Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research

Join a rigorous scholar and Buddhist monk on a brisk tour of rebirth from ancient doctrine to contemporary debates in this paperback reissue of a reader favorite.

In this fascinating book, professor and monk Bhikkhu Analayo illuminates a spectrum of views on rebirth, from ancient scriptures to contemporary research. In four brisk chapters, the book leads readers through the following points:

The presentation of rebirth in the earliest Buddhist sources and the way it relates to core doctrine; The debates about rebirth throughout Buddhist history and up to modern times, including the role of confirmation bias in the evaluation of evidence; The current research on rebirth, including near-death experiences, past-life regression, and childhood recollection of previous lives; An examination of a particular case of xenoglossy, the ability to speak languages one has not been taught. As a very young boy, the Sri Lankan Dhammaruwan would chant Pali-language scriptures that he had not apparently learned in his present life.

Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research brings together the many strands of the debate on rebirth in one place, making it both comprehensive and compact. It is not a polemic but an interrogation of the evidence, inviting readers to draw their own conclusions.

Bhikkhu Analayo is a scholar of early Buddhism and a meditation teacher. He completed his PhD research on the Satipatthanasutta at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000 and his habilitation research with a comparative study of the Majjhima Nikaya in the light of its Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan parallels at the University of Marburg, Germany in 2007. His over five hundred publications are for the most part based on comparative studies, with a special interest in topics related to meditation and the role of women in Buddhism.