"Those who wish to break the cycle of rebirth must know the way of becoming a Buddha. The way of becoming a Buddha is the way of enlightenment. Before one’s father and mother were born and before one’s own body was formed, one’s mind existed unchanged until now, as the ground of all sentient beings. This is also called one’s original countenance. This mind is pure from the beginning. When the body is born, it is without the form of life, and when the body dies, it is without the form of death. Neither does it have the form of man or woman, of good or evil. Because there is nothing to which it can be compared, it is called Buddha nature. From this mind there arise ten thousand images, like waves on a vast great sea or forms reflected in a mirror." (Bassui Tokusho, "Sermon on One-Mind" ["Enzan Wadei Gassuishū"], cca. 1386)
"Karma brings us ever back to rebirth, binds us to the wheel of births and deaths. Good Karma drags us back as relentlessly as bad, and the chain which is wrought out of our virtues holds as firmly and as closely as that forged from our vices." (Annie Besant, Theosophical Review Vol 17, 1895)
"To live fully is to let go and die with each passing moment, and to be reborn in each new one." (Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, "Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation", 1987)
"Birth and death, decay and rebirth, the cycle of life - all is change. Change is life, and the ability to change is the essential element of growth. The freedom founded upon the realization and acceptance of this truth, that nothing stays the same, is the source of the power of true creativity." (Mitsugi Saotome, "Aikido and the Harmony of Nature", 1993)
"Another attitude to karma is that it is connected with rebirth, life after death - which is pure blind faith. That approach brings a certain amount of psychological comfort: this is not the only life, but there are a lot more to come; other situations will come up so you don’t have to feel fatalistic any more. That kind of attitude to karma is not dealing with the root of the karmic situation but is purely trying to play games with it or else trying to use karma as a comforter. It is based on distrust in oneself. Knowing that you are making mistakes, you think that even if you do make mistakes, you can afford to correct them, because you have a long, long time, endless time to do so." (Chögyam Trungpa, "Transcending Madness The Experience of the Six Bardos", 2010)
"[...] from the point of view of anatman, nothing reincarnates. It is more of a rebirth process rather than reincarnation. The idea of reincarnation is that a solid, living quality is being passed on to the next being. It is the idea of some solid substance being passed on. But in this case, it’s more of a rebirth. You see, something continues, but at the same time, nothing continues. In a sense we’re like a running stream." (Chögyam Trungpa, "Transcending Madness The Experience of the Six Bardos", 2010)
"[...] the ultimate idea of rebirth is not purely the idea of physical birth and death. Physical birth and death are very crude examples of it. Actually, rebirth takes place every moment, every instant. Every instant is death; every instant is birth. It’s a changing process: there’s nothing you can grasp onto; everything is changing. But there is some continuity, of course - the change is the continuity. The impermanence of the rebirth is the continuity of it. And because of that, there are possibilities of developing and possibilities of regressing."(Chögyam Trungpa, "Transcending Madness The Experience of the Six Bardos", 2010)
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