What do Buddhists believe about recarnation?

Buddhists believe that there is a deeper, more complete understanding of reality than the one we think of and participate in every day. The everyday life we experience is really no more than a dream, and what we think of as our "selves" is really just an illusion. When our bodies die, our mind-streams persist, like a river running through several countries. When we die, its like the river passing through one country's boundary into another. The river- or the mind-stream -doesn't change. After death our mind-streams continue on, and after a time, become incarnated into a different body, with a different sense of self than the previous one. It isn't that you, with your sense of being this person or that person gets reincarnated into a different body, but that your mind-stream, which has no illusion of self does.

First answer by Jkrotkov. Last edit by Jkrotkov. Contributor trust: 99 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question]