乾县铁佛寺移动版

*See Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation and Cases of Reincarnation Type, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1975.

QUESTION: Some people might say that the supposed ability to remember former lives is the work of devils.

ANSWER: You simply cannot dismiss everything that doesn't fit into your belief as being the work of devils. When cold hard facts are produced to support an idea, you must use rational and logical arguments if you wish to counter them - not irrational and superstitious talk about devils.

QUESTION: You could say that talk about rebirth is a bit superstitious also?

ANSWER: The dictionary defines superstition as 'a  belief which  is  not  based on reason or fact but on an association of ideas, as in magic.'   If you can show me a careful study of the existence of devils written by a scientist I will concede that belief in devils  is  not  superstition.  But  I  have  never  heard  of  any  research  into  devils. Scientists simply wouldn't bother to study such things, so I say there is no evidence for the existence of devils. But as we have just seen, there is evidence which seems

to suggest that rebirth does take place. If belief in rebirth is based on at least some facts, it cannot be a superstition.

QUESTION: Well, have there been any scientists who believe in rebirth?

ANSWER: Yes. Thomas Huxley, who was responsible for having science introduced into the British school system in the 19th  century and who was the first scientist to defend Darwin's theories, believed that reincarnation was a very plausible idea. In his famous book, Evolution and Ethics and other Essays, he says:

‘In  the  doctrine  of  transmigration,  whatever  its  origin,  Brahmanical  and Buddhist speculation found, ready to hand,  the means of constructing a plausible vindication of the ways of the Cosmos to man ... Yet this plea of justification  is  not  less  plausible  than  others;  and  none  but  very  hasty thinkers will reject it on the ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of evolution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the world of reality; and it may claim such support as the great argument from analogy is capable of supplying.’

Professor Gustaf Stromberg, the famous Swedish astronomer, physicist and friend of Einstein also found the idea of rebirth appealing.

‘ Opinions differ whether human souls can be reincarnated on the earth or not.  In  1936  a   very  interesting  case   was  thoroughly  investigated  and reported by the government authorities in India. A girl (Shanti Devi from Delhi) could accurately describe her previous life  (at Muttra, five hundred miles from Delhi) which ended about a year before her "second birth". She gave the name of her husband and child and described her home and life history.  The investigating commission brought her to her former relatives, who verified all her statements. Among the people of India reincarnations are regarded as commonplace; the astonishing thing for them in this case was the great number of facts the girl remembered.  This and similar cases can be regarded as additional evidence for the theory of the indestructibility of memory.’

Professor Julian Huxley, the distinguished British scientist who was Director General of UNESCO, believed that rebirth was quite in harmony with scientific thinking.

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