Hi,

As many folks around Treeleaf may know, my own Practice is not centered on questions of Rebirth. In truth, I am rather skeptical of traditional, very literal visions of Rebirth ... although I do believe that we are, each and all, reborn in each passing moment. I also believe that the most important point ... literal rebirth or not ... is how we are living in this life here and now, the heavens and hells we can create in our own life and for those around us here and now.

(if anyone would like to read more personal musings on the subjects of Karma and Rebirth, please have a look here):

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1281
and
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1429

It is interesting to me that Master Keizan, writing with a worldview of the early 14th century, begins Ven. Kumarata's story with a traditional tale of Rebirth ... yet seems to step away from that in his "Teisho" teaching to a view in which "birth" and "death" are not as we usually think they are ...

He describes "knowledge of former lives" as not a matter of seeing the past or future, but finding one's original Self-nature that is "neither saintly nor ordinary, neither deluded or enlightened" ... beyond "ancient" or "present" ... timeless. As the Heart Sutra chants, "not born, not destroyed, not stained, not pure." Master Keizan closes, "Understanding that [Original Mind] is the original bright light is the meaning of 'acquiring knowledge of former lives'".

From such perspective, future lives and past lives become a 'non-question'.

COOK p 113
HIXON p 104