海辺にて 生まれ育ちし 生命なり 浜も変わりて 波音寂し
Although not directly related to the Nichiren Daishonin's faith, it is a hint for understanding the eternal and immortal view of life (Sanze Joju).
Reincarnation and Science
Does reincarnation really exist?
Although this phenomenon has been taken for granted in the Buddhist view of the universe and life, modern science still tends to dismiss it as "superstition.
However, research has now been published that supports the existence of past lives. Although we cannot immediately accept the results of this research, the Lotus Sutra does indeed teach reincarnation, reincarnation in the six realms, and that life continues to exist in this world even after death.
Consciousness inherits the memories of previous lives
According to the "Express" (February 4, 2011), Dr. Jim Tucker of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in the United States interviewed children in various parts of the United States who were said to have memories of previous lives. The results of his research are that children who have not had the experiences that they should have had. The results are documented in his book, "Life Before Life" which includes records of as many as 2,500 children who have memories of events they never experienced.
According to Dr. Tucker, reincarnation can be explained scientifically because consciousness (the mind) is really "energy at the quantum level" (proving that energy continues to exist away from the body, even if the vessel in which it is held (the body) is destroyed).
Today, many scientists also believe that quantum mechanics holds the key to solving the mystery of "human consciousness," such as Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World (2012-2014). For example, Dr. Robert Lanza, an expert in regenerative medicine who was selected as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2014, also advocates "life-centeredness. He believes that "life and consciousness," not matter, are the basic elements for understanding (reality), and that consciousness is different from "physical death" and that the brain does not create consciousness.
Dr. Tucker also accepts the "life-centered" thesis and says that consciousness survives after physical death and acts as the consciousness of the next host. Dr.Tucker says, "Scientists such as Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory, spoke of consciousness as being more fundamental than matter. In other words, consciousness is not something created by the brain. An individual's consciousness continues to survive after the death of the brain or the body." So the consciousness retains the memory of the previous life and attaches itself to the brain of the next person." He said.
A boy with memories of a previous life
As evidence of reincarnation, Dr. Reininger cites James Reininger, then 2 years old, who has memories of a previous life.
James had an unusual obsession with toy airplanes from an early age and often had nightmares about plane crashes. When Dr. Tucker asked James about his nightmares, he was surprised to learn that he was a pilot himself. He told her that he was a pilot and that he had flown out of a ship.
He told her that he was a pilot and that he had flown out of a ship. When his father asked James for more details, he was told that he had flown out of a ship called the Natoma, that he had been shot down on Iwo Jima, and that he had a friend named Jack Larsen.
Subsequent research revealed that there was indeed an aircraft carrier called the USS Natoma Bay stationed at the time of World War II, and that it was involved in the battle of Iwo Jima. Moreover, it was even recorded that a man named James Houston's fighter plane had been shot down in exactly the condition described by Mr. James.
This is truly "testimony to the existence of a previous life," but by the time James was about seven years old, his memory had completely disappeared, and now he remembers nothing at all. According to Dr. Kato, it is common for "memories of previous lives" to disappear between the ages of 5 and 7 years old.
If reincarnation exists, it may make sense that our past lives and relationships have a significant influence on our present lives (sometimes expressed as "what we were born with" or "what our ancestors have carried with them from generation to generation"). In fact, the long-span view of life (reincarnation and the six realms of reincarnation) is a basic theory of life that has been explained as a matter of course in Buddhism for thousands of years.