[INDOLOGY] sources for the idea that reincarnation is a semi-random process?

[wiese at wifa.uni-leipzig.de]

Dear Dean Andrson,

in JAtaka No. 544, a king "learns" that a good rebirth is unrelated to  
good or bad karma heaped up in former lives. Examples of good deeds  
accompanied with bad rebirths and vice versa are given. Rather, you  
just have to wait very long and will finally be released. So, the king  
draws the understandable conclusion of just going for enjoyment. But,  
finally, the Buddha helps to overcome this pernicious view.  
(Incidentally, the king offers a lottery to the Buddha and so, there,  
we may have the world first definition of a probability.)

All the best from Leipzig
Harald Wiese



Zitat von Dean Michael Anderson via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>:

> Dear fellow members of the Indology list,
> Most people think of reincarnation being a somewhat deterministic  
> process based on past karma.
> I read someplace, however, that Tibetans, and maybe other Buddhists,  
> consider the process of assigning one's karma for the next life as  
> something akin to reaching into a box of chips and grabbing a random  
> collection of karmas that set in motion the next life. Thus, it is  
> not so strictly deterministic.
>
> I'm sorry if I'm not describing this accurately.
> Can anyone point me to some original sources or commentaries for this idea ?
>
> Also, is this something that is mentioned in Hinduism or other  
> reincarnation-based religions?
> Best,
> Dean Anderson