In the Kalama sūtra it is recorded that the Buddha clearly asked his followers to not believe things simply because he said them or because they are stated in religious texts but because we have experience of them being true.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you
have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is
spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply
because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in
anything simply on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do
not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for
many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you
find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good
and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
- The Buddha

According to some sects of Buddhism we will be reborn in a form of life that accords with the ethical quality of actions committed in this or a previous life. The monotheistic religions affirm the same, limiting the options to heaven or hell.

Some Buddhist sects claim that we can be reborn as a deva, a god, or an animal. Lamas of the Tibetan tradition claim that they can be reborn to become the new Lama, with his past accomplishments and memories intact.

Every Buddhist sect makes different claims about what the Buddha really taught, but the truth of the matter is that the words of the Buddha were written down more than five hundred years after his death, and more importantly after a resurgence in Hindu beliefs. Mukyõhõ declares that these teachings are distorted, inaccurate, outdated and inert.

Mukyõhõ practitioners acknowledge that belief in rebirth/reincarnation is not the Buddha Dharma.

Rebirth/reincarnation is not one of the Four Truths of The Noble One and does not feature in the Eightfold Path of The Noble One or in Meditation practice.

Belief in rebirth/reincarnation is not an essential part of the Buddha Dharma, but the notion is so deeply ingrained in the tradition and the ancient texts that it is one of the ‘givens’ of Buddhist thought and since its truth is universally assumed it is rarely asserted or defended as a dogma.

The idea of rebirth/reincarnation is actually pre-Buddhist and is first encountered in the early Upaniṣads (c.800 B.C.E.). The notion is widespread in Indian religions, which believe in a continuity of the individual from one life to the next.

Quite simply, rebirth/reincarnation is a metaphysical speculation and as such has nothing to do with the pragmatic point of view of Buddha Dharma.

Metaphysical concepts only serve to separate us from the rich intimate experience of this moment right now.

Fixed spiritual beliefs and concepts bring comfort. They are seductive. They bring false security. We trade our possibility of experiencing reality directly for a familiar, accepted, and unquestioned filter that is projected onto reality. These masterful creations of the mind - heavens, hells, spirits, rebirth, demons, goblins, angels etc. - are attachments, they cloud and colour our own experience. They become accepted representations of truth, of reality. Interestingly, those who are able to drop these concepts, these attachments, are harshly judged by those who willingly and unquestioningly accept them.

We have the potential in each moment to experience life directly, intimately, without any boundaries if we learn to set aside our ideas, our beliefs. Pretending that we know something, without actually experiencing it, deprives us of the intimacy of our true nature.

Buddhism has amassed countless volumes of conceptual elaboration on the most fundamental spiritual truths. Buddhism, which emphasises the importance of direct spiritual experience, often comes replete with centuries of encrusted beliefs that burden the practitioner with a clouded lens through which to interpret the Way. We read of the warnings that one may be reborn into the fires of a hell realm, or be stuck for aeons in a middle realm depending upon one’s “bad” Karma.

Mukyõhõ practice asks that we do not gaze at reality through the cloudy lens of metaphysical concepts. Even within some Buddhist sects there are those who collect teachings the way some people collect antiques and they take comfort and pride in admiring them.

Mukyõhõ asks that we put down all these concepts, throw away our baggage. Remove the boundaries to thinking and insight. Such concepts interfere with our ability to awaken because they give us the mistaken impression that we already know.

Over time Buddhism has lost its fervour, it’s vital essence, to become a fixed and rigid dogma. It has become dead words enshrined in the sutras and worshipped by the followers as the sacred and irrefutable pronouncements of the enlightened of aeons past.

Mukyõhõ is the sharp sword that cuts through conditioned beliefs to reveal the living truth beneath.

Mukyõhõ does not offer beliefs to be collected. Mukyõhõ slashes away at our cherished assumptions and metaphysical beliefs to reveal the root from where these concepts come forth. Once we start questioning accepted beliefs and stories, once we see them for what they are, mere concepts, we have the ability to see through it all.

Awakening is the removal of all these concepts, we do not acquire anything new.