Anatta, Nirvana, & Rebirth
A demonstration of concepts

Religion: Buddhism

Purpose: to explain and reinforce understanding regarding these difficult concepts of Buddhist metaphysics

Cognitive Skills: knowledge, comprehension

Learning Styles: active, sensing, visual, sequential

Intelligences: visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic

Use: in classroom

For: individuals, small groups

Estimated time: 5 - 10 minutes

Materials needed: candles, matches (or lighter); clear cups, pitcher of colored water; onion, peach and knife (to cut peach)

Note: teacher can demonstrate or direct selected students through the demonstration for themselves and their classmates

The Activities:

Demonstrate difference between Hindu and Buddhist understanding of the self/soul:

• the peach pit is like the eternal atman of Hindu understanding. Cut away the flesh - built up karma - and the pit is all that remains as the essence of the peach/self.

• the onion, with its many layers, is like the Buddhist understanding of the self. Peel away the layers - detaching from collection of experiences, karmic buildup, skandhas - and what remains is... [have students respond: "nothing, emptiness"]. 

• Explain: "There is no essential or eternal soul/self in Buddhist understanding of the self. We are just a collection of experiences piled on top of prior experiences with nothing of substance at our core."

Demonstrate difference between Hindu concept of reincarnation and Buddhist "rebirth" and liberation from the cycle of rebirth:

• Hindu:

• lay out several empty cups (clear so students can see the water in the cups)

• fill the first cup with colored water (colored simply so students can see it)

• pour (or direct student to pour) water from first cup to the second, from second cup to the third, etc.

• Explain: "this is Hindu reincarnation - the same water/soul goes from one cup/body to the next and the next (the body is merely a container for the soul). The essence of the soul/water remains unchanged. The form/species is a quality of the container, not the soul itself (there is no difference between a human soul, a dog soul, a cow soul)." 

• "What happens when an individual self achieves Moksha?" Pour the water from the last cup back into the pitcher of water. 

• Explain: "It merges as one with the source (Brahman) and can no longer be distinguished as an individual self. It is now part of the universal self - Atman merged as one with Brahman."

• Buddhist:

• have several (five should be sufficient) students line up at the front of the room each holding an unlit candle

• light the first candle

• have the first student use his candle flame to light the second, the second to light the third and so on until all the candles are burning

• now ask the class: "are these flames the same or different?" [wait for a response]

• Explain: "they are different but each caused by the one before it, dependent on the one before it for its origination (dependent origination). Any impurities (karma) in the first flame are passed on to the next (like genetic mutations in DNA replication)"

• Pose question: "Where does a Buddha go when he dies?" Have the last candle flame extinguished (blown out = "nirvana"). "Where does the flame go when the candle is extinguished? [pause] It does not "go" anywhere; it just ceases to be. This is like nirvana. Since the flame no longer exists, it cannot bring another into existence after it (= no next life, the end of the cycle of rebirth)"

Alternative possibilities: a creative teacher may come up with such demonstrations for any number of concepts in any kind of discipline