(Re)incarnation? II

Hi.

What happens after we die?
Quite often the Buddha just refused to answer all such questions or you could say he answered with his "noble silence".
He had no concern for what happens after death and/or maybe did not know.
The Buddha is said to have given a few different answers to what happens to a Buddha after death, and one of the most often cited is this:

Ven. Malunkyaputta arose from seclusion and went to the Blessed One.
On arrival, having bowed down, he sat to one side.
As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, "Lord, just now, as I was alone in seclusion, this train of thought arose in my awareness: 'These positions that are undeclared, set aside, discarded by the Blessed One... I don't approve, I don't accept that the Blessed One has not declared them to me.
I'll go ask the Blessed One about this matter. If he declares to me that 'The cosmos is eternal,' that 'The cosmos is not eternal,' that 'The cosmos is finite,' that 'The cosmos is infinite,' that 'The soul & the body are the same,' that 'The soul is one thing and the body another,' that 'After death a Tathagata exists,' that 'After death a Tathagata does not exist,' that 'After death a Tathagata both exists & does not exist,' or that 'After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist,' then I will live the holy life under him.
Then I will live the holy life under him.
If he does not declare to me that "The cosmos is eternal,"... etc. or that "After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist," then I will renounce the training and return to the lower life.'

[The Buddha answered]:

"Malunkyaputta, did I ever say to you, 'Come, Malunkyaputta, live the holy life under me, and I will declare to you that "The cosmos is eternal,"... etc. or that "After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist,"

"No, lord."

"It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison.
His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short...
Until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored...
Until I know his home village, town, or city...
Until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow...
Until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark...
Until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated...
Until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird...
Until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.'
He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.'
The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him.

In the same way, if anyone were to say, 'I won't live the holy life under the Blessed One as long as he does not declare to me that 'The cosmos is eternal,'...
Or that 'After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist,' the man would die and those things would still remain undeclared by the Tathagata.

So, Malunkyaputta, remember what is undeclared by me as undeclared, and what is declared by me as declared.
And what is undeclared by me? '
The cosmos is eternal,' is undeclared by me. '
The cosmos is not eternal,' is undeclared by me.
'The cosmos is finite'... 'The cosmos is infinite'...
'The soul & the body are the same'...
'The soul is one thing and the body another'...
'After death a Tathagata exists'...
'After death a Tathagata does not exist'...
'After death a Tathagata both exists & does not exist'...
'After death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist,' is undeclared by me.

And why are they undeclared by me?
Because they are not connected with the goal, are not fundamental to the holy life.
They do not lead to [non-attachment], dispassion, cessation, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening, Unbinding. That's why they are undeclared by me.

-Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.063.than.html

http://www.vipassana.com/canon/majjhima/mn63.php

http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/texts/majjhima/mn63.html

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.063.than.html


And why did he refuse to answer the question of what happens after we die?
Because it was not important, and somewhat "already implied" in his teachings (see bold section above).

May the force be with you
Fugen