Wisdom of the buddhas

Dear Ryo Hakuta,

Thank you for your question. Yes, according to Buddhist philosophy, after we pass away from this life, we reincarnate into another life. But this life is not necessarily human, and depends on what type of karma that opens up at the time of our death. As the Buddha taught, we are all ruled by karma. In short, if we do good things, help other people, animals and beings, in our next life we will be reborn in a good and happy environment. If we do bad things, kill, lie, cheat, we will be reborn in an environment that is full of suffering.

There are generally speaking six realms we can take rebirth in: the god realm, the demi-god realm, the human realm, the animal realm, the spirit realm and the hell realm. When we take rebirth in one of these realms, we live there, and we will again die. Then we will take rebirth in another one of the realms. This whole process is governed by karma.

But the Buddha taught that you can be free of this cycle of existence, by becoming an enlightened being. Once you are enlightened, you are out of this cycle completely. Therefore the ultimate aim of practicing Buddhists is attain enlightenment. All the practices in Buddhism are meant to get you to enlightenment or to support you to get to enlightenment. The practice of Dorje Shugden is a practice that supports you in transforming yourself to become a better person, and ultimately enlightened. He does this by removing obstacles that we may be facing and providing you with what you need to concentrate on transforming yourself to become a better person.

In the youtube video shared by Julie above, you can see that His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche gives a very concise explanation of reincarnation. I hope this helps.

Thank you.