Buddhist Rebirth: A Survey of Pre-Modern Asian Thought

In an attempt to display the range of concerns and interests regarding rebirth, I plan to make a brief and sampled survey of a few select schools and sects of Buddhism. More emphasis will be placed on Indian Buddhism as it was here that much of the debates raged and were settled for the descendant forms of Buddhism in other parts of the globe, namely China and Japan. Special consideration will be given, however, to Tibetan and Pure Land schools as their understandings of or interest in rebirth vary significantly from that of traditional Indic-Buddhist views. While contemporary scholars, particularly those in the West, have begun to tackle the karma and rebirth debates once again, adding to the fray scientific reasoning, I will not be addressing their efforts here