Question 7

Osho,

What is reincarnation?

 

 

I will tell you a small story that will explain my attitude towards reincarnation.

 

Surmano explains to the rabbi the theory of reincarnation: "Let's say, your holiness, that you die tomorrow. A flower blooms on your grave after a few days. A cow comes and eats the flower. The next morning the cow has a good shit. I go for a walk, see the shit and say, "Ah, your holiness, you haven't changed a bit!' "

 

-Osho, “Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen, #14, Q7”

 

 

⯎

 

 

My suggestion is, don't ask me whether the theory of reincarnation is true or not. To me it is true, to you it is not -- not yet. Don't take any position, negative or positive. Just remain open to the hypothesis. Explore. If you can go into your own past lives, that's enough proof that everybody has a long, long past.

 

And that gives another insight: if there are past lives, that means there are going to be future lives; this life is only just in the middle. Of course, to enter future lives is not possible because the future has not happened yet. But to enter the past is absolutely easy because it has already happened; the memory is there and the record is there. It is just that you have forgotten the way to the record room where it is recorded. Take it as a hypothesis.

 

-Osho, “From Personality to Individuality, #29, Q1”