What Religions Believe in Reincarnation: Reward or Reckoning

For some, hell is other people, so reincarnation is a proper punishment. But the prospect of spending eternity among other sinners doesn’t sound that great either.

Which one would you choose?

Rebirth on Earth or an eternal afterlife that may be not all that pleasant?

Of course, the question is rhetoric for most of us who have found faith to guide us and help us live better lives. All the same, it is interesting to learn what religions believe in reincarnation and how they view their temporary afterlife beliefs.

In modern times, religions from the Indian subcontinent have the most structured view on reincarnation. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all believe that life is a journey with numerous iterations. Among the Abrahamic religions, only certain Christian and Judaic sects believe in rebirth.

However, their dogmatic view is centered around an eternal afterlife rather than reincarnation or transmigration of the soul.

Many ancient religions also believed in reincarnation.

Let’s discuss ancient and modern theology and cosmology in this detailed guide on the permutations of the soul and find out if there is a god of reincarnation and if reincarnation is Biblical at all.

What Is Reincarnation and Is It Real?

Reincarnation is the belief that the soul — or another immaterial but essential part of what makes us humans and individuals — continues its existence after bodily death. Not only that but it also comes back to life in a new body, starts a new life.

For the most part, religions that believe in reincarnation consider this return to the world of the living as a form of punishment. Life itself is an attempt to acquire higher consciousness, to do good, and to improve one’s karma so that the soul can break the cycle of rebirth and achieve salvation.

In Ancient Greece, Plato, the father of Western philosophy, also thought that the soul was immortal. After a relatively brief but challenging voyage in the underworld, the soul would be born anew, but with virtually no memories from its previous life.

His beliefs are outlined in several of his dialogues but aren’t extremely cohesive. While they are open to interpretation, Plato’s notoriety in Medieval and Renaissance Europe has popularized his concept of reincarnation, even though the predominant Christianity would consider such beliefs heretical.

There is enough historical evidence that both Catholic and Orthodox churches persecuted Christian sects with strong reincarnation beliefs.

What Modern Religions Believe in Reincarnation

Nowadays, the main religions that believe in reincarnation stem from India. Buddhism is the most spread geographically, but Hinduism has considerably more followers. Sikhism and Jainism are somewhat more localized but have interesting beliefs about reincarnation as well.

Let’s explore them in greater detail.

Hinduism and the Cycle of Rebirth

One of the Hinduist concepts known all over the world is the notion of karma. In popular culture, it has acquired a simplistic explanation:

“You reap what you saw.”

However, karma from good or bad deeds doesn’t necessarily manifest much in this life. Instead, karma is essential in Hindu beliefs about the afterlife, as it dictates whether and how a human will be reborn. Our actions, decisions, and thoughts affect the nature of karma that we carry after death.

Simply put, Hindus believe that good deeds help us become better people. Doing enough good, across this life and the next, will eventually lead to moksha or liberation from the cycle of life and death.

In other words, reincarnation isn’t a reward. In fact, if one accumulates bad karma, rebirth could occur in life forms other than human.

Whether a worm suffers more in life than a human in the XXI century is a discussion for another day.

Buddhism and Rebirth

Buddhism began on the Indian subcontinent. Many of its tenets differ significantly from the moral postulates of Hinduism, but the concept of reincarnation shares a fairly similar structure.

Buddha did believe in rebirth as many of his teachings are aimed at living a good, worthy life that strengthens the spirit, purifies the thought, and elevates the soul. By understanding the innate human condition — suffering (dukkha) — we could hope to break the 12 ninadas to achieve nirvana, the Buddhist equivalent of moksha.

Early Buddhism differentiates six realms of existence. Souls, based on the karma they’ve accumulated, can be reborn in either one of them.

Again, in Buddhism, the goal is to break the cycle of samsara, to illuminate our souls so that their stories of rebirth finally culminate in nirvana.

Jainism and the Wheel of Samsara

The transmigration of the soul is a core belief in Jainism. Akin to Buddhism, Jainism recognizes 12 forms of reflection that can help the soul achieve enlightenment and break the cycle of reincarnation.

However, Jainism considers certain evil deeds beyond redemption. Souls who’ve transgressed in such fashion, usually by acts of violence, cannot hope to achieve moksha. You see, Jainists believe that the Wheel of Samsara (or the cycle of rebirth) can transmigrate us into any living form imaginable. Hence, killing or harming any living being is a serious stain on the soul.

The stance of ahimsa (non-violence) is a bright beacon on the path of Jain enlightenment.

What’s more, Jainist scholars believe that each soul has a fixed number of rebirths, so the journey through life’s suffering isn’t endless.

Sikhism

Sikhism, a monotheistic religion found in Punjab some six centuries ago, also believes in rebirth. Unlike Hinduism and Buddhism, though, Sikhs don’t aim to reach a form of moksha or nirvana after death.

Instead, the reincarnated soul must live a righteous life to deserve God’s grace in this life. By keeping God’s truth in mind, meditation, chanting holy hymns, and helping others the narrow path to enlightenment can be illuminated by His light and the yoke of rebirths broken.

Reincarnation Beliefs in Abrahamic Religions

Neither Christians nor Muslims believe in reincarnation. Not dogmatically, at the very least.

Throughout history, several Christian sects, influenced by the Manichaen faith, spread the idea of reincarnation across Europe. In their times, the Bogomils and Cathars caused quite a stir but, ultimately, the official church dogma prevailed and extinguished any doubt. Often, through fire, brimstone, and torture.

Christians cannot believe in reincarnation as it contradicts some of the key postulates about the afterlife in God’s eternal grace. What’s more, the Catholic Church postulates that in the Second Coming, all dead will be resurrected and judged.

This is not the same as reincarnation, though.

Judaism and Kabbalah

Do Jews believe in reincarnation?

For the most part, they don’t, but there are many modern reincarnation beliefs, mostly stemming from the esoteric Kabbalah.

They lean toward punitive reincarnations. Certain transgressions in life can result in a soul being reborn as an animal whose life resembles the crime committed in the previous life.

The concept of gilgul shares some similarities with karma. For instance, a traitor can be reborn as a parrot, but many interpret the cycle of reincarnation as a selfless act that serves the universe and God’s plan.

As popular as it is today, Kabbalah isn’t universally accepted in traditional dogma, making the relationship between Judaism and reincarnation open to interpretations.

Ancient Religions that Believed in Reincarnation

Virtually all ancient polytheistic religions had elaborate notions of the afterlife. Reincarnation was a relatively rare concept, though.

Ancient Greeks had the Kingdom of Hades, but Plato brought about the idea of rebirth. Whether he got this idea from Eastern beliefs remains a mystery.

The Gaulic tribes, who occupied what is today Germany, France, Spain, and the UK, had an extremely strong faith in the afterlife. They didn’t believe that you could be reincarnated as the same person but were certain the soul was indestructible. They’d lend money and not ask for their return in this life but fully expected to collect in the afterlife.

After a fixed period in the world of the dead, the soul would be reborn. Roman historians thought of this as a Pythagorean doctrine that had made its way to the Western edge of Europe.

Science and Reincarnation

Strictly speaking, reincarnation has scientific proof every day. Our cells constantly die and are being replaced by new ones. It doesn’t take long for our entire body to be replenished in such a fashion.

Of course, this process doesn’t involve soul transmigration.

For the time being, however advanced and amazing modern technology is, it cannot detect the “soul particle”, so it cannot track its permutations.

Conclusion

The notion of rebirth is a complex one. We merely touched upon what religions believe in reincarnation, but there is much more to it than “having another chance”. 

In most cases, reincarnation isn’t the desired outcome of our struggles in this world. Given that the human condition is one of suffering, the cycle of rebirth is a form of punishment or, at the very least, selfless service to God.

All the same, the end goal is to stop the reincarnations by living a righteous, humble, enlightened life

Which is a goal worth pursuing regardless of whether you believe in reincarnation or not.