Chapter 28 Chapter 26 Forms of Reincarnation

Time and time again, the sinking wheel continues; time and time again, rebirth and death again; time and time again, everyone carries me to the grave. —— "Corresponding Department" The Twelve Dependent Originations describe the progression of reincarnation in precise Buddhist terms, and attribute death to the following four causes: 1. The end of regenerated karma (Kammakkhaya). Buddhism believes that when life exists, generally speaking, the forces of thinking, action and greed are the most powerful, and at the end of life, they change into a dominant force that triggers successive generations.In this final act of consciousness there is a special latent power.Once the latent energies of regenerative karma are exhausted, before the end of the lifetime of a particular realm, the organic activity of the body that expresses its life force ceases.This often happens to beings who have fallen into the lower realms (apaya), although of course it can also occur in other realms.

2. The end of life (ayukkhaya), this situation is different due to different realms. Natural death due to old age can be classified in this category. In different realms of existence, the lifespan limit of all living beings changes accordingly.No matter how much continuation force karma has, when a person's lifespan reaches the limit, he will definitely die.If his rebirth karma is so powerful and irresistible, the karma will reappear in the same realm, or be reborn in an upper realm, such as a celestial being. 3. The end of rebirth karma and the end of life occur simultaneously (ubhayakkhaya).

4. The stronger relative karma unexpectedly hinders the flow of reproductive karma (upacchedakakamma) before the end of life. The sudden and untimely death of a person, as well as the premature death of a child, is due to this cause. A stronger relative force can stop the meteor and pull it to the ground.Thus, very significant past karma can nullify latent energies in the dying consciousness, thereby destroying the spiritual life of the sentient being.For example, Devadatta's death was due to the negative karma he had done in his life. One to three are collectively referred to as timely death (kalamarana), and the fourth is untimely death (akalamarana).

For example, the extinguishing of a lamp may be due to the following four factors, namely: the wick is burned out, the lamp oil is exhausted, the wick and lamp oil are exhausted at the same time, or other external causes, such as a gust of wind. Therefore, death may be caused by the four causes mentioned above. Buddhism explains the cause of death in this way, speaking of four forms of rebirth, namely: egg birth (andaja), womb birth (jalabuja), wet birth (samsedaja) and transformation birth (opapatika). This broad classification includes all sentient beings. Birds and egg-laying snakes belong to the first category.

Viviparous beings include all human beings, some gods who live on Earth, and some animals conceived in their mother's womb. The life that regards dampness as its own growth place, like some low-level animals, is in the third category. Beings born as natural manifestations are usually invisible to the naked eye.Due to their previous karma, they manifest naturally without going through the embryonic process.Hungry ghosts, celestial beings, and Brahmas generally belong to this category of sentient beings.