common ground meditation
common ground meditation
Judaism, reincarnation, Hinduism& Buddhism, how do they relate?
What do Jews believe in regards to reincarnation?
How does Judaism fit into the development of Hinduism and Buddhism?
Do Jews do any kind of meditation?
If a Buddhist and a Jew were to find common ground religiously and spiritually where would it be?
I heard somewhere that Jewish emmisaries brought the essential teachings of the Torah to the east and that it developed into Hinduism.
Lets take the questions one ata atime:
Reincarnation
Reincarnation in Judaism is not the same as the Budhist/Hindu belief in reincarnation where people come back as varying animals etc dependant on their Karma.
In Judaism, reincarnation is purely into another human form.
Essentially, the soul is made up of varying parts. At the bottom level is the animating spirit that is common to all animals- this dies with the body . The top level is the holy essence of God- the divine spark that God puts into the body. The middle layer is the “You” of the soul- the mix between the physical soul and the holy soul. The personality, the bit that does good deeds and bad deeds.
When you die- the animating spirit dies, the “You” part faces judgement and undergoes te period in Gehinnom before entering Olam HaBa (The World to Come). What happens to the divine spark depends on the judgement of the “You” part. The purpose of the divine spark descending is so that it fcan grow spiritually, fulfill a specific spiritual need in this world. it has to descend for this sinc such spiritual growth is not necessary in Olam HaBa since free will is heavily curtailed due to the overwhelming presence of God. So, if the “You” part of the soul does good deeds, refrains from sinning etc- it will achieve what the divine spark is seeking. If it has reached its ultimate level, it will remain in Olam HaBa and receive its reward. If the “You” does not do what is necessray, the divine spark is reincarnated into another person in order to try and achieve what it failed next time.
This answers the conundrum of how everyone would be resurrected in the time of Mashiach if there is reincarnation: Each incarnation has its own “You” part of the soul, and it is that part which will be reincarnated, regardless of how many incarnations are tied to a specific soul.
Meditation
Not big at all in Judaism. Some claim that there are forms of meditation within Kaballah. Most of the time these claims seem to come from people trying to meld Kaballah with New Age practices to lend authority to whatever New Age practice is being discussed. That said, it does exist, but it is known to very few and not commonly practiced. Practicing Eastern style meditation to relax etc is not against Judaism, as long as any religious overtones are completely removed.
Common ground to Budhism
The two are very different paths and spiritually not compatable. Much of Budhist philosophy in terms of how we treat each other, about peace etc have parallels in Judaism- but Budhism is more of a deity less spiritual path as opposed to Judaism which is deity driven. The Budhist ideal of the holy man wandering around poverty stricken and chaste is the opposite of the Jewish holy man who was expected to be married, have a family, and a means fo supporting that family.
Influence on other religions
Hinduism and Judaism developed in seperated parts of the world in an era where travel was dangerous and rare. The two are so completely different that it is difficult to find similarities or to show where one could have developed from the other. People like to claim that some of Avraham’s children went East and took his teachings as far as India and thus influenced the development of Hinduism- however, the chances of this are very slight considering the distances and the rarity of travel between the two areas in that time period.
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