Reason 8: Rebirth again and again? The Bible says once, then judgment and grace.

What do you think? Which is more: the flow of tears you’ve shed while roaming and transmigrating for such a very long time—weeping and wailing from being coupled with the unloved and separated from the loved—or the water in the four oceans?” “As we understand the Buddha’s teaching, the flow of tears we’ve shed while roaming and transmigrating is more than the water in the four oceans.”

Samyutta Nikaya 15.3:1.4-1.5, Tears (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Now at that time a mendicant named Sāti, the fisherman’s son, had the following harmful misconception: “As I understand the Buddha’s teaching, it is this very same consciousness that roams and transmigrates, not another.”

Majjhima Nikaya 38:2.1-2.2, The Longer Discourse on the Ending of Craving (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

“Futile man, who on earth have you ever known me to teach in that way? Haven’t I said in many ways that consciousness is dependently originated, that without a cause, consciousness does not come to be?

Majjhima Nikaya 38:5.12-5.13, The Longer Discourse on the Ending of Craving (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

²⁷Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

Hebrews 9:27 (WEB) · context

⁴³Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:43 (WEB) · context

⁸We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8 (WEB) · context

“Reverend Sāriputta, they speak of this thing called ‘extinguishment’. What is extinguishment?” “Reverend, the ending of greed, hate, and delusion is called extinguishment.”

Samyutta Nikaya 38.1:2.1-2.4, A Question About Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

“But worthy Gotama, when a mendicant’s mind is freed like this, where are they reborn?” “‘They’re reborn’ doesn’t apply, Vaccha.” “Well then, are they not reborn?” “‘They’re not reborn’ doesn’t apply, Vaccha.”

Majjhima Nikaya 72:16.1-16.4, With Vacchagotta on Fire (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

“But Vaccha, suppose they were to ask you: ‘This fire in front of you that is quenched: in what direction did it go— east, south, west, or north?’ How would you answer?” “It doesn’t apply, worthy Gotama. The fire depended on grass and logs as fuel. When that runs out, and no more fuel is added, the fire is reckoned to have become quenched due to lack of fuel.”

Majjhima Nikaya 72:19.15-19.18, With Vacchagotta on Fire (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

The liberation of his heart was like the extinguishing of a lamp.”

Digha Nikaya 16:6.10.21-6.10.22, The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

³This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

John 17:3 (WEB) · context

³I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3-4 (WEB) · context

“Come now, mendicants, I say to you all: ‘Conditions fall apart. Persist with diligence.’” These were the Realized One’s last words.

Digha Nikaya 16:6.7.2-6.7.4, The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

The teaching and training that I have taught and pointed out for you shall be your Teacher after my passing.

Digha Nikaya 16:6.1.5, The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

“Well then, brahmin, you yourself should fairly divide the Buddha’s relics in eight portions.”

Digha Nikaya 16:6.25.12, The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

John 11:25 (WEB) · context

⁵Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee,

Luke 24:5-6 (WEB) · context

³For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (WEB) · context

Now this is the noble truth of suffering. Rebirth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; being coupled with the disliked is suffering; separation from the liked is suffering; not getting what you wish for is suffering. In brief, the five grasping aggregates are suffering.

Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.1-4.2, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Now this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering. It’s the craving that leads to future lives, mixed up with relishing and greed, taking pleasure there wherever it alights. That is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for continued existence, and craving for nonexistence.

Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.3-4.5, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Now this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering. It’s the fading away and cessation of that very same craving no residue left behind; giving it away, letting it go, releasing it, and not clinging to it.

Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.6-4.7, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:6 (WEB) · context

“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.

Samyutta Nikaya 15.1:1.7-1.8, Grass and Sticks (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

“There are several convictions that the Buddha has left undeclared; he has set them aside and turned them down. For example: the cosmos is eternal, or not eternal, or finite, or infinite; the soul and the body are one and the same, or the soul is one thing, the body another; after death, a realized one still exists, or no longer exists, or both still exists and no longer exists, or neither still exists nor no longer exists.

Majjhima Nikaya 63:2.2-2.3, The Shorter Discourse With Māluṅkyaputta (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Speculation about the world … These are the four unthinkable things. They should not be thought about, and anyone who tries to think about them will go mad or get frustrated.”

Anguttara Nikaya 4.77:1.9-1.11, Unthinkable (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 (WEB) · context

²⁰For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

Romans 1:20 (WEB) · context

Now, the being who was reborn there first thinks: ‘I am the Divinity, the Great Divinity, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, God Almighty, the Maker, the Creator, the First, the Begetter, the Controller, the Father of those who have been born and those yet to be born. These beings were created by me!

Digha Nikaya 1:2.5.1-2.5.3, The Divine Net (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

‘This must be the Divinity, the Great Divinity, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, God Almighty, the Maker, the Creator, the First, the Begetter, the Controller, the Father of those who have been born and those yet to be born. And we were created by him. Why is that? Because we see that he was reborn here first, and we arrived later.’

Digha Nikaya 1:2.5.9-2.5.12, The Divine Net (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

‘Mendicant, these gods think that there is nothing at all that I don’t know and see and understand and realize. That’s why I didn’t answer in front of them. But I too do not know where these four principal states cease with no residue left behind.

Digha Nikaya 11:83.7-83.9, With Kevaḍḍha (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

²⁴Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

Isaiah 44:24 (WEB) · context

¹⁸For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.

Isaiah 45:18 (WEB) · context

¹³There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Hebrews 4:13 (WEB) · context

“Mendicants, form is not-self. For if form were self, it wouldn’t lead to affliction. And you could compel form:

Samyutta Nikaya 22.59:2.1-2.2, The Characteristic of Not-Self (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Feeling is not-self … Perception is not-self … Choices are not-self …

Samyutta Nikaya 22.59:3.1-4.2, The Characteristic of Not-Self (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

²⁷God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 (WEB) · context

¹³For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

Psalms 139:13-14 (WEB) · context

¹But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.

Isaiah 43:1 (WEB) · context

³⁰But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:30-31 (WEB) · context

Now this is the noble truth of suffering. Rebirth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; being coupled with the disliked is suffering; separation from the liked is suffering; not getting what you wish for is suffering. In brief, the five grasping aggregates are suffering.

Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.1-4.2, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Now this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering. It’s the craving that leads to future lives, mixed up with relishing and greed, taking pleasure there wherever it alights. That is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for continued existence, and craving for nonexistence.

Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.3-4.5, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Now this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering. It’s the fading away and cessation of that very same craving no residue left behind; giving it away, letting it go, releasing it, and not clinging to it.

Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.6-4.7, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:9 (WEB) · context

²³for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:23 (WEB) · context

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35 (WEB) · context

It is intention that I call deeds. For after making a choice one acts by way of body, speech, and mind.

Anguttara Nikaya 6.63:33.3-33.5, Penetrative (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

“Student, sentient beings are the owners of their deeds and heir to their deeds. Deeds are their womb, their relative, and their refuge. It is deeds that divide beings into inferior and superior.”

Majjhima Nikaya 135:4.1-4.3, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

Intention is the leader of things; intention is first, they’re made by intention. If with corrupt intent you speak or act, suffering follows you, like a wheel, the ox’s foot.

Dhammapada 1, 1. Pairs (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalms 103:10-12 (WEB) · context

⁸for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, that no one would boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (WEB) · context

¹³You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.

Colossians 2:13-14 (WEB) · context

“What is the cause, worthy Gotama, what is the reason why even among those who are human beings some are seen to be inferior and superior? For people are seen who are short-lived and long-lived, sickly and healthy,

Majjhima Nikaya 135:3.1-3.3, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

If they’re not reborn in a place of loss, but return to the human realm, then wherever they’re reborn they’re short-lived. For killing living creatures is the path leading to a short lifespan.

Majjhima Nikaya 135:5.3-5.4, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

or if they return to the human realm, they’re sickly …

Majjhima Nikaya 135:7.3, The Shorter Analysis of Deeds (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

John 9:1-2 (WEB) · context

³Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.

John 9:3 (WEB) · context

¹⁶When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, ¹⁷that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 8:16-17 (WEB) · context

So Ānanda, live as your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your refuge, with no other refuge.

Digha Nikaya 16:2.26.1, The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

For it is by oneself that evil’s done, one is corrupted by oneself. It’s by oneself that evil’s not done, one is purified by oneself. Purity and impurity are personal matters, no one can purify another.

Dhammapada 165, 12. The Self (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

You yourselves must do the work, the Realized Ones just show the way.

Dhammapada 276, 20. The Path (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

Jeremiah 13:23 (WEB) · context

⁵not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Titus 3:5 (WEB) · context

⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

John 14:6 (WEB) · context