Buddhism, Reincarnation and Consciousness

Contents

Introduction
Reincarnation's reality
Consciousness & Soul
Citta santana
Summary
References

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Citta santana - the continuation of consciousness (Buddha / Yogapedia 2023)

The operation of karma is contingent on the possession of an individual consciousness and the eternal process of reincarnation (The Author, 2025)

1. Introduction

His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is the 14th reincarnation of that individual consciousness. This is rightly accepted without question within Buddhist philosophy, and is a key element of its teachings, aligned with the concept of karma (Karuna 2021). This reincarnation is not rebirth, which within Buddhism is the momentary process of change, experienced throughout one's life. As the Jewish rabbi Manis Friedman said in 2023, "Life does not die", reflecting the common belief in many spiritual practices around the world in the idea of an everlasting, eternal consciousness which exists before, during and after the brief period of life on Earth (Friedman 2019 & 2023). In other words, the consciousness of the 1st Dalai Lama Altan Khan has, since 1587, been reincarnated into a different human body in an ongoing and connected process of increasing enlightenment and heightened self-knowledge on the journey of Samsara towards Nirvana. Each of those reincarnations is also subject to the karmic influences of the previous. In discussing the connection between reincarnation and consciousness it needs to be pointed out that over time terms soul, spirit, essence, being and consciousness have all been conflated and not necessarily defined or distinguished, even up to the present day. For example, whilst Buddha had a clear mean for the term referred to in English as the soul, it was very different for Christians and Catholic theology, and for the Greek philosophers who commonly used it to refer to the all encompassing concept of consciousness. In the following article distinctions are made.

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2. Reincarnation's reality

On 2 July 2025 the current Dalia Lama made a public statement in regards to "the future reincarnation" due to an aggressive claim to the process by the Communist Party of China (CCP), which has rejected Buddhism and other religious beliefs practiced in Tibet - including Christianity - since its illegal and brutal invasion of the Independent nation during 1949 (Dalai Lama 2025). Numerous inappropriate online references to this rejection of the concept of reincarnation by the CCP and others can be found, including within the Wikipedia page Succession of the 14th Dalai Lama and an article by Alan Peto cynically titled Reincarnation, Rebirth and Buddhism: Here we go again (Peto 2013, Wikipedia 2025). The latter is especially concerning, as it is a proponent of Buddhism rejecting one of its core precepts. The Catholic Church has similarly rejected the concept of reincarnation as of the 6th century AD, despite its previous acceptance during the life of Christ and before that back into Old Testament times when Judaism was common (Organ 2023).

The present writer rejects these statements and interpretations. The invalidation of reincarnation within Buddhism is viewed simply as political propaganda, theological manipulation, and a disregard for the spiritual beliefs of millions of people around the world. With an awareness of this, the deeply held beliefs of Buddhists can be assessed in regard to reincarnation in its simplest form - death and "rebirth" - and a truth presented which is consistent both with the teachings of the Buddha and the development of beliefs arising from those teachings. The deeply significant spiritual process of reincarnation has nothing do with the Communist Party of China political organisation, or any other religious or secular institution whose beliefs are purely human interpretations of reality and the teachings of others. The present writer's views expressed here are supportive of reincarnation, based on an understanding of the foundational nature of consciousness - something those previously mentioned institutions and belief systems do not necessarily address in their analyses of the subject, or consider less than eternal.

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3. Consciousness & Soul

When the three terms Buddha, Reincarnation and Consciousness were fed into a Google search during August 2025, the AI algorithm returned the following internally inconsistent statement which, in light of the aforementioned comments debunking and denigrating the reality of reincarnation, the present writer takes exception to:

In Buddhist teachings, there is no reincarnation of a permanent soul, but rather a continuity of consciousness through rebirth, driven by karma. This process is a stream of causally linked events where the energy of past volitional actions, or karma, condition's the next existence. Rather than an unchanging self transferring between lives, it is the imprint of one's actions and mental states that carries forward, determining the conditions of a new life within the endless cycle of Samsara until enlightenment is attained. (Source: Reddit - r/Buddhism)

This statement is what is colloquially referred to as word salad. It combines disparate statements correct in and of themselves, and unconnected concepts and theories, into a seeming whole which does nothing but confuse. It rejects the cumulative life experiences gained through a process of endless rebirth. It talks only of an imprint of one's actions and consciousness carrying forward to a next life, rather than the totality.

The primary inconsistency and area of confusion lies with the statement that in death there is a "continuity of consciousness" but no "reincarnation of a permanent soul." In fact, the soul is part of the greater, individual consciousness. There is no separation between consciousness and soul or spirit or memory or experience. There is a natural, corresponding continuation of the soul with death, present within the individual, eternal consciousness. All experiences gained in life are part of that continuum of consciousness. The AI response would be basically sound and internally consistent if that initial part of it were removed. It is only there because the Buddha made reference to the impermanence of the soul, with the former a key concept of his teachings. Understanding of the concept of impermanence is vital if one is to deal with everyday suffering as a normal part of life. The soul is a key operator in everyday life and, as such, subject to Impermanence. However, the experience of that soul, within the context of individual consciousness, is eternal. This latter interpretation is not relevant to the teachings of Buddhism, or in conflict with them, for elsewhere reference is made to citta santana as the continuum of consciousness through reincarnation.

This may seen quibbling with semantics, but it is not, as clarity is needed in any broader discussion of consciousness outside of Buddhism. For far too long the so-called "hard problem of consciousness" as coined by Australian psychologist David Chalmers has given rise to too many definitions and too broad a scope when considering the issue. Microscopic analyses removed from core first principles replace macroscopic understanding of the core principles around consciousness. As scientists, psychologists and others grapple with the subject, and generally refuse to move from a materialist position wherein it is claimed that it emerges from the physical brain, a simple understanding as revealed within Buddhism and other Eastern practices is ignored. Consciousness is not a physical (material) process. It exists in, and derives from, the non-material realm.

Consciousness is the core intelligent energy of the universe and origin of everything. It is many things: an individual awareness of being; the process of existence; one's experience; an eternal, all powerful force. It is not merely electrical processes created by the brain. Those electrical pulses are the result of signals received from an individual external consciousness which are transformed into instruction for the operation of the organic machine which is the human body on Earth.

Consciousness is foundational, fundamental, with nothing coming before it. From the original Cosmic Consciousness - also labelled Source, Creator, The One, God - the physical (material) realm came into being, as did the non-physical realm. Einstein's famous equation E = MC squared explains that connection and the creation of something material out of the seeming nothingness of pure energy. Once this simple concept of the origin of consciousness is accepted, everything else flows, including the related teachings by the Buddha and the presence of our individual consciousness as a fractal emanation of the original greater, eternal Cosmic Consciousness.

It seems to the present writer, who was raised a Catholic, that the Google AI response referred to above is seeking to appease Christianity, which in 553 AD declared reincarnation heretical and now proclaims that there is but one life, one soul experience, and a single rebirth at the end of time when Jesus returns (Kersten 1979). This is a theological teaching that is not consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ or the practice of Christians and Judaism prior to the heresy decree, despite claims by the Church otherwise. The writer has written more fully elsewhere on The Catholic Church rejection of Reincarnation (Organ 2023). The major criticisms against the reality of reincarnation are based on physical matters, ignoring the fact that it is largely a non-physical process, apart from the action of unification of an individual past consciousness with a new physical body or other suitable host. Even the great English academic, Catholic theologian, and writer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, questioned the validity of the church's rejection of the concept of reincarnation, as follows:

… 'Reincarnation’ may be bad theology (that surely, rather than metaphysics) as applied to Humanity ... but I do not see how .... any theologian or philosopher, unless very much better informed about the relation of spirit and body than I believe anyone to be, could deny the possibility of reincarnation… (J.R.R. Tolkien 1954)

In addition, the aforementioned Google AI algorithm returns the following in regards to the Buddhist concept of Samsara, which is an important element of the reincarnation process:

Samsara refers to the cycle of repeated existence, including birth, life, death, and rebirth, a central concept in Eastern religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Bon. It is a Sanskrit word meaning "wandering," which connotes the cyclic, often unsatisfactory nature of existence perpetuated by actions (karma) and desires. The goal in these religions is to escape Samsara and achieve liberation, such as the Buddhist concept of Nirvana or the Hindu concept of Moksha.

In all of these definitions it appears that human ego is intervening to complicate and confuse, rather than simplify Buddhist teachings. The supposed inconsistency between the concept of an eternal consciousness and a temporary, lifetime soul is perhaps best explained in the following comment from the aforementioned Reddit stream out of which the Google AI response came, and which elsewhere addressed it more clearly from a Buddhist perspective:

nickelchrome: Buddhism doesn’t teach reincarnation, it teaches rebirth. The basic difference is they do not believe in a soul that transfers from one body to the next. The belief is that in the historical dimension [and] what we experience as reality, a being transitions from a state of living to death. The energy that makes up its consciousness [then] reenters the consciousness stream and can be reborn in another physical being, or other phenomenon. What follows with you across the different states of being isn’t your identity or soul, but instead the imprint of your actions, or karma.

This explanation is sound to a large degree, but becomes confusing as it goes on. What is "the imprint of your actions" but your experience, i.e., your consciousness? As with the aforementioned AI comment on Buddhist reincarnation, the vapid term imprint only is applied to lived experience and karma, rather than comprehensive, detailed actuality. Why this is so is not clear, but is obviously a reading of Buddha's teaching.

Based on the modern concept of the belief in a Cosmic Consciousness as foundational and equivalent to Source, Creator, The One, God, etc., prior to which there is nothing, such an expansive understanding of it now allows for the inclusion of the concept of a soul within it, rather than separate from it. That is, one's soul can be seen as a temporary, personal and perhaps religious or spirit-focused manifestation of the greater individual consciousness during a specific lifetime.

The soul is not the totality of one's consciousness. An individual consciousness is a fractal emanation from the supreme Cosmic Consciousness (CC) which is the origin of everything as we know it. That fractal emanation forms what the present writer refers to as the Greater Individual Consciousness (GIC), which is eternal and non-physical. It, in turn, aligns with a physical being (i.e., organic machine) or other entity and forms a Localised Consciousness (LC) which operates that entity for a specific period of time (its lifetime) and is usually associated with the brain and other organs, though the brain is merely a receiver of it, just as a smartphone is a receiver of a Wi-Fi transmissions such as a YouTube video stream. A Google query on soul brings the following statement which aligns more closely with the above argument and is drawn from the Wikipedia entry for Rebirth:

The Buddha taught that there is no eternal, unchanging soul or self (known as anattā or non-self) that persists after death. Instead of a soul, Buddhism proposes that a person is a temporary collection of ever-changing physical and mental phenomena. What is reborn is not a soul but a continuum of consciousness and energy, influenced by karma (actions) from past lives.

The soul in Buddhist philosophy is therefore associated with the localised consciousness, not the greater individual consciousness. The soul is distinctly separated from the Cosmic Consciousness and greater individual consiousness in Christian theology and is also brain-bound in aligning itself with science and mankind as the crown of creation. The nickelchrome comment reinforces the primacy of consciousness over soul, when it relates how, "....the energy that makes up [an individual's] consciousness reenters the consciousness stream and can be reborn in another physical being or other phenomenon."

This "consciousness stream" - not stream of consciousness - it the eternal GIC, which retains all past life information, though do not by default make it available to the LC.

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4. Citta santana

Citta is the Sanskrit word for consciousness, whilst santana refers to the continuum or endless series of events, i.e., individual experience. Its continuity from one life to the next through reincarnation has karma as its basic causal mechanism. What an individual does during a single lifetime is reflected in future lives through karma. This allows transformations of the individual through each life, thereby allowing the mind to evolve through each reincarnation. The citta santana increases gradually through each life before moving on to the next. The process of karma is contingent upon reincarnation, for without reincarnation there is no increase, no improvement, no progression of the individual consciousness through Samsara towards Nirvana. Samsara is the repetitive cycle of life, death and rebirth / reincarnation, whilst Nirvana is attainment of freedom through enlightenment. All of these processes are contingent upon reincarnation, which in turn is enabled through the existence of an eternal, individual consciousness. Those who argue that Buddhist rebirth is not reincarnation are expressing an unreasonable opinion and deviation from the basic concepts as elucidated by the Buddha. Other Eastern philosophies and religions adhere to this concept and conscious path, such as Hinduism and Taoism.

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5. Summary

Buddhist philosophy aligns with the concept of reincarnation and cosmic consciousness, with the latter equivalent to God or the Creator / Source of all things. The operation of karma is contingent on the possession of an individual consciousness and the eternal process of reincarnation. You can't have karma without reincarnation.

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6. References

Ana Heart, Buddhism and Reincarnation: Do you believe it is not your first life?, Ana Heart [blog], 29 September 2017.

Buddhism Podcast, Buddhism on Rebirth and Reincarnation: Rebirth is not Reincarnation, Buddhism Podcast, 16 January 2025, YouTube, duration: 23.03 minutes.

Dalai Lama, Statement affirming the continuation of the institution of the Dalai Lama, The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, 2 July 2025.

Eternal Enlightenment, CIA & Reincarnation: The intersection of science, spirituality and the soul, Eternal Enlightenment, YouTube, duration: 7:45:44.

Friedman, Rabbi Manis, The Journey of the Soul: Pre-life, Life and After-life, YouTube, 2019, duration: 58.02 minutes.

----- Life Can't Die, YouTube, 26 April 2023, duration: 57.49 minutes.

Karuna, Buddhist Theory of Life, Death and Rebirth, Karuna Dedicated Holistic Support, 8 May 2021.

Kersten, Holger, Jesus Lived in India, Element Books, Shaftsbury, 1979, 246p.

Manifest Mystique, The CIA's secret reincarnation files: Hidden truths they do not want you to see, Manifest Mystique, 10 March 2025, YouTube, duration: 7:53:50.

Organ, Michael, The Catholic Church rejection of Reincarnation and Karma, blogger.com, 25 April 2023.

-----, Death, blogger.com, 5 September 2024.

Peto, Alan, Reincarnation, Rebirth and Buddhism: Here we go again, Alan Peto [blog],7 July 2013.

Reddit, Buddhists believe there is no permanent, unchanging self or soul and yet they also believe in reincarnation. How do these apparent contradictions resolve, if at all?, Reddit - r/Buddhism, 2023.

Sharzad, Khurram, Does the Quran support the theory of reincarnation?, True Islam, accessed 28 August 2025.

Steinhart, Eric, Plotinus and Reincarnation, Eric Steinhart, 1 April 2020, YouTube, duration: 11.04 minutes.

Tolkien, J.R.R., Letter to Peter Hastings, September, 1954, number 153 in Letters, Macmillan and Son, London, 1977.

What the Early Church Believed: Reincarnation, Catholic Answers, 2014.

Wikipedia, Plotinus (c.204-270), Wikipedia, accessed 26 August 2025.

-----, Rebirth, Wikipedia, accessed 26 August 2025.

-----, Samsara, Wikipedia, accessed 22 August 2025.

-----, Succession of the 14th Dalai Lama, Wikipedia, accessed 22 August 2025.

Yogapedia, Citta santana, Yogapedia, 21 December 2023.

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Last updated: 26 August 2025

Michael Organ, Australia

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