The Reincarnation of James Houston Jr. case was a well-documented reincarnation case that was widely broadcast on NBC several decades ago. According to its written introduction, the Reincarnation of James Houston Jr. is “the most heavily documented case of possible reincarnation ever; a child has memories of World War II that are so detailed it’s impossible he made them up. The case of James Leininger took the world by storm and is a compelling case for reincarnation and existence beyond our physical bodies.” The oral introduction of the video starts by saying that “a Louisiana boy offers incredible evidence that should satisfy both sides of the soul debate. His case offers proof that a soul is real, that it can be reincarnated, and that Science can study it.” Furthermore, according to a researcher at the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia Health System, “in the cases of these children’s report, if you look at the best cases, they provide evidence that at times there can be this carry-over of memories and emotions. The same carries over from one life and continues to another.”
It is best that you watch the story of the Reincarnation of James Houston Jr. yourself to learn the details of this fascinating reincarnation and decide for yourself whether reincarnation is real. However, I want to point out a segment that starts around eleven and a half minutes into the video, featuring the following uncanny exchange between the father and son.
One day, while the father was cleaning the yard and James Jr. played outside with him, Bruce Leininger said to his son, “I just love you to bits.”
James replied, “Well, I knew you would be a good daddy when I picked you.”
Bruce, “What?????”
James, “When I found you and mommy, I knew you would be good parents.”
Bruce, “What do you mean when you found us?
James, “I found you and mommy in Hawaii.”
The narrator then commented, “James told his father that he saw them in a pink hotel in Hawaii, which was where the Leiningers were staying when they decided to have James.”
In other words, James Houston Jr. encountered the Leiningers before he was born, during a period between lives. He found them suitable as his parents and decided he would like to have them be his parents before reincarnating as their son!
Indeed, if you get goosebumps watching this segment, you are not alone. At the same time, there is an important lesson about why everyone should try to avoid abortion as much as possible.
Now, let’s see how James Houston Jr.’s Reincarnation story fits what we discussed in the previous post on Causality.
- Pratyaya (Chinese: 緣), as discussed earlier, refers “to the subsidiary factors whose concomitance results in the production of an effect from a cause.”
- For the reincarnation of James Houston Jr., the condition that made it possible was that he found his future parents in Hawaii just as they decided to have a child.
- Cetana (Chinese: 思) is “one of the omnipresent mental factors (Mahabhumika; Sarvatraga) that accompany each moment of consciousness.” It refers to the “mental intention” that directs the mind towards certain actions.
- In this case of reincarnation, the mental intention that initiated James Houston Jr.’s reincarnation occurred when he, having determined that the Leiningers would be suitable as his future parents, intended them before he was born.
- Vipaka (Chinese: 果報) is the “fruition” or “maturation” of the past deeds. Furthermore, “Vipaka refers to any mental phenomenon that occurs as a result of morally wholesome or unwholesome volitional actions performed by the body, speech, or mind, either in this or previous lives. Fruitions can be divided between those that occur during the lifetime in which the deed is performed, those that occur in the lifetime immediately following the life in which the deed is performed, and those that occur two or more lifetimes later. Although the fruition is the result of a wholesome or unwholesome act, the vipaka is itself always morally neutral and manifests itself as something pleasant or painful that is either physical or mental.”
- In this case, the fruition occurred during the lifetime immediately following James Houston Jr.’s previous life as a World War II fighter pilot.
- Alayavijnana (Chinese: 阿賴耶識/藏識) is the “storehouse consciousness,” or “foundational consciousness,” the eighth of the eight types of consciousness (vijnana) posited in the Yogacara school. All forms of Buddhist thought must be able to uphold (1) the principle of cause and effect of action (Karman), the structure of Samsara, and the process of liberation (vimoksa) from it, while also upholding (2) the fundamental doctrine of impermanence (anitya) and the lack of a perduring self (anatman). The most famous and comprehensive solution to the range of problems created by these apparently contradictory elements is the alayavijnana. The alayavijnana provides that solution as a foundational form of consciousness, itself ethically neutral, where all the seeds (bija) of all deeds done in the past reside and from which they fructify in the form of experience. Thus, the alayavijnana is said to pervade the entire body during life, to withdraw from the body at the time of death (with the extremities becoming cold as it slowly exits), and to carry the complete karmic record to the next rebirth destiny.” “The alayavijnana thus provides continuity from moment to moment within a given lifetime and from lifetime to lifetime, all providing the link between an action performed in the past and its effect experienced in the present, despite protracted periods of latency between the seed and fruition.”
- A karmic record, as mentioned in the last post, “is a record of one’s memory. Just as one’s memory stays with the person throughout their life, it also continues across lifespans. After your storehouse consciousness withdraws from the body at the time of death, the record of your memory takes residence in another body in its next lifetime.”
- Clearly, the memory of James Houston Jr., the former WWII pilot, was transferred to James Leininger without a perduring self, given that their physical bodies are different. Instead, his karmic record was carried over by his mental continuum, known in Romanized Sanskrit as Cittasamtana.
- Cittasamtana (Chinese: 心相續) is the mental continuum, used “to clarify that there is continuity between an action (Karman) that an individual undertakes and its eventual effect (vipaka), as well as continuity between one lifetime and the next, without going so far as to posit a perduring self.”
- In this case, the mental continuum lasted for about fifty-five years, with the death of James Houston Jr. in 1945 and the birth of James Leininger in 2000.
Among Buddha’s teachings, Causality is the most consequential for humanity. Yet it is also the least believed in, especially among those who would rather have faith in Science than in Buddhism. However, to the extent that Science is ignorant about consciousness, it is also ignorant about Causality.
As Buddha teaches in the Three Delicate Marks, karma, the driver of Causality, comes along with consciousness at the time of birth. Furthermore, karma is the cause of existential suffering. Suffering is considered existential in Buddhism because the Buddha teaches that aging, sickness, and eventual death are inevitable with birth. In other words, the impermanence of life is the result of Causality. So, unless you can live an everlasting life, you are subject to Causality, regardless of whether you have faith in it or not.
In the next post, we will discuss why being born as a human is one of the best outcomes in reincarnation. Among the six destinies of reincarnation, human destiny not only gives you the best chance to be enlightened but also gives you a chance to choose a better future if you are not enlightened in this life, which is highly likely. Those in the celestial realms so enjoy their blessed life that they forget to do wholesome deeds, so that when their impermanent lives come to an end, they are not ready and fall to baleful destinies. Those in baleful destinies suffer so much that they do not have the time to do wholesome deeds until their lives in the baleful destinies end.
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