[Johnny_Lim]

Chanced upon this nice article on evidence for rebirth.

I think the Navy pilot (James Huston) rebirth story is very famous and it’s all over the internet. I noticed something interesting in this article. There are 3 accounts of rebirth that involved violence and killing.

“On March 3, 1945, James Huston, a twenty-one-year-old U.S. Navy pilot, flew his final flight. He took off from the USS Natoma Bay, an aircraft carrier engaged in the battle of Iwo Jima. Huston was flying with a squadron of eight pilots, including his friend Jack Larsen, to strike a nearby Japanese transport vessel.”

“In a recent case, Tucker met a family whose son remembered fighting in the jungle in the Vietnam War and getting killed in action. The boy gave a name for the PP. When the parents looked up the name, they found that it was a real person.”

“In another unsettling case, a British boy recalled the life of a German WWII pilot. At age two, he started talking about crashing his plane while on a bombing mission over England. When he learned to draw, he drew swastikas and eagles. He goose-stepped and did the Nazi salute. He wanted to live in Germany, and had an unusual taste for sausages and thick soups.”

A fighter pilot is a soldier. A soldier’s job is to defend his own country against enemy’s threat, which implies destroying enemy forces – taking lives. Deliberate attempt to destroying lives is very bad kamma. We are talking about human lives here. Interestingly, we do not see immediate rebirth of these people into hell for performing such unwholesome acts. Instead, they are reborn as human beings. They must have done very meritorious deeds in the past that helped them secure a human rebirth or the unwholesome acts of killing in their previous personalities did not yield a kammic energy strong enough to block their current good vipaka. But once this good vipaka has been spent, then I’m afraid things would not turn out well for them unless they have the chance to encounter Buddha Dhamma and strive to attain at least a Sotāpanna stage.

[Lal]

Johnny_Lim said: “A fighter pilot is a soldier. A soldier’s job is to defend his own country against enemy’s threat, which implies destroying enemy forces – taking lives. Deliberate attempt to destroying lives is very bad kamma. We are talking about human lives here. Interestingly, we do not see immediate rebirth of these people into hell for performing such unwholesome acts. Instead, they are reborn as human beings.”

As discussed in the post, “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein“, a human bhava can last thousands of years, and one could be born many times with a human body during that time. Johnny probably knew, but forgot about that.

Only if one does an anantairya kamma (like killing parent or attaining a jhanic state, for example) that this rule will be broken.
– Someone who has killed a parent will be born in an apaya when this physical body dies, even if there is kammic energy for the human bhava remains.
– In the same way, one who has attained a (anariya/Ariya) jhana, will break the human bhava and will be born in the corresponding brahma realm at death.

The fighter pilot did not commit an anantariya kamma, even though it was a strong bad kamma. The rebirth process as a human will continue for him until the kammic energy for the human bhava runs out.
– But at the end the end of this human bhava, the next bhava will be determined by which past kamma (including those killings a soldier) will be the strongest. Cuti-patisandhi or the “grasping of a new bhava happens at that time.

[Akvan]

Hi Lal,

Please clarify what I have understood. If one is born in a human bhava, he will be born in that bhava (many times / jathi) until his kamma for that bhava is expended or unless he commits an ananthariya kamma. If an ananthariya kamma is commited (papa or punna kamma) he will be born in the relevant bhava after his death (jathi).

It is also stated that a person with niyatha miccha ditti will not be born in the human or any realm above. However, niatha miccha ditti is not classified as an ananthariya papa kamma. Does this mean that a human with niyatha miccha ditti may be born again as a human after his death, if he has not expended his kamma for a human bhava. After he expends his kamma for a human bhava he will be born in a lower realm if he has not got rid of the niyatha miccha ditti by that time. Is that understanding correct?

This makes sense with the stories that Johnny has shared and many other stories of rebirth as well. We cannot come to a conclusion, but it is highly likely that these soldiers may have had niyatha miccha ditti when they were killed. If a person with niyatha miccha ditti is definitely reborn in lower realms after his death, then these stories can be a bit contradictory. However, if it means that a person with niyatha miccha ditti is born in the lower realms after his kamma for the human bhava is expended, then these stories do make complete sense.

[Lal]

Hi Akvan,
“Does this mean that a human with niyatha miccha ditti may be born again as a human after his death, if he has not expended his kamma for a human bhava.”

Yes. If it is not an anantariya kamma he will be born human to the end of the human bhava.

“However, if it means that a person with niyatha miccha ditti is born in the lower realms after his kamma for the human bhava is expended, then these stories do make complete sense.”

That is indeed the case.

[Akvan]

Thank you very much. This was something that had been nagging me for sometime.

[Author]

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