Editing Four Noble Truths (section)

==Emphasis within different traditions==

===Early Indian Buddhism===
The [[Ekavyāvahārika]] sect emphasized the transcendence of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], asserting that he was eternally enlightened and essentially non-physical. According to the Ekavyāvahārika, the words of the Buddha were spoken with one transcendent meaning, and the Four Noble Truths are to be understood simultaneously in one moment of insight.{{sfn|Rockhill |1884|pp=187–188}} According to the [[Mahīśāsaka]] sect, the Four Noble Truths should be meditated upon simultaneously.{{sfn|Potter|2004|p=106}}

===Theravada===
{{See also|Vipassana movement}}

According to Carol Anderson, the four truths have "a singular position within the Theravada canon and tradition."{{sfn|Anderson|1999|pp=230–231}} The Theravada tradition regards insight in the four truths as liberating in itself.{{sfn|Carter|1987|p=3179}} As Walpola Rahula states, "when the Truth is seen, all the forces which feverishly produce the continuity of [[samsara]] in [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|illusion]] become calm and incapable of producing any more [[Karma in Buddhism|karma-formations]] [...] he is free from [...] the 'thirst' for becoming."<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/>{{refn|group=note|Walpola Rahula:
* "When wisdom is developed and cultivated according to the Fourth Noble Truth (the next to be taken up), it sees the secret of life, the reality of things as they are. When the secret is discovered, when the Truth is seen, all the forces which feverishly produce the continuity of saṃsāra in illusion become calm and incapable of producing any more karma-formations, because there is no more illusion, no more 'thirst' for continuity."<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/>
* "The remaining two factors, namely Right Thought and Right Understanding go to constitute Wisdom."<ref group=web name="WP_ch5">{{cite web |website=Walpola Rahula: What the Buddha Taught |title=CHAPTER V. THE FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH: ''MAGGA'': THE PATH |url=https://sites.google.com/site/rahulawhatthebuddha/the-fourth-noble-truth}}</ref>
* "Right Understanding is the understanding of things as they are, and it is the Four Noble Truths that explain things as they really are. Right Understanding therefore is ultimately reduced to the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. This understanding is the highest wisdom which sees the Ultimate Reality."<ref group=web name="WP_ch5"/>}} This liberation can be attained in one single moment, when the four truths are understood together.{{sfn|Carter|1987|p=3179}} Within the [[Theravada]] tradition, great emphasis is placed upon reading and contemplating ''[[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta|The Discourse That Sets Turning the Wheel of Truth]]'', and other suttas, as a means to study the four noble truths and put them into practice.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 275–280}} For example, Ajahn Sumedho states:
{{Blockquote|The ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'', the Buddha's teaching on the Four Noble Truths, has been the main reference that I have used for my practice over the years. It is the teaching we used in our monastery in Thailand. The Theravada school of Buddhism regards this sutta as the quintessence of the teachings of the Buddha. This one sutta contains all that is necessary for understanding the Dhamma and for enlightenment."{{sfn|Ajahn Sumedho| 2002|p=5}}}}

Within the Theravada-tradition, three different stances on ''[[Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvana]]'' and the question what happens with the ''Arhat'' after death can be found.{{sfn|Gethin|1998|p=77}}{{sfn|Hick|1994|p=436}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|pp=96–97}}{{sfn|Geisler|Amano|2004|p=32}} ''Nirvana'' refers to the cessation of the defilements and the resulting peace of mind and happiness (''khlesa-nirvana''); to the final dissolution of the five skandhas at the time of death (''skandha-nirvana'' or ''[[parinirvana]]''); and to a transcendental reality which is "known at the moment of awakening".{{sfn|Gethin|1998|p=77}}{{refn|group=note|Gethin: "(I) it is the extinguishing of the defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion; (2) it is the final condition of the Buddha and arhats after death consequent upon the extinction of the defilements; (3) it is the unconditioned realm known at the moment of awakening.{{sfn|Gethin|1998|p=77}}}} According to Gethin, "modern Buddhist usage tends to restrict 'nirvāṇa' to the awakening experience and reserve 'parinirvāṇa' for the death experience.{{sfn|Gethin|1998|p=76}} According to Geisler and Amano, in the "minimal Theravada interpretation", ''nirvana'' is a psychological state, which ends with the dissolution of the body and the total extinction of existence.{{sfn|Hick|1994|p=436}}{{sfn|Geisler|Amano|2004|p=32}} According to Geisler and Amano, the "orthodox Theravada interpretation" is that nirvana is a transcendent reality with which the self unites.{{sfn|Geisler|Amano|2004|p=32}} According to Bronkhorst, while "Buddhism preached liberation in this life, i.e. before death",{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|p=96}} there was also a tendency in Buddhism to think of liberation happening after death. According to Bronkhorst, this

{{Blockquote|...becomes visible in those canonical passages which distinguish between Nirvana—qualified in Sanskrit and pali as "without a remainder of upadhi/upadi" (anupadhisesa/anupadisesa)—and the "highest and complete enlightenment" (anuttara samyaksambodhi/sammasambodhi). The former occurs at death, the latter in life.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|p=97}}}}

According to [[Walpola Rahula]], the cessation of ''dukkha'' is ''nirvana'', the ''summum bonum'' of Buddhism, and is attained in this life, not when one dies.<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/> ''Nirvana'' is "perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness",<ref group=web>{{cite web|website=Walpola Rahula: What the Buddha Taught |url=https://sites.google.com/site/rahulawhatthebuddha/the-first-noble-truth |title=CHAPTER II. THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH: ''DUKKHA''}}</ref><ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/> and "Absolute Truth", which simply ''is''.<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4">{{cite web |website=Walpola Rahula: What the Buddha Taught |url=https://sites.google.com/site/rahulawhatthebuddha/the-third-noble-truth |title=CHAPTER IV. THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTH: ''NIRODHA'': THE CESSATION OF ''DUKKHA''}}</ref><!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=note|According to Rahula, in ''[[What the Buddha Taught]]'',

{{Blockquote|... if Nirvāṇa is to be expressed and explained in positive terms, we are likely immediately to grasp an idea associated with those terms, which may be quite the contrary. Therefore it is generally expressed in negative terms."<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/>}} According to Gombrich this distinction between [[Apophatic theology|apophatic]] and cataphatic approaches can be found in all religions.{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|pp=150–152}} Rahula gives an overview of negative statements of ''nirvana,'' whereafter he states:

{{Blockquote|Because Nirvana is thus expressed in negative terms, there are many who have got a wrong notion that it is negative, and expresses self-annihilation. Nirvāṇa is definitely no annihilation of self, because there is no self to annihilate. If at all, it is the annihilation of the illusion of the false idea of self.<br />
It is incorrect to say that Nirvāṇa is negative or positive. The ideas of 'negative' and 'positive' are relative, and are within the realm of duality. These terms cannot be applied to Nirvāṇa, Absolute Truth, which is beyond duality and relativity [...]<br /><br />
Nirvāṇa is neither cause nor effect. It is beyond cause and effect. Truth is not a result nor an effect. It is not produced like a mystic, spiritual, mental state, such as dhyāna or samādhi. TRUTH IS. NIRVĀṆA IS.<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/>}}

Rahula refers to the ''Dhātuvibhaṅga-sutta'' (the Majjhima-nikāya 140) for his interpretation of "Nirvāṇa as Absolute Truth", which, according to Rahula, says:

{{Blockquote|O bhikkhu, that which is unreality (mosadhamma) is false; that which is reality (amosadhamma), Nibbāna, is Truth (Sacca). Therefore, O bhikkhu, a person so endowed is endowed with this Absolute Truth. For, the Absolute Noble Truth (paramaṃ ariyasaccaṃ) is Nibbāna, which is Reality.'<ref group=web name ="WP_ch4"/>}}

While Jayatilleke translates ''amosadhamma'' as "ineffable",{{sfn|Jayatilleke|2009|p=306}} Thanissaro Bhikkhu gives a somewhat different translation:
{{Blockquote|His release, being founded on truth, does not fluctuate, for whatever is deceptive is false; Unbinding—the undeceptive—is true. Thus a monk so endowed is endowed with the highest determination for truth, for this—Unbinding, the undeceptive—is the highest noble truth.<ref group=web>{{Cite web|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.140.than.html|title=Dhatu-vibhanga Sutta: An Analysis of the Properties|website=www.accesstoinsight.org}}</ref>}}

In response to Rahula, [[Richard Gombrich]] states that:
{{Blockquote|In proclaiming (in block capitals) that 'Truth is', Rahula has for a moment fallen into Upanisadic mode. Since truth can only be a property of propositions, which have subjects and predicates, and nirvana is not a proposition, it makes no sense in English to say that nirvana is truth. The confusion arises, perhaps, because the Sanskrit word satyam and the corresponding Pali word saccam can indeed mean either 'truth' or 'reality'. But in our language this will not work.{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|pp=156–157}}}}

Richard Gombrich also states that Rahula's book would more aptly be titled ''What [[Buddhagosa]] Taught''.{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|pp=156–157}}  According to David Kalupahana, Buddhagosa was influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, and introduced "the substantialist as well as essentialist standpoints of the Sarvastavadins and Sautrantikas."{{sfn|Kalupahana|1992|pp=208, 210}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> Jayatilleke also speaks of "the attainment of an ultimate reality".{{sfn|Jayatilleke|2009|p=306}} According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the "elimination of craving culminates not only in the extinction of sorrow, anguish and distress, but in the unconditioned freedom of nibbana, which is won with the ending of repeated rebirth."{{sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2011|p=10}}

According to Spiro, most (lay) Theravada Buddhists do not aspire for ''nirvana'' and total extinction, but for a pleasurable rebirth in heaven.{{sfn|Spiro|1982|pp=76–77}} According to Spiro, this presents a "serious conflict" since the Buddhist texts and teaching "describe life as suffering and hold up nirvana as the ''summum bonum.''"{{sfn|Spiro|1982|p=78}} In response to this deviation, "monks and others emphasize that the hope for nirvana is the only legitimate action for Buddhist action."{{sfn|Spiro|1982|p=78}} Nevertheless, according to Spiro most Burmese lay Buddhists do not aspire for the extinction of existence which is ''nirvana''.{{sfn|Spiro|1982|p=78}}{{refn|group=note|name="Wallace"}}

According to [[B.R. Ambedkar]], the Indian Buddhist [[Dalit]] leader, the four truths were not part of the original teachings of the Buddha, but a later aggregation, due to Hindu influences.{{sfn|Karunyakara|2002|p=67}} According to Ambedkar, total cessation of suffering is an illusion; yet, the Buddhist Middle Path aims at the reduction of suffering and the maximizing of happiness, balancing both sorrow and happiness.{{sfn|Karunyakara|2002|pp=67–68}}

===Mahayana===
The four truths are less prominent in the Mahayana traditions, which emphasize insight into [[Śūnyatā]] and the [[bodhisattva|Bodhisattva path]] as a central elements in their teachings.{{sfn|Carter|1987|pp=3179–3180}} If the sutras in general are studied at all, it is through various Mahayana commentaries.{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=103}}

According to Makransky the Mahayana Bodhisattva ideal created tensions in the explanation of the four truths.{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=345}} In the Mahayana view, a fully enlightened Buddha does not leave ''samsara'', but remains in the world out of compassion for all sentient beings.{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=346}} The four truths, which aim at ending ''samsara'', do not provide a doctrinal basis for this view, and had to be reinterpreted.{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=346}} In the old view, ''[[Kleshas (Buddhism)|klesas]]'' and ''karma'' are the cause of prolonged existence. According to Makransky, "[t]o remove those causes was, at physical death, to extinguish one's conditioned existence, hence to end forever one's participation in the world (Third Truth)."{{sfn|Makransky|1997|p=346}} According to Makransky, the question of how a liberated being can still be "pervasively operative in this world" has been "a seminal source of ongoing doctrinal tension over Buddhahood throughout the history of the Mahayana in India and Tibet."{{sfn|Makransky|1997|pp=346–347}}

====Tibetan Buddhism====
[[Atisha]], in his ''[[Bodhipathapradīpa]]'' ("A Lamp for the Path to Awakening"), which forms the basis for the [[Lamrim]] tradition, discerns three levels of motivation for Buddhist practitioners.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|p=17}} At the beginning level of motivation, one strives toward a better life in ''samsara''.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|p=17}} At the intermediate level, one strives to a liberation from existence in samsara and the end of all suffering.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|pp=17, 66–67}} At the highest level of motivation, one strives after the liberation  of all living beings.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|p=17}} In his commentary on the text, Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche explains that the four truths are to be meditated upon as a means of practice for the intermediate level.{{sfn|Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche|1996|pp=66–67}}

According to [[Tashi Tsering (Jamyang Buddhist Centre)|Geshe Tashi Tsering]], within [[Tibetan Buddhism]], the four noble truths are studied as part of the Bodhisattva path. They are explained in Mahayana commentaries such as the ''[[Abhisamayalamkara]]'', a summary of and commentary on the [[Prajna Paramita]] sutras, where they form part of the lower [[Hinayana]] teachings. The truth of the path (the fourth truth) is traditionally presented according to a progressive formula of [[Five Paths|five paths]], rather than as the eightfold path presented in Theravada.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 2187–2190}} According to Tsering, the study of the four truths is combined with the study of the [[sixteen characteristics]] of the four noble truths.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 741–743}}

Some contemporary Tibetan Buddhist teachers have provided commentary on the ''Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta'' and the noble eightfold path when presenting the dharma to Western students.{{sfn|Geshe Tashi Tsering|2005|loc=loc. 241}}{{sfn|Ringu Tulku|2005|pp=36–54}}{{sfn|Lama Surya Das|1997}}

The truths are used extensively within [[Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan medicine)|Sowa Rigpa]] (traditional Tibetan medicine) theory.{{source?|date=September 2024}}

====Nichiren Buddhism====
[[Nichiren Buddhism]] is based on the teaching of the Japanese priest and teacher [[Nichiren]], who believed that the [[Lotus Sūtra]] contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha's teachings.<ref group=web>{{Cite web |title=Nichiren Shu Buddhist Temple of UK Newsletter |date=September–October 2008 |website=Nichiren Shu UK |url=http://www.nichiren-shu.org.uk/septoctnewsletter.html |access-date=30 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031180446/http://www.nichiren-shu.org.uk/septoctnewsletter.html |archive-date=31 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The third chapter of the Lotus Sutra states that the Four Noble Truths was the early teaching of the Buddha, while the Dharma of the Lotus is the "most wonderful, unsurpassed great Dharma".<ref group=web >{{Cite web |url=http://www.sokahumanism.com/nichiren-buddhism/Four_Noble_Truths_and_the_Lotus_Sutra.html |title=Quote from Watson (1993), The Lotus Sutra |access-date=2 April 2011 |archive-date=3 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103150647/http://www.sokahumanism.com/nichiren-buddhism/Four_Noble_Truths_and_the_Lotus_Sutra.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The teachings on the four noble truths are a provisional teaching, which Shakyamuni Buddha taught according to the people's capacity, while the Lotus Sutra is a direct statement of Shakyamuni's own enlightenment.<ref group=web name=nletter2>[http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=1039&m=3&q=four%20noble%20truths%20for%20voice-hearers Four Noble truths for Voice Hearers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101041513/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=1039&m=3&q=four%20noble%20truths%20for%20voice-hearers |date=1 November 2013 }}, see "Background" section</ref>

===Western Buddhism===
For many western Buddhists, the rebirth doctrine in the Four Noble Truths teaching is a problematic notion.{{sfn|Konik|2009|p=ix}}{{sfn|Hayes|2013|p=172}}{{sfn|Lamb|2001|p=258}}<ref group=web name="BB-rebirth">Bhikkhu Bodhi, [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bps-essay_46.html ''Does Rebirth Make Sense?'']</ref>{{refn|group=note|See also:<br />* [[James Ishmael Ford|James Ford]], [http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2015/08/the-karma-and-rebirth-debate-within-contemporary-western-buddhism-some-links-to-follow.html ''The Karma and Rebirth Debate Within Contemporary Western Buddhism: Some Links to Follow'']<br />* Manon Welles, [http://aristocratsofthesoul.com/secular-buddhism-vs-traditional-buddhism-six-key-differences/ ''Secular Buddhism vs. Traditional Buddhism: 6 Key Differences'']<br />* Alan Peta, [http://www.alanpeto.com/buddhism/understanding-reincarnation-rebirth/ ''Reincarnation and Buddhism: Here We Go Again'']}} According to Lamb, "Certain forms of modern western Buddhism [...] see it as purely mythical and thus a dispensable notion."{{sfn|Lamb|2001|p=258}} According to Coleman, the focus of most vipassana students in the west "is mainly on meditation practice and a kind of down-to-earth psychological wisdom."{{sfn|Coleman|2002|p=110}}{{refn|group=note|According to Coleman, the goal in Theravada Buddhism "is to uproot the desires and defilements in order to attain nibbana (nirvana in Sanskrit) and win liberation from the otherwise endless round of death and rebirth. But few Western Vipassana teachers pay much attention to the more metaphysical aspects of such concepts as rebirth and nibbana, and of course very few of their students are celibate monks. Their focus is mainly on meditation practice and a kind of down-to-earth psychological wisdom. "As a result," one respected Vipassana teacher writes, "many more Americans of European descent refer to themselves as Vipassana students rather than as students of Theravada Buddhism."{{sfn|Coleman|2002|p=110}}}} According to [[Damien Keown]], westerners find "the ideas of [[karma]] and rebirth puzzling."{{sfn|Keown|2009|pp=60–63, 74–85, 185–187}} According to Gowans, many Western followers and people interested in exploring Buddhism are skeptical and object to the belief in karma and rebirth foundational to the Four Noble Truths.{{sfn|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 76–88}}{{refn|group=note|Gowans groups the objections into three categories. The first objection can be called "consistency objection", which asks if "there is no self (atman, soul), then what is reborn and how does karma work?". The second objection can be called "naturalism objection", which asks "can rebirth be scientifically proven, what evidence is there that rebirth happens". The third objection can be called "morality objection", which asks "why presume that an infant born with an illness, is because of karma in previous life" as seems implied by ''Majjhima Nikāya'' section 3.204 for example. Gowans provides a summary of prevailing answers, clarifications and explanations proffered by practicing Buddhists.{{sfn|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 76–88}}}} According to Konik,
{{Blockquote|Since the fundamental problems underlying early Indian Buddhism and contemporary western Buddhism are not the same, the validity of applying the set of solutions developed by the first to the situation of the second becomes a question of great importance. Simply putting an end to rebirth would not necessarily strike the western Buddhist as the ultimate answer, as it certainly was for early Indian Buddhists.{{sfn|Konik|2009|p=ix}}}}

According to Keown, it is possible to reinterpret the Buddhist doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths, since the final goal and the answer to the problem of suffering is [[nirvana]], and not rebirth.{{sfn|Keown|2009|pp=60–63, 74–85, 185–187}} Some Western interpreters have proposed what is sometimes referred to as "naturalized Buddhism". It is devoid of rebirth, karma, nirvana, realms of existence, and other concepts of Buddhism, with doctrines such as the Four Noble Truths reformulated and restated in modernistic terms.{{sfn|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 91–94}}{{sfn|Prothero|1996|p=128}}{{refn|group=note|Prothereo describes how Theosophist [[Henry Steel Olcott]] (1832–1907) reinterpreted Buddhism: "In addition to a restatement of the Four Noble Truths and the Five Precepts for lay Buddhists, the fourteen propositions included: an affirmation of religious tolerance and of the evolution of the universe, a rejection of supernaturalism, heaven or hell, and superstition, and an emphasis on education and the use of reason."{{sfn|Prothero|1996|p=128}}}}{{refn|group=note|According to Owen Flanagan, the proportion of people in North America that believe in heaven is about the same as the proportion of East and Southeast Asia who believe in rebirth. But, 'rebirth' is considered superstitious by many in the West while 'heaven' is not, adds Flanagan, though a reflective naturalistic approach demands that both 'heaven' and 'rebirth' be equally questioned".{{sfn|Flanagan|2011|pp=2–3, 68–70, 79–80}} According to Donald S. Lopez, Buddhist movements in the West have reconstructed a "Scientific Buddha" and a "modern Buddhism" unknown in Asia, "one that may never have existed there before the late 19-century".{{sfn|Lopez|2012|pp=39–43, 57–60, 74–76, 122–124}}}} This "deflated secular Buddhism" stresses compassion, impermanence, causality, selfless persons, no Boddhisattvas, no nirvana, no rebirth, and a naturalist's approach to well-being of oneself and others.{{sfn|Spiro|1982|pp=39–42}}

According to Melford Spiro, this approach undermines the Four Noble Truths, for it does not address the existential question for the Buddhist as to "why live? why not commit suicide, hasten the end of ''dukkha'' in current life by ending life". In traditional Buddhism, rebirth continues the ''dukkha'' and the path to cessation of ''dukkha'' isn't suicide, but the fourth reality of the Four Noble Truths.{{sfn|Spiro|1982|pp=39–42}} The "naturalized Buddhism", according to Gowans, is a radical revision to traditional Buddhist thought and practice, and it attacks the structure behind the hopes, needs and rationalization of the realities of human life to traditional Buddhists in East, Southeast and South Asia.{{sfn|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 91–94}} According to Keown, it may not be necessary to believe in some of the core Buddhist doctrines to be a Buddhist, but the rebirth, karma, [[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|realms of existence]] and cyclic universe doctrines underpin the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism.{{sfn|Keown|2009|pp=60–63, 74–85, 185–187}}

Traditional Buddhist scholars disagree with these modernist Western interpretations. Bhikkhu Bodhi, for example, states that rebirth is an integral part of the Buddhist teachings as found in the sutras, despite the problems that "modernist interpreters of Buddhism" seem to have with it.<ref group=web name="BB-rebirth"/>{{refn|group=note|Bhikkhu Bodhi: "Newcomers to Buddhism are usually impressed by the clarity, directness, and earthy practicality of the Dhamma as embodied in such basic teachings as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the threefold training. These teachings, as clear as day-light, are accessible to any serious seeker looking for a way beyond suffering. When, however, these seekers encounter the doctrine of rebirth, they often balk, convinced it just doesn't make sense. At this point, they suspect that the teaching has swerved off course, tumbling from the grand highway of reason into wistfulness and speculation. Even modernist interpreters of Buddhism seem to have trouble taking the rebirth teaching seriously. Some dismiss it as just a piece of cultural baggage, "ancient Indian metaphysics", that the Buddha retained in deference to the world view of his age. Others interpret it as a metaphor for the change of mental states, with the realms of rebirth seen as symbols for psychological archetypes. A few critics even question the authenticity of the texts on rebirth, arguing that they must be interpolations.<br />A quick glance at the Pali suttas would show that none of these claims has much substance. The teaching of rebirth crops up almost everywhere in the Canon, and is so closely bound to a host of other doctrines that to remove it would virtually reduce the Dhamma to tatters. Moreover, when the suttas speak about rebirth into the five realms—the hells, the animal world, the spirit realm, the human world, and the heavens—they never hint that these terms are meant symbolically. To the contrary, they even say that rebirth occurs "with the breakup of the body, after death," which clearly implies they intend the idea of rebirth to be taken quite literally."<ref group=web name="BB-rebirth"/>}} [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]], as another example, rejects the "modern argument" that "one can still obtain all the results of the practice without having to accept the possibility of rebirth." He states, "rebirth has always been a central teaching in the Buddhist tradition."<ref group=web name="TB_Rebirth">Thanissaro Bhikkhu, [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/truth_of_rebirth.html ''The Truth of Rebirth. And Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice'']</ref>{{refn|group=note|Thanissaro Bhikkhu: "A second modern argument against accepting the canonical accounts of what's known in awakening—and in particular, the knowledge of rebirth achieved in awakening—is that one can still obtain all the results of the practice without having to accept the possibility of rebirth. After all, all the factors leading to suffering are all immediately present to awareness, so there should be no need, when trying to abandon them, to accept any premises about where they may or may not lead in the future.<br />This objection, however, ignores the role of appropriate attention on the path. As we noted above, one of its roles is to examine and abandon the assumptions that underlie one's views on the metaphysics of personal identity. Unless you're willing to step back from your own views—such as those concerning what a person is, and why that makes rebirth impossible—and subject them to this sort of examination, there's something lacking in your path. You'll remain entangled in the questions of inappropriate attention, which will prevent you from actually identifying and abandoning the causes of suffering and achieving the full results of the practice.<br /><br />In addition, the terms of appropriate attention—the four noble truths—are not concerned simply with events arising and passing away in the present moment. They also focus on the causal connections among those events, connections that occur both in the immediate present and over time. If you limit your focus solely to connections in the present while ignoring those over time, you can't fully comprehend the ways in which craving causes suffering: not only by latching on to the four kinds of nutriment, but also giving rise to the four kinds of nutriment as well.<ref group=web name="TB_Rebirth"/>}}{{refn|group=note|According to Konik: {{blockquote|No doubt, according to the early Indian Buddhist tradition, the Buddha's great discovery, as condensed in his experience of nirvana, involved the remembrance of his many former existences, presupposing as fact the reality of a never-ending process of rebirth as a source of deep anxiety, and an acceptance of the Buddha's overcoming of that fate as ultimate liberation.{{sfn|Konik|2009|p=ix}}}}}}

According to Owen Flanagan, the Dalai Lama states that "Buddhists believe in rebirth" and that this belief has been common among his followers. However, the Dalai Lama's belief, adds Flanagan, is more sophisticated than ordinary Buddhists, because it is not the same as [[reincarnation]]—rebirth in Buddhism is envisioned as happening without the assumption of an "atman, self, soul", but rather through a "consciousness conceived along the [[anatta|anatman]] lines".{{sfn|Flanagan|2014|pp=233–234 with note 1}}{{refn|group=note|The Dalai Lama himself is regarded to be an incarnation of the thirteen previous Dalai Lamas, who are all manifestations of [[Avalokitasvara]].{{sfn|Chitkara|1998|p=39}}}} The doctrine of rebirth is considered mandatory in Tibetan Buddhism, and across many Buddhist sects.{{sfn|Flanagan|2014|pp=234–235 with note 5}}

According to Christopher Gowans, for "most ordinary Buddhists, today as well as in the past, their basic moral orientation is governed by belief in karma and rebirth".{{sfn|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 76–88}} Buddhist morality hinges on the hope of well being in this lifetime or in future rebirths, with nirvana (enlightenment) a project for a future lifetime. A denial of karma and rebirth undermines their history, moral orientation and religious foundations.{{sfn|Gowans|2014|pp=18–23, 76–88}} According to Keown, most Buddhists in Asia do accept these traditional teachings, and seek better rebirth.{{sfn|Keown|2009|pp=60–63, 74–85, 185–187}}{{refn|group=note|The vast majority of Buddhist lay people, states Kevin Trainor, have historically pursued Buddhist rituals and practices motivated with rebirth into Deva realm.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} Fowler and others concur with Trainor, stating that better rebirth, not nirvana, has been the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists. This they attempt through merit accumulation and good ''kamma''.{{sfn|Fowler|1999|p=65}}{{refn|group=note|Merv Foweler: "For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a better rebirth."{{sfn|Fowler|1999|p=65}}}}{{sfn|Gowans|2004|p=169}}}}

===Navayana Buddhism===
The [[Navayana]], a modernistic interpretation of Buddhism by the Indian leader and Buddhist scholar [[B. R. Ambedkar]],<ref>Anne M. Blackburn (1993), [http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8805/2712 Religion, Kinship and Buddhism: Ambedkar's Vision of a Moral Community], The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 16 (1), p. 11</ref> rejected much of traditional Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths, karma and rebirth, thus turning his new religion into a vehicle for [[class struggle]] and social action.<ref>{{cite book |author=Eleanor Zelliot |year=2015 |editor=Knut A. Jacobsen |title=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPBWCgAAQBAJ |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-40357-9 |pages=13, 361–370}}</ref> According to Ambedkar, Four Noble Truths was "the invention of wrong-headed monks".<ref>{{cite book|editor-first1=Damien |editor-last1=Keown|editor-first2=Charles S. |editor-last2=Prebish|title= Encyclopedia of Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFpcAgAAQBAJ |year=2013 |publisher= Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-98588-1 |page=25}}, Quote: "(...)The Buddhism upon which he settled and about which he wrote in ''[[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'' was, in many respects, unlike any form of Buddhism that had hitherto arisen within the tradition. Gone, for instance, were the doctrines of karma and rebirth, the traditional emphasis on renunciation of the world, the practice of meditation, and the experience of enlightenment. Gone too were any teachings that implied the existence of a trans-empirical realm (...). Most jarring, perhaps, especially among more traditional Buddhists, was the absence of the Four Noble Truths, which Ambedkar regarded as the invention of wrong-headed monks".</ref>