SPICER MEMORIAL COLLEGE

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INCARNATION

A Project Presented

In Partial Fulfillment for

The course No. ENGL 153

(Intro to Research Technique)

Submitted to

Mrs. Shirin Stenoy

by

Joseph Thang Min Tuang (J-803)

Date:
 INCARNATION

(Out Line)

Thesis Statement: Incarnation is the belief a particular soul enters or incarnate in another body.

This interpretation is widely spread and accepted in human religion areas. Therefore everyone

who has religion should know it.

I. Proofs of Incarnation

A. In Hinduism

B. In Buddhism

C. In Christianity

II. Incarnation in religions areas

A. Incarnation in Christianity

B. Incarnation in Buddhism

C. Incarnation in Hinduism

D. Incarnation in Islam

E. Incarnation in Sikhism

III. Conclusion
 INCARNATION

Introduction

The word "reincarnation" derives from Latin, literally meaning, "entering the flesh

again". The Greek equivalent metempsychosis roughly corresponds to the common English

phrase "transmigration of the soul" and also usually connotes reincarnation after death, as either

human, animal, though emphasising the continuity of the soul, not the flesh. Reincarnation is

believed to occur when the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, comes back to life in a

newborn body.

This doctrine is a central tenet (အမွန္တရားအၿဖစ္လက္ခံ သည္ ) within the majority of Various religious

traditions beside Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The idea was also fundamental to some

philosophers of Greek, and religions as well as other religions, such as Druidism, and later on,

Spiritism, and Eckankar. It is also found in many small-scale societies around the world, in places

such as Siberia, West Africa, North America, and Australia. Although the majority of sects within

Judaism, Christianity and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular groups

within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include the mainstream historical

and contemporary followers of Kabbalah, the Cathars, the Alawi, the Druze and the Rosicrucians.

The historical relations between these sects and the beliefs about reincarnation that were

characteristic of the Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Manicheanism and Gnosticism of the Roman

era, as well as the Indian religions, is unclear.

In recent decades,this concept widely spread, and many people developed an interest in

incarnation. They included about incarnation in their materials such as films, stories, books and

researches.
I. PROOFS OF INCARNATION

Incarnation is a tenet of many of the world’s largest and oldest religions. There are

thousands of documented cases of incarnation – that is, people who can recall events from a past

life or lives. Incarnation is a fascinating take on the notion of life after death. If you’ve ever been

curious to learn more about this ancient belief, here are some schools of philosophy ready to help

you to find out your answer about the Incarnation (re-incarnation).

A. In Hinduism

Hinduism is one of the oldest and largest religions that believe in reincarnation. Hindus

believe that reincarnation is a result of man’s desire for earthly pleasures. A person’s soul is

reborn because he or she misses life on earth and wants to experience it again. However, after

many rebirths, that person begins to realize that earthly pleasures cannot give the soul complete

satisfaction, and he or she begins to seek a higher form of enlightenment. Once a person is able to

realize his or her “true” divine nature (through much spiritual practice), he or she will cease to

desire worldly pleasures and the cycle of reincarnation will be broken. The followings are the Ten

incarnation of the Lord Vishnu according to Hinduism.

The ten avatars of Vishnu

The god Vishnu is said to descend ten times into our world during each cosmic cycle

(mahayuga) in order to restore the balance between good and evil. The number of his incarnations

varies from one Hindu writing to another. The Mahabharata gives three lists of Vishnu's avatars:

First there are mentioned four, then six, and finally there is a list of ten, in the form of: (1) swan,

(2) tortoise, (3) fish, (4) boar, (5) man-lion, (6) dwarf, (7) Bhargava Rama, (8) Dasaratha Rama,

(9) Krishna, and (10) Kalki. The Markandeya Purana 4,44-58 lists 12 avatars of Vishnu, the

Garuda Purana lists 19, while the Matsya Purana 47,32-52 lists 22. Since the time of the
Bhagavata Purana the number of avatars has been uniformly recognized as ten. Therefore we will

use the best known list: (1) fish, (2) tortoise, (3) boar, (4) man-lion, (5) dwarf, (6) Parasurama, (7)

Rama, (8) Krishna, (9) Buddha and (10) Kalki. The first nine have already occurred and the last

one is still to come.

-4-

B. In Buddhism

The early Buddhist texts discuss techniques for recalling previous births, predicated on

the development of high levels of meditative concentration. The later Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,

which exhibit heavy Buddhist influence, give similar instructions on how to attain the ability. The

Buddha reportedly warned that this experience can be misleading and should be interpreted with

care.

Tibetan Buddhism has developed a unique 'science' of death and rebirth, a good deal of

which is set down in what is popularly known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Hasidic

tzadik was believed to know the past lives of each person through his semi-prophetic abilities.

C. In Christianity

Here are some people in ancient Christian who were thought to be reincarnated by their

fore fathers, prophets, kings and rulers from Israelite, at that time.

(i) John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14, 17:12-13)

Concerning the identity of John the Baptist, He had been supposed to be the incarnation

of the prophet Elijah, by the people at that time. Jesus Himself said, “And if you are willing to

accept it, he (John the Baptist) is the Elijah who was to come.”
 Not only by Jesus, but also the Pharisees, the Scribes and all the people who heard the

preaching of John the Baptist, thought (believed) that John the Baptist is the special one who

reincarnated by prophet Elijah, because the scripture of Malachi(3:1; 4:5,6) described, “See, I will

send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.” In Luke 1,17

an angel announces the fulfillment of this prophecy at the birth of John the Baptist: "And he will

go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their

children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous- to make ready a people prepared for

the Lord." What could be the meaning of the words "in the spirit and power of Elijah"?

(ii). The man who was blind since his birth. (John 9:2)

This is the introduction of the healing of the man born blind in John 9:2. Considering the

apostles’ question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

According to this text, there were the preaching of the belief Incarnation at that time that even the

disciples of Jesus believe it. Just look back and check Jesus’ disciples’ question: “The man was

born blind because of his sin”. This sentence implies that he could sin only in a previous life, or

how he can do sin before his birth?

III. INCARNATION IN RELIGION AREA

A. Incarnation in Christianity

In Christianity, the incarnation, or union of the divine nature with human nature in the

person of Jesus Christ, is a central doctrine. This is a summary of previous files on the nature of

salvation in Christianity. The Christian account of the divine incarnation presents God the Son

willingly leaving his divine glory, taking a human body and descending into our world through

the virgin birth. The Apostle Paul states: “Christ Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a

servant, being made in human likeness”. (Philippians 2,6-7).

All the Christianity accepts and believes this story, and is the only hope to live their lives

for. This "making himself nothing" is called in theology the kenosis (lit. = "emptying") of Christ.

It does not mean giving up the divine nature, but the addition of a human nature with its

consequent limitations. The kenosis involves the veiling of his pre-incarnate glory (John 17,5),

taking on himself the likeness of human flesh (Romans 8,3) and the temporary nonuse of divine

attributes during his earthly ministry. This was his free initiative and not a necessity imposed by

his nature, as is the case with the periodical incarnations of Vishnu in Hinduism.

Jesus Christ is the only incarnation of God, descended into our world with a unique and

non-repeatable mission in history. He is not a mere avatar(a periodical incarnation of a Hindu

god), but the unique incarnation of God the Son, become God the Man, perfect in both his divine

and human nature.

In Vaishnava Hinduism none of the avatars has a perfect union of the two natures. As

they have no historical basis, it is very difficult to speculate on how their divine nature could have

been combined with the physical one (animal or human). Due to considering the physical body a

mere garment that is put on and off (according to Bhagavad Gita 2,22), there cannot be any real

association of Vishnu with a physical body. Christ came to redeem the physical body as well,

therefore his association with it was real. That is why there is so much stress on his physical

resurrection, which for a Hindu avatar is absurd. Therefore the Hindu avatar fits best in the

Docetic understanding of Christ (a being presenting only the appearance of a physical body),

which is considered a classic heresy in Christianity.

The most striking difference from Hindu avatars regards Christ's death. This was the crux

of his incarnation: He had to die on the cross for our redemption from sin and reconciliation with
God. The Apostle Peter states in his epistle, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so

that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1

Peter 2,24; see also 1,18-21; 3,18).

Jesus Christ as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1,29) is the

cornerstone of Christianity and its non-paralleled element. Since his physical body was so real

and so closely associated with his divine nature, the suffering of Christ on the cross was not a

mere illusion. His torment and death were so real that none of those who saw it could expect a

future victory over death. He did not die only in physical appearance, as the Docetist heresy

suggests, but as a poor miserable man, experiencing suffering in its fullest sense. His death

proves both the seriousness of our sin and the unfathomable love of God, as Jesus once

proclaimed, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever

believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3,16).

Early Christianity spread in a world dominated by Greek philosophy. Many important

figures of the early church had this spiritual background when they became Christians. Could

they have been influenced by the doctrine of reincarnation? In order to answer this, we first have

to understand the actual teaching on reincarnation at that time in the Greek world.

(ii) Seventh-day Adventists’ teaching of after life

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, teaches that the first death, or death brought about by

living on a planet with sinful conditions (sickness, old age, accident, etc.) is a sleep of the soul.

Adventists believe that the body + the breath of God = a living soul. Like Jehovah's Witnesses,

Adventists use key phrases from the Bible, such as "For the living know that they shall die: but

the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is

forgotten" (Eccl. 9:5 KJV). Adventists also point to the fact that the wage of sin is death and God

alone is immortal. Adventists believe God will grant eternal life to the redeemed who are
resurrected at Jesus' second coming. Until then, all those who have died are "asleep." When Jesus

the Christ, who is the Word and the Bread of Life, comes a second time, the righteous will be

raised incorruptible and will be taken in the clouds to meet their Lord. The righteous will live in

heaven for a thousand years (the millennium) where they will sit with God in judgment over the

unredeemed and the fallen angels. During the time the redeemed are in heaven, the Earth will be

devoid of human and animal inhabitation. Only the fallen angels will be left alive. The second

resurrection is of the unrighteous, when Jesus brings the New Jerusalem down from heaven to

relocate to Earth. Jesus will call to life all those who are unrighteous. Satan and his angels will

convince the unrighteous to surround the city, but hell fire and brimstone will fall from heaven

and consume them, thus cleansing Earth of all sin. The universe will be then free from sin

forever. This is called the second death. On the new earth God will provide an eternal home for

all the redeemed and a perfect environment for everlasting life, where Eden will be restored. The

great controversy will be ended and sin will be no more. God will reign in perfect harmony

forever.(Rom. 6:23; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; John 11:11-14; Col. 3:4; 1 Cor.

15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-17)

(iii) The Catholic Church

The Catholic conception of the afterlife teaches after the body dies, the soul is judged, the

righteous and free of sin enter Heaven. However, those who die in unrepented mortal sin go to

hell. In the 1990s, the Catechism of the Catholic Church defined hell not as punishment imposed

on the sinner but rather as the sinner's self-exclusion from God. Unlike other Christian groups, the

Catholic Church teaches that those who die in a state of grace, but still carry venial sin go to a

place called Purgatory where they undergo purification to enter Heaven.

Jehovah's Witnesses occasionally use the terms "afterlife" and "hereafter" to refer to any hope for

the dead, but they understand Ecclesiastes 9:5 to preclude common views of afterlife: “For the

living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all,

neither do they any more have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.”

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that death is the price for sinning. Individuals judged by God

to be wicked, such as in the Great Flood or at Armageddon, are given no hope of an afterlife.

After Armageddon there will be a resurrection in the flesh of "both righteous and unrighteous"

dead (but not the "wicked"), based on Acts 24:15. Survivors of Armageddon and those who are

resurrected are then to gradually restore earth to a paradise. After Armageddon, unrepentant

sinners are punished with eternal death (non-existence).

B. Incarnation in Buddhism

To a Buddhist, reincarnation is simply a road map to Nirvana. It is taken seriously to the

point that the goal is to make this life count. Life is to be lived through, right thought, right word,

right action, etc. Everything said and done is essential to the growth of the spirit, the soul, to

prepare for Nirvana, the ultimate stage of incarnation.

According to their preaching: Life is suffering. You can never really achieve peace.

Happiness is just the flip side of sadness and no material or emotional pleasure will sustain the

longing in your soul to understand itself. The only way to eliminate suffering is to follow

Buddha’s precepts to sever your attachments to the world. This doesn’t mean that you cut

yourself off but rather that you do all that you do without expectation or desire. You simply do.
Little by little the ego will then slowly fade away until one day you achieve liberation from all

selfish motivations and you reach nirvana. You can either opt out of the cycle of rebirth or else

stay on to spread the word. The latter are called Boddhisattvas. The idea that you have God

inside you and that it’s simply masked by an ego is basically a Hindu idea. In fact it’s so hard to

separate the two that some Hindus claim (quite typically) that Buddha was simply another

incarnation of Vishnu, a god who certainly gets about.

Buddhism is quite distinct from Hinduism in practice but in theory they can seem

confusingly similar. Both hold that it is our ego that prevents us from seeing what we really are –

a part of God. Like a drop of water separated from the ocean and longing to return. But in fact

mystics everywhere talk about that and use the same imagery. Both believe in reincarnation and

that what you do in this life, the sum of all your karma, will influence your rebirth in the next.

Both see the everyday world as maya, the never-ending dance of illusion. The scholars argue that

there are important differences in how the two religions understand the soul and it’s union with

Brahman or Nirvana.

However on the social level Buddhism is far more enlightened as it recognizes no

difference in social castes and holds that anyone can achieve Nirvana whether he be a king or a

beggar. In this sense Buddhism was quite revolutionary in India and thus not so popular with the

Brahmins interested in maintaining the status quo. After Buddha lived a number of years as an

ascetic he decided that it was better to follow a middle way. A path somewhere between enjoying

the things of this world and living in utter austerity. Hinduism on the other hand celebrates the

renunciate who turns his back on the world and lives say, on a couple of bananas a day. So

perhaps, really, the differences are as much a question of attitude as anything else.
 C. Incarnation in Hinduism

Upanishads describe reincarnation, or ‘punarjanma’. The Bhagavat Gita, an important book

for Hinduism, talks extensively about the afterlife. Here, the Lord Krishna says that just as a man

discards his old clothes and wears new ones; similarly the soul discards the old body and takes on

a new one. In Hinduism, the belief is that the body is but a shell, the soul inside is immutable and

indestructible and takes on different lives in a cycle of birth and death. The end of this cycle is

called "Mukthi" and merging finally with God is "Moksha" or salvation.

Garuda Purana, a book solely deals with what happens to a person after death. The God of

Death, ‘Yama’ sends his representatives to collect the soul from a person's body whenever he is

due for death and they take the soul to Yama. A record of each person's timings & deeds

performed by him is kept in a ledger by Yama's assistant "Chitragupta".

According to the Garuda Purana, a soul after leaving the body, travels through a very long & dark

tunnel towards South. This is why an oil lamp is lit and kept beside the head of the corpse, to

light the dark tunnel and allow the soul to travel comfortably.

The soul, called "Atman" leaves the body and reincarnates itself according to the deeds or

Karma performed by one in last birth. Re-birth would be in form of animals or other lower

creatures if one performed bad Karmas and in human form in a good family with joyous lifetime

if the person was good in last birth. In between the two births a human is also required to either

face punishments for bad Karmas in "naraka" or hell, or enjoy for the good karmas in "svarga" or

heaven for good deeds. Whenever his or her punishments or rewards are over he or she is sent

back to earth, also known as "Mrityulok" or World of Death. A person is merged with the God or

ultimate power when he discharges only and only good Karmas in last birth and the same is

called as "Moksha" or "Nirvana", which is the ultimate goal of a true Hindu. Atman (Soul)

merges into "Parmatma" or the greatest soul. According to Bhagwadgita an "Atma" or soul never
dies, what dies is the body only made of five elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Sky. Soul is

believed to be indestructible. None of the five elements can harm or influence it. Hinduism

through Garuda Purana also describes in detail various types of "Narkas" or Hells where a person

after death is punished for his bad Karmas and dealt with accordingly.

Hindus also believe in 'Karma'. 'Karma' is the accumulated sums of one's good or bad

deeds. According to Hinduism the basic concept of Karma is 'As you sow, you shall reap'. So, if a

person has lived a good life, they will be rewarded in the afterlife. Similarly their sum of bad

deeds will be mirrored in their next life. Good 'Karma' brings good rewards and bad 'karmas' lead

to bad results. There is no judgment here. People accumulate karma through their actions and

even thoughts.

D. Incarnation in Islam

The Islamic belief in the afterlife as stated in the Qur'an is descriptive. The Islamic word for

Paradise is jannah and Hell is jahannam. Jannah and Jahannam both have different levels. Jannah

possesses 8 gates while Jahannam possess 7 deep terrible layers. Individuals will arrive at both

everlasting homes during Judgment Day, which commences after the Angel Israfel blows the

trumpet the second time. Their level of comfort while in the grave depends wholly on their level

of Iman or faith in the one God, or Allah, equivalent in Arabic. In order for one to achieve proper,

firm and healthy Iman one must practice righteous deeds or else his level of Iman chokes and

shrinks and eventually can wither away if one does not practice Islam long enough, hence the

depth of practicing Islam is good deeds. One may also acquire Tasbih and recite the names of

Allah in such manner as "SubahannAllah" or Glory be to Allah in Arabic over and over again to

acquire good deeds. The levels in Jannah are 100 [33] and 7 (?) for Jahannam.
Islam teaches that the purpose of Man's entire creation is to worship the Creator of the Heavens

and Earth - Allah (God in arabic) alone that includes being kind to other human beings and life

including bugs, Trees by not oppressing them. Islam teaches that the life we live on Earth is

nothing but a test for us and to determine each individual's ultimate abode be it punishment or

Jannah in the afterlife, which is eternal and everlasting.

In the 20th century, discussions about the afterlife address the interconnection between

human action and divine judgment, the need for moral rectitude, and the eternal consequences of

human action in this life and world.

E. Incarnation in Sikhism

Sikhs also believe in reincarnation. They believe that the soul belongs to the spiritual

universe which has its origins in God. It is like a see-saw, the amount of good done in life will

store up blessings, thus uniting with God. It needs to be clarified whether the ideal is union or

link with 'Waheguru' (God). Before the creation of the world, God was all by Himself, in a Self-

absorbed state. In that state, God's Will, Naam or Attributes were not expressed, since they have

relevance only in the created world. At next stage, universe was created. Since then God's ‘Naam’

and Will have become expressed and creative functioning in the universe goes on. The suggested

merger in God (Hindu belief)in this state involves virtually a reversion to the first state of God

being Self-absorbed. This reversal would evidently be counter to the expressed Creative Will of

God. So Sikhs believe in union as opposed to merger. A soul may need to live many lives before

it is one with God. But there is more to it than this; there are four classes that are included in this

belief. Above these four classes is God "Waheguru" and the soul can choose to stay with him it

wishes, or take another step and go to its people and serve them. Souls move up and down
 according to their deeds, a good life and death moves them up to a higher class and a bad life and

death results in going down a class.

IV. Conclusion

V. Bibliography