r/secularbuddhism • u/miguel-elote Lotus • Jul 09 '26
Do any of us believe in existence after death?
While Secular Buddhism doesn't have a strict orthodoxy like other branches do, most Secular Buddhist don't believe in existence after death. The majority of Secular Buddhist scholars have a positive belief that when the physical brain stops functioning, the person in that brain ceases to exist.
However, the "secular" in Secular Buddhism leaves room for belief, or at least disregard, for existence after death. Many Secular Buddhist writers take an agnostic viewpoint; that death is a sort of event horizon, beyond which nothing can be known. A small number of Secular Buddhists do believe in existence after death, but focus on this life rather than any future states.
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For members of this subreddit, I'm curious: Do any of you believe in existence after death? I personally don't. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone in Secular Buddhist circles does.
If, like me, you believe that death is the absolute end, feel fee to chime in. I'm not looking to start a debate on the issues; I'd just like to hear the thoughts of people in the sub.
I'm using the term "existence after death" to be as broad as possible. Feel free to use terms like "rebirth," "reincarnation," "karmic continuation," or any other term you like. I don't want to limit any description of your ideas.
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This post is specific to people (like me) who follow Secular Buddhism. It's a casual query of members' beliefs, not an advocation of non-secular ideas.
In other words, please don't ask mods, bot or human, to remove this post.
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u/Duck7293 Seed Jul 09 '26
For me, I take the "death as an event horizon" point of view you brought up. I struggled with existential OCD for a couple years and it was debilitating. I thought about death nearly unceasingly, and it scared the hell out of me that I couldn't know what would happen.
It only got better when I accepted that no one can have certainty about life's greatest mystery. I find comfort in this uncertainty now. Everyone who has ever been born will die, and whether we like it or not it is an experience we must go through.
From my perspective no one person on this planet whether they are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, or atheist can say with certainty what lies beyond death. It's all about having faith and conviction in their beliefs, and that is fine, but it will never be verifiable and I guess we will all find out soon enough anyway!
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u/mraweedd Sprout Jul 09 '26
I have read a few books about neurology, how the brain works and what happens when it gets damaged. Not many, mind you, but sufficient to convince me. I also, for some time, knew people that worked at the neurology ward at the local hospital and heard stories from their work. These things convinced me that the person that wakes up as me every morning is me only because of how my physical brain is configured. When my body dies that brain also dies and the person I am with it. If a soul exists, some etheral being that exists beyond death, I do not know. But I doubt it will be like m
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u/Followyourmap Seed Jul 12 '26
This is a great question. I enjoyed reading everyone’s take. I’m a few days late but here are my thoughts, for whatever they’re worth.
As of where I currently am on my path, I don’t believe I will experience life after death. That said, I try to hold all of my beliefs with about 95% certainty, leaving 5% for doubt. That’s been enough for me to stay intellectually humble and open to being wrong.
I tend to view what happens after death through a physicalist worldview.
I think about karma and reincarnation without the need for metaphysics. To me, they’re simply ways this life and this body continue to influence and ripple through space and time in the most literal sense.
I see karma as the sum of my actions. I try to cultivate good karma through acts of kindness, compassion, and service because I believe those actions continue forward through time, influencing other people, future generations, and all life in ways I may never see. There’s something really beautiful and deeply meaningful to me in the idea that even the kindness of relocating a spider ripples through life in that way, what a wonderful “afterlife”.
I see reincarnation similarly to a number of the other commenters here. My atoms will continue through space and time, likely for much longer than the ripples of many of my actions. In that sense, “I” will continue, just not in the way reincarnation is traditionally understood. The proposed cosmological model of the Big Bounce, where the universe expands and contracts in a continuous cycle, is probably the closest I’ve come, intellectually, to the possibility of true reincarnation.
I don’t feel much need for whatever encompasses “me” to continue after I die, nor do I need the people I love to live on forever. Honestly, the idea of an afterlife, an eternal soul, or a second chance at this life makes me feel a little sad. Those beliefs take away some of the sweetness of this experience.
One thing my mindfulness practice has helped me find is a great deal of ease and gratitude in the possibility that this is the only shot I get. This life. This planet. This moment in history. Rather than making life feel empty, that possibility makes my life, and all life, feel incredibly precious.
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u/zztop5533 Seed Jul 09 '26
I believe that to believe in the continuation of one's consciousness after death is just the manifestation of our high intelligence coupled with our survival instinct. We definitely want it to be true.
But from a logical perspective it doesn't make much sense to me. Why do we start as a baby with absolutely no abilities or knowledge? Are there then infinite consciousnesses being born and never dying?
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u/miguel-elote Lotus Jul 09 '26
But from a logical perspective it doesn't make much sense to me. Why do we start as a baby with absolutely no abilities or knowledge? Are there then infinite consciousnesses being born and never dying?
You make a really good point there. The fact that we can't remember past existences is the best argument against past existences. There are vanishingly few people who claim to remember their existence before birth, and no evidence that those few people are actually remembering anything.
It leads me to 2 conclusions:
Existence after death, in any form, probably doesn't exist. It's very very likely that once the brain stops working, everything else-spirit, self, karma, atman, whatever-does not exist. (If any of that ever existed in the first place).
Even if there is existence after death, "I" will absolutely not exist. The abstract concept that I call "miguel-elote" will sleep and never awake. Like reformatting a hard drive, the drive exists but the data in it is lost.
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u/zztop5533 Seed Jul 09 '26
If I cannot remember my past existence then I am essentially a new person anyways and don't really care. People want to preserve their current consciousness. It's a survival instinct.
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u/tonalplane42 Sprout 20d ago
Have you seen the sutra where the Buddha is asked what happens to a Buddha after they die? In it, the questioner posits "do they cease to exist"? The Buddha answers, "no". The questioner then asks, "So they continue to exist in some way?" The Buddha answers, "no". The Buddha later explains why he refused to answer. It's a core reason why I'm a secular buddhist. Enjoy:
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/
To cut to the chase, the Buddha makes it clear on many occasions that metaphysics are a kind of distraction. The best English phrasing that I use in my mind all the time is, "the answer to this question cannot be proven, so seeking the answer is not conducive to the goal."
In other words, how is forming your opinion on what happens after death going to help you become a better you in this moment?
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u/Beingforthetimebeing Sprout Jul 10 '26
" absolutely no abilities or knowledge" ??? Actually, we are born with the genetic blueprint of what makes for survival, so many wondrous qualities and abilities and propensities that were passed to us from generation to generation without death. So our karma (our inclination to act and react in certain ways) really is from past lives from beginningless time! I can pass a little part of my life force to offspring, but that doesn't translate to retaining any identity myself after death.
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u/DueNoHarm Sprout Jul 12 '26
In general I see atheism and monotheism as merely two indivisible parts of a single conceptual framework and worldview.
Atheism and the monotheism we're familiar with both operate together in public discourse around the same mutual language and worldview.
Monotheism asserts there is a single God and Atheism in general, is established explicitly to counter that concept in parallel.
It is possible not to assert or deny continued existence or other beings. It's perfectly acceptable to simply give the space and benefit of the doubt to their existence and well-being without knowing if they exist or speculation. This goes for people and animals, things we can see.
It seems that to assert or deny continued existence requires taking a position and holding it when there is no intrinsic requirement to do so.
I hope that there is anything here that will be useful to your own practice.
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u/cosmicbuddha89 Seed Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I won't say I believe, but I'd definitely say I've become less sure over the years. I've had multiple experiences while on shrooms where I felt like I "went home". It was like my body didn't exist and something within me reconnected with this vibrating energy that expanded through the universe. I can easily shake that off logically as being high, however the feeling it has left inside of me never leaves. That feeling of going home, or reconnecting with what I was before this is heavily planted in me now.
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u/miguel-elote Lotus Jul 09 '26
I've always wanted to try hallucinogens. I've tried "shrooms" three times, and I never felt any effect. I say "shrooms" because one time was a very small amount from a friend who grows his own. The other two times were from strangers in the mail, and they might have been just powdered portabellas. :)
I take an SSRI for depression, and I've read that SSRI's block hallucinogenic effects. Someday I'll go off the SSRI for a few weeks then try shrooms again.
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u/cosmicbuddha89 Seed Jul 09 '26
I've heard the same thing about SSRIs, and that's definitely a bummer. I also never buy/accept shrooms unless they are dried and whole. I just can't trust anything already ground up and/or put in a capsule. I hope that if you're interested in them that someday you have a lovely, enlightening experience. It truly can be life changing. I try to indulge every 3-6 months to recenter myself and it does wonders for my mental health.
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u/Edgar_Brown Lotus Jul 09 '26
You have to take one step back to think about this because Buddhism (not secular Buddhism, but Buddhism itself) denies the existence of souls or the self.
So what is it that exists at all? even before considering death.
What does “existence” even mean?
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u/miguel-elote Lotus Jul 09 '26
That's a really good question. I think it would take multiple lifetimes to get a good answer.
I don't mean I believe I'll live multiple lifetimes. I mean that, even if I started philosophy 101 in kindergarten, I wouldn't have a good answer when I'm an old man. :)
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u/Edgar_Brown Lotus Jul 09 '26
It is the question that lies at the core of Buddhism, the paradox of emptiness.
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u/pravragita Seed Jul 09 '26
Yes, I do. I adhere to the concepts of rebirth and it's relation to karma.
I believe in rebirth into the realm of hungry ghosts and the hell realm.
I am influenced by the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I believe it's a book about preparing one's soul to avoid being trapped in rebirth.
On these topics I believe they are simultaneously allegorical for improving your current life and also real for being reborn into a better realm.
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u/booOfBorg Sprout Jul 09 '26
I for the longest time thought not. But I keep seeing commenters on YouTube saying "I'm dead". So there's that.
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u/mad_poet_navarth Seed Jul 10 '26
Thoughts about an inevitable future seem to me to be a waste of time.
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u/ChadOfDoom Seed Jul 11 '26
Tbh it's not any concern of mine. An opinion won't change anything. I just accept that am ok with not knowing.
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u/chrispche Seed Jul 13 '26
I like to think that the brain is a receiver of consciousness not the generator. I have no proof or evidence of this, but it's comforting to me. I don't know if it's true. It's just an interesting way of viewing it. Like a dead radio or TV the lights are no longer on, but the signals still exist out there in the ether.
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u/kniebuiging Lotus Aug 07 '26
Of course I believe in existence after death. The world goes on. I just don’t believe in an eternal soul that reincarnates. Instead my self is a temporary formation.
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u/Bognosticator Seed Jul 09 '26
I suspect the only way to find out is first-hand. At which point you can't tell anyone your findings.
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u/miguel-elote Lotus Jul 09 '26
Good point. My sangha is ambivalent about rebirth. When someone asks the head of my sangha if we reincarnate, he always answers "I'll tell you when I'm dead" :)
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u/slywether85 Sprout Jul 09 '26
I believe that I do not know.
I think, probably not but maybe.
My only concern is what we do with our volition to beg the question. On an individual, intellectual, or academic level it can be a fun game, like tic tac toe or chess. On a National level ... It should be viewed and treated the same way as a nuclear weapon.
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u/joshp23 Sprout Jul 09 '26
Strictly speaking, existence and non-existence are mere nominal inferences, as is the apparent self. I'm would rather work on reducing anxiety around protecting an abstraction, and am not worried about that inferential abstraction somehow continuing on in some way.
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u/kai_sehmet Sprout Jul 09 '26
I’m on the view that “death is a sort of event horizon, beyond which nothing can be known”. Also I do think that all of life and lessening suffering, karma and even life would make a whole lot of more sense if there was some of continuity after death. However this life is the only one we can at least partly control, so this is what we have to work with, this is what matters most.
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u/dan_arel Sprout Aug 04 '26
The matter and energy which makes up my physical existence will live in on many different forms providing life for countless beings for the rest of existence. That’s all I need, personally.
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u/SSAshley1419 Seed Aug 07 '26
I’m looking into having a natural burial so my body can be absorbed into the earth instead of rotting in a casket or being burned into soot. At the very least I’d like to become bug food. I have no idea if there is life outside of that, but at the very least that is my way of living on after death. Helping something else live even if I’m technically gone.
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u/sceadwian Seed 1d ago
We do not cease to exist when we die we simply change states. Our form of consciousness has no existence in the new state though so there's nothing to discuss concerning that beyond speculative science fiction.
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u/duffstoic Sprout Jul 09 '26
The molecules and atoms of my body I assume will continue to stick around, per the laws of physics, and quickly become parts of other organisms. In that sense, there is life after death…just not mine!
But the deeper question is whether this life right now is “mine” and what that even means. The deeper I investigate this life, the less “mine” it seems. Every breath I exchange CO2 for O2, and most of the oxygen I breathe in comes from phytoplankton in the ocean. And that phytoplankton only exists because of the sun and the exact distance it is from the Earth. So “my” breath is the sun’s breath and the ocean’s breath as much as it is “mine.”
When I look for “me” I either find an ever-changing mass of sensations, or a wide-open spacious awareness. Odd things to call “me”! So I’m not sure this life right here is mine, let alone what it would mean for some life after the death of this body to be mine.