Here are my major objections to Thanissaro Bhikkhu's so-called
"Truth of Rebirth" (2012)
1. The first major problem with Thanissaro's work is the length of it. If Thanissaro understood the subject then he would have been able to explain it perfectly well in a couple of paragraphs at the most. So anything beyond two paragraphs is a testament to the degree he is speaking about something he is not qualified to speak about. This soon becomes evident.
2. Thanissaro doesn't clearly define the extremely key term of "birth", and then uses the word "birth" inconsistently to refer to both the birth of ignorance (ignorant consciousness), as well as physical birth.
If the word "birth" is being used to refer to the birth of ignorance - which is a mental birth, happening moment-to-moment, here-and-now - then it
doesn't follow that all
physical births are also the birth of ignorance. The birth of ignorance and physical birth are
two entirely different things, and Thanissaro conflates the two.
He also conflates "life" and "death" with physical life and death, rather than the moment-by-moment life and death of ignorant minds. Again, the two are different things, and need not have any relation. Physical birth
may be a birth of an ignorant mind, but need not be, and likewise it may result from an ignorant mind, but need not do.
3. Thanissaro's interpretation of scripture is terribly bad, in nearly every case where he attempts it.
For example, where the scripture states "There are fruits & results of good & bad actions. There is this world & the next world.", Thanissaro says that "the phrase 'next world' in this passage refers to life after death."
He is mistaken. In fact, "the next world" refers to
the next world. Each moment brings a new world.
But since Thanissaro conflates physical life and death with momentary psychological changes, it's impossible to make any coherent sense from his words.
4. Thanissaro says "Simply stating, 'I don't know,' is not an adequate response to the questions of rebirth".
I disagree.
In the case that you don't know if it is possible for any person to be reborn as a frog (say), after their physical death, then you should say "I don't know".
Likewise, if you don't know that all physical birth is a part of samsara, the cycle of "life and death", then you should say "I don't know".
5. Thanissaro mentions two arguments against his personal understanding of rebirth, but he only mentions extremely weak arguments which he appears to have made up himself, since no person would be so cartoonish as to make up those arguments in real life. He doesn't tackle any of the very strong arguments against his position, such as the argument from cause and effect, which concerns causal changes over time.
