Personally I can't accept the normal concept of Rebirth, and I hope everyone will be okay with that here. I love Abhidhamma, Buddhist Psychology, but Rebirth doesn't make sense to me, and it never will. I see no true effect of it in my life, because I have come to the conclusion that everything that makes me, me, is the result of my environment (Society, Culture, Family, Friends, Etc), Genetics/Biology (Inborn diseases such as Down Syndrome, or even Psociopathy, etc), Thoughts (Everything you think affects your mind, and the person you are), Speech (Same as thoughts, but words affect your environment as well), and Actions (Same as Speech). Even the only evidence of Rebirth, past lives, is explainable, because from looking at most of those accounts, the individual will typically remember past lives from their own cultural background most of the time, most likely due to its being easier to process in the sensitive mind of the individual, then say for a european to remember the life of an ancient day Samurai. I personally believe that all minds are connected, One, as with everything else, sort of like a World Conciousness. So, when the Buddha had spoken about his own past lives, I believe he had either connected to that World Conciousness, or simply felt that because everything is One, that really, he was those people, he was everyone, past, present, and future. Did you know that I was a Great Prince, with many, many beautiful wives, and had unconditional love of my people because of my absolute epicness?
Why do I say all of that? Because like I had said earlier, Theravada is much more appealing to me on a psychological, traditional, and practical level, then Mahayana, but there are just some things I won't accept, and I hope that I can still be welcome here to learn as much as possible of the Dhamma, of the Pali Canon, the oldest accounts and teachings of the Buddha. And not to attack anyones belief in Rebirth, to each their own.
With Metta
