eBUDDHANET'S

BOOK LIBRARY

E-mail: bdea@buddhanet.netWeb site: www.buddhanet.net

Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc.

Dr Granville Dharmawardena

Scientific Acceptability

of RebirthScientific Acceptability

of Rebirth

Scientific

Acceptability

of

Rebirth

Dr. Granville DharmawardenaPh.D. (Cambridge), M.I.Chem.C, C..Chem, FIAutoE

An appreciation

This is to inform that all members ofThe Foundation For Buddhist Research

convey their heartfelt appreciation to

Reverend Banagala Upatissa, the

Chief Sanga Nayaka for Sri Lanka in Japan and

the Deputy Chief Incumbent of the Maha Bodhi

Aggra Srawaka Maha Vihara in Sri Lanka

For contributing by bearing all the expenses for printing this valuable book with a view to assisting

the Foundation to build up its initial funds.

CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Foundation For Buddhist Research . . . . . . . 7

Scientific Acceptability of Rebirth . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Science and Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Classical Science (17th

–19th

centuries) . . . . . 12

The Birth of Modern Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Scientific Acceptability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The Phenomenon of Rebirth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Scientific Examination of Rebirth . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Spontaneous Recall of Past Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Past Life Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Child Prodigies & Others who can use

Past Life Knowledge and Experiences . . . 38

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Preface

Scientists and people who are educated in sciencerefuse to accept this phenomenon. It is mainly be-cause they are familiar only with classical science,which cannot perceive a possible mechanism bywhich it can happen.

In this book Dr. Granville Dharmawardena, who is aneminent scientist referred to in the nuclear sciencetext books in the United Kingdom and in the UnitedStates of America, had his education and training atthe Cambridge University in the United Kingdom,Harvard University in the United States, the Austral-ian School of Nuclear Technology, Australia, and atthe Atomic Energy Commission in France, and beingmost familiar with the views of the twentieth Centurymodern science, presents here a study he has madeof rebirth.

Dr. Dharmawardena points out that the reason whyclassical science cannot explain rebirth is due to in-herent limitations in classical science. Modern sci-ence has transcended these limitations, and therefore

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rebirth is within the scope of modern science. Modernscience accepts rebirth as a scientifically acceptablephenomenon through the same tests used to provescientific acceptability of generally accepted modernscience phenomena.

Dr. Granville Dharmawardena point out that as sci-ence advances it gets closer and closer to reality, andthis also brings science closer and closer to the Teach-ings of the Buddha.

Lastly I wish to tell you that I was blessed with the op-portunity of writing the preface to this book, as Dr.Dharmawardena, a Sri Lankan scientist, was blessedwith the wisdom to prove rebirth after 2,540 years –although it was researched by eminent scientiststhroughout the world.

“Let’s build a world in which we live in harmo-

ny, without any calamities, by practicing the

Teachings of the Buddha”.

N.L.B. Kiriella

Udwela20164

6

The Foundation For Buddhist Research

The search for the True Reality of Nature has been thepursuit of hundreds of thousands of philosophers andscientists for thousands of years, and they have yet along way to go. But the Buddha acquired full know-ledge of the true reality of nature over 2,500 years ago,albeit not through the circuitous path followed by thescientists. Intuition and rationalism are two modes offunctioning of the human mind. Buddha used the in-tuition mode to acquire complete understanding oftrue reality when he was in a mental state of supremeenlightenment. Scientists are using the rationalistmode of thousands of unenlightened minds.

In the current era of the human being, the scientificmethod is extremely popular all over the world andpeople accept anything that has scientists’ accept-ance. The reason for this is that science gave rise tothe technology which helped man to acquire enor-mous material wealth and increase his living stand-ards in leaps and bounds.

The science that has become so popular is the mat-erialistic mechanistic model built by Descartes, Fran-cis Bacon and Isaac Newton. This Newtonian sciencehad two major limitations that prevented the scien-

7

tists from moving in the direction of true reality. Theyare, limiting science to what is only materialistic, andto what is within three spatial dimensions. Such lim-itations are not there in the intuitional route.

The Dalai Lama says, “Science and technology bringsociety tremendous benefit. Yet, due to highly devel-oped technology, we also have more anxiety and morefear. I always feel that mental development and mat-erial development must be well balanced, so that to-gether they may make a more human world. If we losehuman values and human beings become part of amachine, there is no freedom from pain and pleasure.Without freedom from pain and pleasure, it is very dif-ficult to demarcate between right and wrong. The sub-jects of pain and pleasure naturally involve feeling,mind and consciousness.”

Understanding and practice of Buddhism going sideby side with science and technology is essential to cre-ate balanced human beings. Peace at home, in societyand in the world can arise only among a balanced hu-man population.

Albert Einstein and other prominent 20th century sci-entists took science beyond these limitations and de-veloped modern science, which is closer to the

8

teachings of the Buddha. This confirms that scienceis now on the right path and that Buddhism is a guid-ing light to science.

As a result of the paradigm shift in science broughtabout by Einstein and other 20th century scientists,interest in Buddhism is rapidly expanding among thescientists who are in the forefront of science. In orderto enable this process to trickle down to others rapidly,it is necessary to research into ways and means of pre-senting the teachings of the Buddha to believers of sci-ence in a language they understand, accept and trust.

The function of the Foundation For Buddhist Re-search is to undertake research to find ways andmeans of presenting the teachings of the Buddha interms that people the world over – and our school chil-dren, who trust science more than Buddhism – un-derstand and accept in order to assist them to makeuse of them. One should note that school children inSri Lanka still learn only the 19th century science thatpresents the extremely materialistic and mechanisticmodel of the universe. They do not even get a chanceto know that there was a paradigm shift in scienceduring the 20th century.

Ven. Madawala Upàli

9

Scientific Acceptability of Rebirth

Based on a research paper presented at the

Annual Sessions of the Sri Lanka Association

for the Advancement of Science on the

28th

November 1996

Science and Reality

Rebirth is a very fundamental phenomenon in Bud-

dhism. Science is a quest for knowledge meant to lead

the way to understanding the true reality of nature,

and every research scientist is expected to contribute

at least a wee bit towards moving human knowledge

in this direction. In examining every brilliant person

who has been seeking to understand the true reality

of nature, from a religiously unbiased point of view,

the Buddha clearly stands out as the only human be-

ing who completely understood the true nature of the

universe. However the Buddha’s method of acquiring

knowledge is not one recognized by western science.

The Buddha acquired knowledge by intuition, the

eastern way. Scientists acquire knowledge by the ra-

tional method, also known as the scientific method.

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Western science, which seeks to understand every-thing only through acceptance by the scientific meth-od, finds it difficult to understand some of theimportant concepts and phenomena taught by theBuddha. Some such important phenomena which liebeyond the perceptual capabilities of familiar westernscience are rebirth (punarbhava), impermanence(anicca), egolessness (anathma) and panchabigna

(phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precog-nition and psychokinesis).

As man’s knowledge of science advances, it has be-come clear that the failure of western science to rec-ognize or understand these phenomena is due to theinherent limitations of classical science, which havebeen stifling its attempts to understand reality.

Science has, from time to time, progressed in jumpsor leaps. The scientist and historian, Thomas Kuhn,in an important book written by him (The Structure ofthe Scientific Revolution – University of ChicagoPress) says that with each such jump towardsprogress science moves closer and closer to reality. Itis now clear that the Buddha acquired completeknowledge of universal reality over 2,500 years agoand science as it progresses is moving closer and clos-er to the teachings of the Buddha.

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Science made a massive jump at the beginning of the20th century and this has, for the first time, given sci-entists the prospect of acquiring the ability to under-stand some of the above phenomena that eluded themin the past. This paper describes how modern scienceof the 20th century enables us to prove the scientificacceptability of rebirth.

The 20th century jump in science came as a majorparadigm shift (a profound change in the thoughts,perceptions and values that form a particular vision ofreality) which completely transformed the basic foun-dations of science, and lifted science over and beyondthe capabilities of the five senses of the unenlightenedhuman being. Our common sense, particularly scien-tific common sense, is conditioned by the influence ofthree centuries of classical science, and this paradigmshift has pulled the rug from under the feet of scien-tists’ common sense. Scientists are still trying to cometo terms with the new paradigm established by mod-ern science.

Classical Science (17th

–19th

centuries)

Science is an intellectual exercise of the rational mindand scientific method is what the western world used

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in its attempt to understand universal reality. Sciencehelped to develop technology and bring about the in-dustrial revolution in the West, thereby providing anenormous amount of material benefits to people, andwealth and political influence to the West. This madescience very acceptable to people of the west andthose who received western styled education. Peoplehave, today, got used to believing anything that hasscientific authentication. Scientific method is mistak-enly believed as the only valid approach to knowledge.Not much emphasis is placed on the Eastern intuitivemethod of acquiring knowledge. The science that de-veloped through the rationalistic approach during the17th to 19th centuries, which we are familiar with, isknown as classical science. Some books refer to thisas modern science. This paper will stick to the termclassical science and use the term modern science forthe new science that resulted from the 20th centuryparadigm shift.

Classical science flourished during the last three cen-turies (17th–19th centuries). The value system under-lying classical science is described by sociologistPitrim Sorokin in his monumental four volume workin social and cultural dynamics as ‘a sensate valuesystem’. The sensate value system holds that matter

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alone is ultimate reality and that spiritual phenomenaare but manifestations of matter. It professes that allethical values are relative and that sensory perceptionis the only source of knowledge and truth.

Man’s belief in classical science became so strongduring the last three centuries that the sensate valuesystem cherished by classical science pervaded all as-pects of human activity, except where easternismdominated. As explained later, the world view pre-sented by classical science is flawed and the perva-sion of these flaws into every sphere of human activityhas led to major crises of global proportions.

Classical science was founded on the basis ofDescartes’ philosophy, Francis Bacon’s methodologyand Isaac Newton’s mathematics. In the seventeenthcentury Rene Descartes divided everything in the uni-verse (Figure 1) into two realms: “Res Extensa” (mat-ter) and “Res Cogitans” (mind). Res Extensa wasconsidered as the realm of importance, and gatheringknowledge in this realm was called science. Sciencewas considered the respectable realm to study. Theother realm, Res Cogitans, was not considered to berespectable and not up to the dignity of scientists toprobe into.

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All important and respectable knowledge of the uni-

verse was thus restricted to Res Extensa, or science,

which was confined to the study of those aspects of

the universe that are measurable. Scientists accepted

that the universe consisted essentially of “objects’,

leading to the belief that the ultimate realities of the

universe are things and not beings. It was believed

that everything in nature, including the mind, think-

ing and life, could be explained in terms of interaction

of matter particles.

Descartes’ split introduces an inherent deficiency in

the very foundation of science by shutting out one im-

portant half of reality and directing scientists to look

for true reality within the other half. The scientific

method that developed within this framework includ-

ed the requirement that scientists understand a phe-

nomenon before it received scientific authentication.

Scientists made idealized mental pictures of any phe-

nomenon they want to understand. Imagined mecha-

nisms were presented to make various phenomena

and relations between them understood by the scien-

tific community. Anything that failed to pass this test

of being understood by scientists failed to receive sci-

entific authentication.

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This process imposes another devastating restrictionon science. Scientists are human beings and their un-derstanding is limited by the limitations of the fivesenses of the human being. Our five senses can per-ceive only up to three spatial dimensions. Thereforethe above process imposes the condition that thescope of science should be limited to three spatial di-mensions, and any phenomenon that extends beyondthree dimensions is beyond science and excludedfrom the reality that the scientists are aspiring to un-derstand.

Thus, classical science has been blind to vast aspectsof nature, aspects that extended beyond three dimen-sions and important non-material aspects. Trying tounderstand universal reality within these limits im-posed on science is obviously a futile exercise.

No such obstructions stood in the way of Buddha’sway of acquiring knowledge. This explains the reasonwhy the Buddha succeeded where science failed. Onecannot, however, say that science has failed, becausescience is still on the way.

Rational and intuitive are complementary modes offunctioning of the human mind. Rational thinking

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used by science is linear, focused and analytic. It be-longs to the realm of the intellect whose function is todiscriminate, measure and categorize. Rational know-ledge tends to be fragmented.

Intuitive knowledge (the method used by the Buddha),on the other hand is based on a direct non-intellectualexperience of reality arising from an expanded state ofawareness arising as a result of enlightenment. Intu-itive knowledge is synthesizing, holistic and non-linear. Rational knowledge generates self-centrednesswhereas intuitive knowledge is symbiotic with nature.

The world view presented by classical science wasmainly a creation of Isaac Newton. Here, the universewas one huge mechanical system operating accordingto exact mathematical laws. It consisted of materialobjects made of small, solid, indestructible particleswhich moved in an absolutely infinite three dimen-sional space and absolute time. All these particleswere made of the same material substance. Reduc-tionism, determinism and absolute mathematical cer-tainty were basic tenets of classical science.

Reductionism builds on the idea that the objectiveworld is fundamentally space time and material par-

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ticles and nothing else. Every object in the universe isan aggregate of these particles bound together by for-ces described by Newton. These objects float in an in-finite space in accordance with Newton’s laws. Thebehavior of everything can be calculated with mathe-matics. The study of how these particles behave isphysics, and how they combine to make bigger parti-cles is chemistry. The study of how these big particlescombine to become living particles is biology, and howliving particles become more complex so that they ap-pear to feel is the study of physiology. The study of theway those even more complex particles behave insuch a way that they seem to have what we call intel-ligence is psychology.

The subject of nuclear science did not exist during theera of classical science. Even the concept of the atomicnucleus was not known at that time. Inadequacy of clas-sical science to describe atomic phenomena drove scien-tists to discover modern science, and nuclear science isa new discipline of the 20th century modern sciencethat embraces a wide variety of basic disciplines.

Determinism prompts that everything we experience,including our own lives, comes down to the movementof particles and these particles obey fixed, unchang-

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ing laws. If we could know the state of all the particles

in the universe at any given time, then we could cal-

culate the state of the universe at any other time in

the future. Since all phenomena can be accounted for

on the same basis all phenomena are predetermined.

Human intelligence, consciousness, love, kindness

and aspiration have no place in this mechanistic uni-

verse of classical science. Generosity is alien.

In outlining the methodology of classical science,

Francis Bacon’s view of nature was that she had to be

hounded in her wanderings, bound into service, and

made a slave. Scientists should torture nature’s sec-

rets from her. The goal of science had been to acquire

the knowledge that could be used to dominate and

control nature, and to this day classical science and

its resulting technology are used predominantly for

purposes that are profoundly anti-ecological.

The pervasion of this rationalist ideology into the

western world conditioned western society to believe

that the aim of science was the domination and con-

trol of nature, affirming that scientific knowledge

could be used to render ourselves the masters and

possessors of nature. Nature was seen as something

feminine and therefore fit to be exploited.

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Rationalism treated all living things as machines. Theadverse consequences of this reductionist fallacy be-came especially apparent in medicine, where the ad-herence to a Cartesian-Newtonian model of the humanbody as a clockwork has prevented doctors from un-derstanding many major illnesses which are nowknown after abandoning the meaningless restrictionsof classical science and the machine concept of life.

Classical science has driven western society to believethat life is a competitive struggle for existence, whereunlimited progress must be achieved through techno-logical growth. Aristotle’s theory of sexuality givingthe scientific rationale for keeping women in a subor-dinate role, subservient to men, got carried with clas-sical science into the sensate society. For centuriesthis portrayed women as passive and receptive andman as active and creative. These concepts remaineduntil nuclear science-driven modern science took overand began to influence society.

The pervasion of rationalistic and mechanistic think-ing into western society was strongly influenced byphilosophers Thomas Hobbs and John Locke. Hobbsdeclared that all knowledge is based only on sensoryperception. Strongly influenced by Hobbs’ work andclassical science, Locke extended rationalist thinking

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into human problems. He extended reductionism tohuman society by drawing a parallel between an ob-ject and society, stating that just in the same way asa particle is the building block of objects, individualhuman being is the building block of society. Just inthe same way that the properties of an object arethose of its constituent particles, the behavior patternof a society consists of those of its individuals. Lockeextended this thinking to economics and politicalproblems. He compared the human mind at birth to atabula rasa, a completely blank tablet devoid of anyknowledge, on which knowledge is imprinted once itis acquired through sensory experience.

The Birth of Modern Science

The universal reality eluded classical science becauseof the two limiting restrictions imposed on it. Nuclearscience was not possible within these limits.

By the middle of the nineteenth century classical sci-entists believed that they had, by that time, complete-ly understood the true reality of nature, all discoveriesin science had already been made and any new re-search would only do the debugging and patching up

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that were yet to be done. The renowned nineteenthcentury physicist, A.A. Michaelson, said at the end ofthe nineteenth century about the future of physics, ‘itwould consist of adding a few decimal places to re-sults already obtained’. Lord Kelvin said at that timethat everything was perfect in the landscape of phys-ics except for two dark clouds.

The possibility that an entirely new world of nuclearscience was lying outside the scope of classical sci-ence was not seen at that time. In just the same waythat phenomena such as rebirth, impermanence, ego-lessness and panchabigna, the scope of which werebeyond three dimensions were not perceptible to clas-sical science, the whole world of nuclear science,whose scope was also beyond three dimensions, wasnot perceptible to classical science.

At the end of the nineteenth century some nuclear sci-ence phenomena were becoming apparent and scien-tists found that it was not possible to findexplanations for these within the “already completeworld of classical science”. Discovery of radioactivityin 1896 by Henry Becquerel was the first nuclear phe-nomenon that cracked the world of classical science.The nuclear reaction that keeps the sun hot and

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bright for billions of years baffled classical scientists.Sunlight tans our skin even with a short exposure,but exposure to a fire does not produce such a taneven after long exposure. The atomic process thatgenerated the tanning component of sunlight was be-yond the perceptual limits of classical science.

In spite of the deficiencies of classical science thatwere becoming increasingly apparent, breakingthrough the barriers of classical science and tran-scending into a new world of modern science, wherethe two major limitations mentioned earlier were nolonger tying down the scientists to a misleading dead-end path, needed the eminence of a person no lessthan Albert Einstein. Einstein ignored the limitationsof classical science and presented the theory of rela-tivity that went beyond three dimensions. He was tooformidable a person for classical scientists to oppose.

The next break away from the ideas of classical sci-ence was the discovery of the atom, inside of whichwas over 99.9% empty space, and over 99.9% of themass of the atom being concentrated in a regionminute compared to the size of the atom. Its discover-er, Earnest Rutherford, was so amazed when he no-ticed that alpha particles turned back after hittingatomic nuclei, that he simply left the Cavendish Lab-

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oratory and spent a few days visiting friends andwalking in the garden behind Trinity College (Cam-bridge) where Newton had observed the falling appletwo centuries earlier, to come to terms with the newdiscovery. Nuclear scientists pictured the atom as aminiature solar system and tried to fit the electrons inorbits around the atomic nucleus. Lo and behold!electrons defied Newton’s laws of motion, which wereso successful in classical science. They had to discov-er new laws that electrons obeyed. The 20th centuryparadigm shift was mainly due to the discovery ofquantum mechanics, which govern the behavior ofelectrons and everything else. Werner Heisenberg lat-er discovered the uncertainty principle. The theory ofrelativity, quantum mechanics and the uncertaintyprinciple form the foundation of modern science.

After modern science boosted our knowledge, tran-scending the limitations imposed by the five senses,profound changes had to be introduced to proceduresin science. Our ability to understand everything byway of perceptible mental pictures diminished and itbecame necessary to imagine models with compo-nents which behaved in ways that had no counter-parts at all in the world familiar to us. Mechanismsinvolved in these models in most instances are notonly imperceptible but also consist of elements that

24

operate in ways not known in the world that we actu-ally experience through our five senses. The need tounderstand before acceptance had to be dropped.This has rendered scientific common sense, whichhad been inculcated in us over three centuries of clas-sical science, badly wanting. For example, an electroncan jump instantaneously from one atomic orbital toanother without moving across the space betweenthem (Figure 2). Here, the electron disappears fromone orbital and reappears in the other. Movement ofelectrons in this manner which, like rebirth, lies be-yond classical science, is explained by way of quan-tum mechanics. Mechanisms of such phenomena arebeyond our imagination. Common sense familiar tous fails when it has to encounter such phenomena.Mathematical models devoid of pictorial content aretypical of modern science. Classical science stood forabsolute certainty. Modern science stands for the im-possibility of absolute certainty.

Modern science joined up the two realms, Res Extensaand Res Cogitans (Figure 1) and brought us to under-stand that the universe cannot be broken up into inde-pendent arbitrary parts. They are not independent andcannot be studied completely independently. Within theestablishment of modern science some of the aspects ofnature that did not strictly adhere to the realm of Res

25

Extensa, which were therefore earlier condemned asunbecoming for scientists to talk about, have becomerespectable. Rebirth falls into this category.

In terms of modern science the resulting whole ismore than the sum of its parts. For example a humanbeing is more than the sum of the atoms that make uphis body. Modern science abandons the sensate valuesystem. It holds that true reality lies beyond thematerial world. Obtaining knowledge through intui-tion is accommodated. The true standard of justice,truth and beauty is something much higher thanwhat governments and police can impose. Modernscience has shown us that there is no absolute truthin science, and all our concepts and theories are lim-ited and approximate.

Modern science is introducing a holistic conception ofreality, a shift from the solely materialist and mecha-nistic conception. The new view emerging includes avision of reality where life, mind and evolution are alltaken into account – a holistic approach to health andhealing, integration of eastern and western approach-es, a new conceptual framework for economics andtechnology, ecological and feministic perspectiveswhere integration with the environment and non-ex-ploitation of women are contemplated.

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The influence of modern science is slow to penetrateinto society, but it is happening. Sensate values areon the decline. A need to protect the environment andmaintain ecological balance is being recognized. Theneed to give women their due place is becoming rec-ognized. The paradigm shift in science is influencingsociety in a very beneficial way.

Nuclear scientist Fritjof Capra says that the rational-ist route of classical science leads scientists to the(atom) bomb and the more humane and holistic mod-ern science leads them to the teachings of theBuddha.

Scientific Acceptability

The prospect of having a scientific theory accepteddoes not depend only on the theory, its genuinenessand the data available. One important factor for ac-ceptance is its geography, ie. the place where it origi-nated. If it originated in the East or in a third worldcountry the chances of getting it accepted are usuallylow. Many instances are reported of research papers,which had been rejected when presented from thirdworld country universities, being accepted by the

27

same journals when presented through high profileuniversities in the West. Scientific acceptance of re-birth faces the first barrier here, as it is essentially aconcept that had originated in the East and the reli-gions that endorse it are Eastern.

If a new scientific theory goes contrary to the teach-ings of religions popular in the West, its acceptancebecomes extremely difficult even if it originated in theWest, as happened to Darwin’s theory of evolutionand Galileo’s heliocentric theory. Scientific accept-ance of rebirth faces this giant barrier as well.

If rebirth is to be discussed from an unbiased scien-tific point of view, it is necessary first of all to find away of bypassing these unscientific dual barriers.This can be done by considering the standard proce-dure used at present for the acceptance of any mod-ern scientific theory, and testing rebirth by followingthe same procedure.

Geremy Hayward has described how one ventures todeal with a new theory. He describes this procedureas a four step scientific process, as follows;

a) study the relevant phenomenon,

b) formulate the new theory,

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c) use the theory to predict observations thatwe should be able to make if the theory iscorrect, and

d) look for these predicted observations.

Richard Feynman, Noble Laureate for Physics, de-scribes this process in detail. He combines steps “a”and “b” and describes it as a three step process.

If the observations made in the last step do not agreewith the predictions of the earlier step the proposedtheory is not acceptable. If they agree, the theory be-comes acceptable. If more and more observationsshow agreement the theory receives stronger scientificacceptance. Once a theory becomes scientifically ac-cepted by this test it remains so unless someone findsreliable new data to prove its unacceptability.

The Phenomenon of Rebirth

Rebirth is a very old belief and a large fraction of theworld population believes it. For example ReneDescartes’ statement in 1641 “What I have said is suf-ficient to show clearly enough that the extinction ofthe mind does not follow from the corruption of thebody and also to give men the hope of another life af-

29

ter death.” confirms his belief in rebirth. About 20 per

cent of those in the Western World whose religions

shun rebirth nevertheless believe in it. According to

opinion polls this percentage is rising.

Hence, the phenomenon of rebirth is already known

and therefore the steps “a” and “b” are already there.

In examining the scientific acceptability of rebirth,

therefore, one has only to go through the last two

steps of the above scientific process. If this is done

successfully rebirth is proved in the way any other

theory of modern science is proved.

Rebirth may be defined as the re-embodiment of an

immaterial part of a person after a short or a long in-

terval after death, in a new body, whence it proceeds

to lead a new life in the body more or less unconscious

of its past existences, but containing within itself the

“essence” of the results of its past lives, which experi-

ence goes to make up its new character or personality.

Thus, infancy brings to earth not a blank scroll for the

beginning of a new earthly record, but one inscribed

with ancestral histories, some like the present scene,

most of them unlike it, and stretching back into the

remote past.

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Rebirth is an issue of utmost importance, one thatpromises to touch the ordinary man, woman andchild in a profound and far reaching way. Crime sta-tistics show that convictions are much lower amongthose who believe in rebirth than among others. If sci-entifically accepted, rebirth will have a stake in defin-ing human identity in the 21st century.

Scientific Examination of Rebirth

There are two possible scenarios – No-Rebirth scenar-io and Rebirth scenario – that can be considered. Ahuman being is composed of the body and an imma-terial part. The body, which is the material part, iswell understood because it fell within the ClassicalScience realm of Res Extensa and was extensivelystudied by scientists. The immaterial part has notbeen studied by scientists because it fell within theClassical Science realm of Res Cogitans. Even in Med-icine early doctors believed that all ailments of the hu-man being were only due to disorders of the materialbody. The subject of psychiatry in western medicine isof more recent origin.

In the No-Rebirth scenario (Fig.3) death is somethinglike the event horizon of a black hole. Crossing the

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event horizon is a one-way journey and after crossingit nothing can come back, not even light. Here thebody disintegrates after death and the immaterialpart is either annihilated or gets into a scientificallyunknown state and remains there forever, ie. each in-dividual is born, lives one lifetime and at the end of itpasses the event horizon of death to a state of noreturn.

In the Rebirth scenario (Fig.4) death is not an eventhorizon because only the body, the material part, dis-itegrates and goes into a state of no return. The imma-terial part enters into a scientifically unknown stateand reappears, after a period, in a scientificallyknown state in the body of an unborn infant. This isjust like the way an electron disappears from anatomic orbital and reappears in another without pass-ing through the space in between, the difference beingthat in the disappearance and reappearance of anelectron there is no time gap in between.

The above description of the phenomenon of rebirthconstitute steps “a” and “b” of the scientific process.The next step of the scientific process is looking forobservations that can be predicted assuming the ex-istence of this phenomenon, observations that have areasonable chance of being practically examined.

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Abilities of individuals to carry memories of pastevents differ widely from individual to individual.Some people can remember events and experienceslong passed, whereas some easily forget thingswithin a few years. Most people vividly rememberspecial events such as tragic happenings for a verylong time, even up to death. Under hypnosis peoplerecollect events which they had completely forgot-ten. Some people have the exceptional ability to re-call knowledge and experiences gathered long agoand use them when necessary.

For example, a friend of mine, who had been dis-cussing Advanced Level Physics with me when hewas studying for the GCE (AL) exam a long timeago, but never did any science thereafter, escapedinjury in the Central Bank bomb blast by instanta-neously recalling his memories of discussing ALPhysics. But others, who had studied Physics morerecently, lost their eyes because that memorydidn’t flash back to their rescue at the time of im-pending disaster. As soon as my friend saw theflash of the bomb blast from his window, AL Phys-ics flashed back into his mind that the shock wavecomes a little while after the flash. Instantly hethrew himself back flat on the floor before theshock wave blasted the window glass in.

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If rebirth as defined earlier is true, it should be possi-ble to extend some of the above human capabilities,which result from immaterial aspects of the humanbeing, beyond birth to the previous life and even be-yond to earlier lives. Some people should be able to re-member events in their past lives. Hypnosis mustenhance this ability. Some must be able to make useof knowledge and experiences of past lives.

With these predictions we can move on to the laststage of the scientific process, to look for these pre-dicted observations.

A large amount of data has been accumulated by re-search workers around the world on matters relatingto rebirth. Spontaneous recall of past lives, past lifetherapy, child prodigies and others who can make useof knowledge and experience gathered in their pastlives are some of the aspects that have been subjectedto much research and investigation.

The observations on

(i) Spontaneous recall of past lives,

(ii) Past life therapy,

(iii) Child prodigies and persons who can makeuse of past life knowledge and experiences.

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match the predictions made in the third stage of thescientific process.

Spontaneous Recall of Past Lives

Most promising evidence bearing on rebirth comesfrom the spontaneous recall of past lives, especially bychildren. Often a child begins fumbling at the age oftwo, or sometimes even less, to communicate his/hermemories of a previous life. A large number of suchcases have been investigated all over the world. Forexample Dr. Ian Stevenson, Carlson Professor of Psy-chiatry at the University of Virginia (USA), has inves-tigated over 2,000 such cases which are documentedand published. There are several other researcherswho have carried out such investigation on childrenwho spontaneously recall past lives. Many of these re-searchers belong to religions that do not accept re-birth.

These children speak volubly, accurately and withunswerving conviction about their previous lives, andthe histories related have been verified. In most casesthese children voice their past life memories betweenthe ages of two and five. They, being small, are free ofmemories crowded with information of their current

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lives. They often use phrases such as “when I was big”and often grumble about their small bodies and evenspeak resentfully of not being of the same sex as be-fore. Often they yearn for the lost company of a hus-band, wife, son or a daughter. They hanker for thefood, clothing, life style or sometimes even alcohol,drugs and tobacco of a former existence. They sufferphobias that can be linked directly to their unexpect-ed deaths in their past lives, ie. fear of knives, water,motor vehicles etc. The strong identification felt by thesubjects with the former personalities, the powerfulemotional attachment expressed by them towardssurviving past life relatives and friends, and the spon-taneity of these, usually help to confirm the validity ofsuch cases and exclude the possibility of fraud.

Past Life Therapy

Past life therapy is based on the premise that somepeople carry in their subconscious mind memories ofunpleasant events of their past lives, and these sub-conscious memories adversely affect them in theirpresent lives. By hypnosis they can be regressed be-yond their birth to their previous lives or even to ear-lier lives. Many ailments, all types of phobias and even

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certain physical ailments can be cured by such hyp-

notic regression. Past life therapy has now become a

standard western medical treatment for such ail-

ments. The first highly publicised case of hypnotic re-

gression to past life was that of Bridey Murphy in

1952 in the USA, when this subject was still in its

infancy.

Several books have been written on this subject by

medical practitioners who carry out such treatment.

The interest of most of them is in curing the patients

and only a few are interested in checking the informa-

tion given about past lives. But a large number has

been checked and documented. When regressed to

past lives people often speak in languages they had

spoken in their past lives which are completely un-

known to them in their current lives. For example an

Australian girl may speak in an ancient Egyptian lan-

guage unknown in Australia or write in Egyptian

stanzas inscribed in an ancient Egyptian temple

which she had frequented in her past life. They would

describe the setting in the past life in detail. Raymond

Moody MD., who is a past life therapist, was himself

regressed and recalled nine of his former lives. He has

written a book giving his experiences on this subject.

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Child Prodigies and Others who can use

Past Life Knowledge and Experiences

The Roman philosopher, Cicero, maintained thatthe speed with which children grasp innumerablefacts is strong proof of men knowing most thingsbefore birth. Since then the belief that genius is theflowering of past life experience has gained ground.Exceptional precocious talent in certain children ofpicking up knowledge can be explained only by re-birth. For example, a six-year-old child who hadnever played a musical instrument suddenly play-ing near masterpieces on a piano, or a three-year-old child mentally following his father’s calculationson his employees pay sheet and spotting mistakesand later becoming one of the greatest mathemati-cians of the century cannot be explained in any oth-er way. The latest such person reported is a four-year-old American girl who speaks three languages,programs the home computer and reads Shake-speare instead of trying to read children’s books.She has learned the Japanese language entirelyfrom books.

One of the best reported cases of people who canmake use of knowledge gathered in a past life isJetsunma, a girl from a ghetto house in Brooklyn, in

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the USA, beset with alcoholism, violence and abuse.Her mother was a Jewish grocery store cashier andthe step-father an Italian truck driver, both of whomwere alcoholics who mercilessly hammered the childdaily. When the mother was in a win situation shewas dragged to the mother’s church and when thestep-father was in the win situation she was draggedto his church. When Jetsunma was 17 police advisedher to leave home because it was too dangerous tolive together with the parents. She left home, gotmarried and produced a couple of children.

Once she was freed of the trauma of having to livewith her parents, she acquired the capability toteach Tibetan Buddhism at a very high level andbuilt up a clientele. She had never had any expo-sure to Buddhism. She did not known anythingabout Tibet. She or her clients did not know thatwhat she was teaching was Buddhism. They hadnamed it “Center for Discovery and New Life” Latershe met a Tibetan monk, visited Tibet and foundthat she is the reincarnate of a former Tibetanmonk. It was the knowledge that she had gatheredin her past life as a Tibetan monk that she wasteaching. Anyone visiting Washington can visit herCentre and meet her.

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Conclusion

The observations made on the above areas agree withthe predictions made in the third stage of the scien-tific process, thereby successfully completing thefour step test for scientific acceptability. I have so farnot come across any scientifically acceptable datathat can go to prove the scientific unacceptability ofrebirth.

On the basis of these tests it is concluded that

the scientific acceptability of the phenomenon

of rebirth is proven at least on three counts.

A science-minded person often finds it difficult to ac-cept rebirth because he has failed to perceive a rebirthmechanism that is intelligible within the outdatedDescartes’ classical science frame work. But ModernScience, specifically Quantum Mechanics, has com-pelled us to accept unintelligible mechanisms of nat-ural phenomena – like the jump of the electron – andwe do not hesitate to accept them. Likewise with thedata available we are compelled to accept rebirth as areality.

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Austrian Scientist Rudolf Steiner says:

“Just as an age was once ready to receive the

Copernican theory of the universe, so is our age

ready for the idea of reincarnation to be brought

into the general consciousness of humanity.”

1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

* Rene Descartes * Henry Becquerel

* Albert Einstein

* Werner Heisenberg

* Louis de Broglie

* Erwin Schrodinger

* Paul Dirac

* Richard Feynman

* Stephen Hawkins

Figure 1

Res extensa (Matter)Classical Science

Modern Science

Res cogitans (Mind)era

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In classical science the electron moves from one orbital to another

In modern science the electron disappears from one orbital and reappears in another

Figure 2

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NO-REBIRTH SCENARIO

HUMAN BEING = BODY + IMMATERIAL PART

Disintegrate Annihilates

or

Remains in a

Scientifically

Unknown State

Figure 3

REBIRTH SCENARIO

HUMAN BEING = BODY + IMMATERIAL PART

Birth

New Body

Disintegrate Scientifically Unknown State

Figure 4

DEATH

Death = Event Horizon

New Human Being