Before I discovered Hinduism, I thought that it was the Buddha who introduced the ideas of karma and reincarnation. However, he actually took them from Hinduism. The Buddha himself contributed his own insights – that the root of suffering lies in desires, and by escaping from desires, one becomes happy. But here’s my question: is that even possible through an act of will? I mean, if you try to force yourself to “stop wanting,” aren’t you just suppressing that energy and ending up wanting it even more?
So the ideas of reincarnation and karma are eternal… they have existed and will continue to exist for as long as humanity itself exists, while the ancient teachings are merely the written records that have survived to our time.
And Buddhists and Hindus do think about monotheism. And monotheists think about reincarnation and karma.
What I mean is that we need to separate the eternal Dhamma (reincarnation and karma), which is universal, and the ideas introduced by the Buddha, which are essentially his personal vision.
Let me summarize a bit what has accumulated in my head. I was at a family constellations seminar recently, and the facilitator mentioned regression therapy, which prompted me to write this text.
Regression therapy is when you put a person into a trance, and they recall their past. In psychology, this refers to childhood traumas, while in esotericism, to past lives.
What I’ve understood is that there are two approaches to reincarnation: the first is linear (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), like a ray that has a beginning (Adam and Eve in Christianity) but no end. The end can be predicted end of times after Apocalypse. The other is non-linear (Hinduism and Buddhism), where you can be reborn in different eras, planets, and spaces.
They do not contradict each other; on the contrary, they complement each other.
In the linear approach, the lineage (family history) preserves memory; it has DNA. Like a life that originated with Adam and Eve and flowed through generations to present-day people – the energy of a family — for example, the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament. The lineage (family history) manifests like a water source in the subconscious, and by looking at a person’s associations with this source (e.g., muddy/clear), you can understand their attitude towards their family.
So, here’s the thing… is it possible to recall past incarnations, or is it just fantasy? I think regression therapy can be considered within the framework of the past that a person remembers. For instance, a grandmother was raped, and her granddaughter subconsciously avoids men. Or a girl grew up without a father and, in her adult life, subconsciously takes revenge on all men. Or working through the issue of a grandmother’s brother who was a criminal. Or a grandfather who hanged himself. All of this can be processed and released.
But when I hear stories about how someone was a queen or a witch in a past life (but never, for example, an ordinary housewife), I become skeptical. I also see this as fertile ground for charlatans to profit from a person’s desire for self-affirmation.
Family Constellations, Regression Therapy and Work with the Forgotten Past
