Mycroft
The elder Holmes
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,068
- MBTI Type
- INTP
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- so/sp
One would think such "parables" would be presented as such within Buddhist religious text; the entire concept of reincarnation seems crucial to the theological assumptions and structure of all branches of Buddhism.
Incidentally, why would "life" absent whatever meaning or utility our imaginations give to it be something one would wish to experience?
Thing is, the whole notion of reincarnation -- that there is a three-dimensional universe moving forward of unilateral time, and that this universe is more or less identical to our perception of it and exists sans perception -- is at odds with the teachings of most types of Buddhism, Zen in particular. I may be mistaken (as my knowledge of the subject is solid but hardly comprehensive), but to the best of my knowledge no major school of Zen teaches of reincarnation.
To answer your question in extremely simple terms, because life is not the meaning we assign it; it is whatever it is, and only as we learn to dismiss the urge to assign names and meanings to everything in the universe can we begin to experience reality as it is. Like removing the thousands of post-it notes to find out what they're actually sticking to.
(Yes, yes, this is why I'm not a Buddhist scholar.)