What about reincarnation?

Is there such a thing as reincarnation? Do you have to believe in it to be a Buddhist?

Many Buddhist texts refer to it, but some Buddhist teachers don't believe that it is necessary to believe in reincarnation to follow the Buddhist path. Buddha himself is quoted, when directly asked about reincarnation, as saying that it’s irrelevant to enlightenment. In some Buddhist traditions, it's used as a description for how long it might take to become enlightened (some say lifetimes...) But other traditions believe that a person can wake up and be enlightened in an instant. A little confusing, yes?

Within the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, reincarnation is neither mentioned nor implied. We suffer because we seek happiness in inherently dissatisfying ways. We are often trying to change the external world to fit our selfish desires, which we think will make us happy. We want things and other people to be a certain way, and we discover that we can't control them, no matter what we do (at least not for long), and this makes us frustrated, resentful, angry, hurt, etc. We can only control our focus and our actions (the Eightfold Path).

Desire is the not the enemy. Skillful Desire can bring us deep happiness--when we desire to be loving, kind and compassionate AND make that a priority in daily life. Then, we naturally start to act in loving and kind ways. Mindfulness and meditation practices help loosen our old selfish habits. With practice, everyone can experience this deep happiness. It becomes liberating to rise above the daily drama in life and see each moment, ourselves, each person from a more compassionate perspective. We begin to see that we’re all in the same boat--we all have struggles, we all act unskillfully at times, we all get sick, we are all going to die.

Are there any facts? Clearly, we can’t definitively PROVE reincarnation until after we die, so who knows? In the meantime, there are some interesting occurrences worth discussing:

Pam Reynolds: Pam Reynolds was a woman who had brain surgery, was declared dead on the operating table, came back to life, and told a very interesting story about floating above her body. She was able describe things about the room that would have been impossible for her to know from her position on the operation table. The surgeons and nurses confirmed her description. There are many other examples of this kind. Here’s some interesting details about Pam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Reynolds_(singer)

A boy named James: Here is a link to an ABC news report about a young boy who claimed he was a World War II pilot that got shot down and was able to describe intimate details of the dead man’s life that were unlikely to be easily known, particularly by a five-year old: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EWwzFwUOxA

For myself, I think it is possible, but I don’t linger on the issue. I try to have a positive attitude and be kind and loving in each moment. I assume that if I do that, it will all work out, regardless of whether there is a heaven, a hell, reincarnation or even nothing. With the Buddhist practices, I feel like I’m living the happiest life possible, after having tried many different methods along the way. There is incredible joy and peace that comes from understanding and the Four Noble Truths and following the Eightfold Path.