does not exist (was "reincarnation")

[Jeff Dalton <jeff%aiva.edinburgh.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK>]

> Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 19:25:17 EDT
> From: Madurai S. Srirma <osu-eddie!msriram@GAFFA.MIT.EDU>
> 
> In an earlier posting someone pointed out that reincarnation is not a
> particularly esoteric belief, since it is the fundamental tenet of
> Buddhism which is practiced by millions of people.  To this I would
> like to add that it is also one of the most fundamental ideas of
> Hinduism, a religion which is believed by many to be about 3000 years
> old and is practised by some 750 million people.  The basic belief is
> that the soul is imperishable, [...]

Don't some verieties at least of Buddhism have a doctrine of anatman,
namely that the soul (atman) does not exist?  An obvious question would
then be: what is it that is reincarnated?  But this question tends not
to lead to enlightenment...

Anyway, when considering Kate the question is surely whether reincarnation
is esoteric for Kate, who is appropriating the notion from outside, not
whether it is esoteric for practicing Buddhists.