Reincarnation, Karma, and How to Perform Ceremonial Prayers for the Deceased

How We Live Determines Where We Rebirth – Karma of Our Lives

In Buddhism, how we live in this life will determine where we will be reborn in the next life.

• If we live attached to gambling, after death, we might be born into a family with the karma of gambling.
• If we live with habits of drinking, eating meat, and drinking alcohol, we may reborn into a family of drinkers.
• If we keep pure moral conduct, we may be reborn in the heavenly realms or pure lands.

Specifically:

• Keeping the 5 precepts → Rebirth in the Desire Realm.
• Keeping 8 precepts → Rebirth in the Form Realm.
• Keeping 10 precepts, practicing the Four Jhanas → Rebirth in the Formless Realm.
• Vowing to be reborn in the Pure Land → Depending on our cultivation, we can be born in the lower, middle, or higher levels of the Pure Land.

This shows that Buddhism is very practical, it is not about empty prayers, but rather actions that determine each person’s outcome.

Prayers for Peace and Liberation – Can Chanting Sutras and Reciting the Buddha’s Name Help?

Many people ask:

“How do I pray for peace for the living or liberation for deceased parents?”

The answer:

• Chanting sutras, reciting the Buddha’s name, performing virtuous acts, and dedicating merits are the best ways to help the deceased.
• However, whether they receive the merits depends on their karma.

We do not know where our loved ones go after passing, because:

• They may have reincarnated into another realm, no longer in the hungry ghost realm to receive the merits.
• They may have transcended or reincarnated into another life.

Therefore, when performing good deeds and dedicating merits, the merit is not lost, it still creates good karma for the practitioner and for many other beings.

Dreaming of the Deceased – Are They Really Appearing?

• Dreams and Signs from the Deceased Loved One in Buddhism

Many people think that dreaming of a deceased loved one means they have come back to visit.

In reality, dreams have many causes:

• The five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) → They may be impressions from daily life.
• The sixth consciousness (manas) → This is the most common cause, arising from memories or strong emotions about the deceased.
• The seventh consciousness (mano-vijñāna) → A deeper level of consciousness, related to instincts and ego attachment.
• The eighth consciousness (Alaya-vijnana) → This is the storehouse of all past experiences, memories, and karma, and dreams rarely originate from here.

Only the Buddha, with the wisdom of Tathāgata, can understand and clearly distinguish whether a dream is real or not.
We can only use the Dharma to reflect.

Consciousness After Death – Alaya-Vijnana and Karma

After death, the body decays, but the consciousness continues.

• The eighth consciousness (Alaya-vijnana) is the storehouse of all past experiences, memories, karma, and seeds from previous lives.
• The seventh consciousness (manas) is the source of mental calculations, ego attachment, and karma formation.

When someone passes, the body dies, but the consciousness continues to reincarnate based on the karma created.

“As you live, so you die” – This is why the way we live in the present is more important than anything else.

Final Thought

1. How we live in this life will determine our rebirth.
2. Praying for peace and liberation through chanting sutras, reciting the Buddha’s name, and dedicating merits does have an effect, but whether the deceased receives it depends on their karma.
3. Dreaming of the deceased does not necessarily mean they have returned, it may be due to the influence of our own consciousness.
4. The consciousness after death continues to function, and karma will lead to a corresponding realm.

Understanding this, we know that we should not wait until death to worry, but live rightly now, practice, and create virtuous karma, so that when the time comes, we can leave this world peacefully, without fear.