is when we get to cultivate an inner and outer environment that will bring more happiness to ourselves and others - it's like gardening (or in my case, forest management) .

[kate durcal]

What is the lesson of living in the wrong body? learning from the efforts of what takes to change that? learning what takes to endure and/or accept it? learn from the pain, sorrow, and anguish it cause? learn from the others who suffer the same malady?
Are you sure our lives are predetermined to accomplish a lesson? If so, I ask myself what was Hitler lesson? What a costly lesson it was? Is all of this a divine design?

[Padma]

I don't believe in predestination, "blueprints" (shudder... makes me feel like a half-finished office building...) or "we're put here to learn <insert homily here>" - but I do think we have the opportunity to learn from whatever situation we find ourselves in, whether pleasant or painful. I don't think there's any need to cause ourselves (or anyone else) any extra suffering on top of that which is already inherent in just being here, so there's nothing wrong with choosing to change, so long as we're actually choosing and not just running towards/away from something with our eyes shut.

I've spent a lot of my life chasing things/people I though were going to make me happy, until I changed my approach to what I thought happiness was, and where it might be found. Of course, it's a lifetime's habit, so the flywheel is slow to slow, but I sense an increase in contentment since I was more able to let love come up from inside where it had been hiding, instead of longing for someone to come and give it to me (for example). And I'm buying less things now .

I think (and this has been my experience, which doesn't mean I'm assuming it's got to be yours) that changing my body comes better in the end from a sense of love for myself, rather than from a sense of hatred towards myself. So while there was self-hatred, that was the thing that needed addressing (and is a thing quite separate from my sense of gender, though it may affect how I experienced them both), and my sense of true gender wouldn't rise to the surface until it I made it safe inside me to do so. You can't walk away from something while you're busy running away from it.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora all,

When it comes to all your theories on "reincarnation"......................


I must say "I've heard it all before folks!" 

Metta Zenda

[Anatta]

Kia Ora Valerie, Good question 

  I guess from their perspective[some Thai Buddhists that is] to commit adultery is to intentionally make ones spouse suffer,[ adultery = Extramarital sex that "wilfully" and "maliciously" interferes with marriage relations ]...

However  If one lives in a    "Free Love"  society then no adultery is being committed so there's no harm done...The other thing to take into account Buddhists don't view a marriage contract as a big deal, what I mean by this is, as long as both partner's are in agreement and do not perform actions with the intent to harm themselves or others then more or less... anything goes...

However one of Buddhism's five precepts, is to reframe from sexual misconduct  that is  any sexual act that will bring harm/suffering to oneself and others...[so adultery fits this]

This sexual misconduct precept is also left open  to other interpretations as well for example, some Buddhists believe "Homosexual" acts are covered by this...Their argument is if  homosexuality is against local law, then it can be classed as sexual misconduct, because it violates social norms indirectly causing suffering...

But if those Buddhists who see homosexuality as sexual misconduct, remove the social aspect and just focus on the  individuals then they have failed to take into account if this act is between two "consenting" adults whose intention is one of  "love"  and not wishing to harm others, then this cannot be seen as "sexual misconduct"  , Therefore no unskilful act, no unwholesome karma created...

It all boils down to whether or not one is creating wholesome or unwholesome "karma" by ones actions...The five precepts are guidelines  designed/put in place to help the Buddhist practitioners reframe from creating unwholesome karma...   

You have to remember Valerie that adultery and being born transgender is only what some Thai Buddhist believe, not all Buddhist believe the same thing when it comes to karma and rebirth, in fact some Western Buddhists don't believe in either, they have dropped anything that could be seen as superstitious mumbo jumbo  ...

But as for myself, from personal experience I don't "believe" in karma... I "know" karma, and as far as rebirth goes, if I also draw on past experiences[excuse the pun], I'm prepared to give this the benefit of the doubt [or if one likes have "faith" in], and live my life accordingly ...

In a nutshell, if ones actions are designed to be beneficial to others and oneself and not to cause intentional suffering [ that is, knowing ones actions will lead to no beneficial outcomes only suffering], then they are classed as skilful actions

Sorry for the long response but I have a "bad" habit of rattling on and on and on.............

Also please bear in mind I'm a lay person when it come to Buddhism and what I write is what I know to be the case...So I could also be wrong...or right...

But as the saying goes.. "Different strokes for different folks !" - Including Buddhists...

Happy Mindfulness [and many happy "returns" of the day!  ]

Metta Zenda

[xXRebeccaXx]

I can't count the times I have prayed that I would be a girl in my next incarnation and like it. Every day it's a struggle. I'm too angry to have faith, I'm too desperate to wait, and I'm too jealous of other physically-female people.

I'm hoping to live all my dreams and only live a short life. I really don't feel like going through this anymore. My conclusions: I may have always been male in my previous incarnations and wanna be female for once. I've always wanted to know what it was like... or... I may have always been a female and this is one of my first male incarnations... OR... I was just given this birth defectg randomly!!!

So, I just wanted to address the topic of reincarnations because all I can do now is pray that I be a girl in my next incarnation and I'm losing hope and they say only ask once...

Perhaps you were a transphobe and built up extreme amounts of bad karma in your lifetime.

[Silas]

To my knowledge, I don't remember any past lives I may've lived, so I doubt I'll be completely aware of any future lives. But if you believe you will be, then I think you will.

Be yourself, the best girl you can be in this life, don't worry too much about the next one.

I'm not sure how past lives and trans*-isms connect. Possibly your soul was hosted by a cis-ally, or a transphobe, or quite possibly someone who was completely gender binary and never knew trans* people existed, therefore had no opinion. Or maybe you were trans* still. It's sort of over and done with. Be a good person, but don't do good deeds for the karma. Do them because you feel they are right. (Which makes good/bad karma EXTREMELY relative to the beholder.)

Take it as a positive and hold your head up.

[VeryGnawty]

I don't see any reason to put off for another life what I can fix in this one...

[Pinkfluff]

I often feel the same way, looking forward to the next life and hopefully then I will be in a compatible body. Sometimes I wonder if too much pillaging in my last life damaged my wyrd this much, but of course there's no way to know that for sure. Maybe it's just statistics. After all someone has to get the short dirty end of the stick, and it just happened to be me. Pretty unlikely chances, but then unlikely things happen every day.