rebirthbychoice

I listened to this sutta as I was falling asleep last night and thought nothing of it - MN120 - Rebirth by Choice.

Today, as I decide to turn away from arahantship and end my dogged pursuit of the path (to stay with my family and beloved ice cream) I see the importance and value of these words.

In this sutta the Buddha says that practitioners who have achieved a sufficient level in faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom can choose the realm of their rebirth. He then goes on to list a plethora of options which were apt for the time but sound somewhat far-fetched now.

His message is clear though: if you practice enough and you clear your mind to a sufficient degree, you can choose how you will be reborn.

Remembering that rebirth is rebirth *in this life*, as in the next persona that you will embody, this makes a lot more sense.

Initially he mentions the wealthy and aristocrats and I really do *not* recommend going that route because I have done it before and it will carve some deep-ass grooves into your soul unless you’re careful. Then again given the fact that you’re practicing, and if you continued practicing, you’d probably be ok-ish. 

Just make sure that you hold onto your ethics and generosity if you choose the money-route. Even then… this day and age is very different to 2600 years ago and you will have far more things trying to pull you away from virtue than there were back then. I held onto my ethics and generosity and it still broke me.

I would definitely recommend choosing the heavenly beings route.

That’s what I’ll be doing. Living in the realm of the resplendent gods or the gods of refulgent glory or something like that.

For me this means living in the realm of my family, being a happy and engaged father, and enjoying nature and reality for what it is. Looking after myself and loving my wife and being kind and trying to help the people of the world but not killing myself in the process because it is no longer motivated by ego.

I think I will choose some combination of these:

‘the joyful gods … the gods who love to imagine … the gods who control what is imagined by others are long-lived, beautiful, and very happy.’

So yeah - see you around. Be careful which one you choose. If you pursue the route of wealthy brahmin you are quite likely to end up an unhappy brahmin from my experience.

/jb202510022129