Knowing the Spirit

Chapter Eight: The Belief of the Proponents of Transmigration

Chapter Eight The Belief of the Proponents of Transmigration The belief of the proponents of transmigration concerning the spirit1 — which they also call “the soul”2 —is as follows: First, at the moment of death and the decay and disappearance of the body, the spirit of every being that exists in each body in this material world must be transferred to another elemental body, different and separate from that first body, in the same material dimension of this world. Second, the transfer of that initial spirit to another material body must take place without any delay or interruption. Third, it is necessary that the connection be instantaneous, without any pause or interval of delay or advance, between the time of death of the body of the first being and the time of establishing the existence of the second being with whose body that initial spirit will then become connected. Fourth, the proponents of this belief maintain that there is absolutely no beginning or end to these movements of the spirit, no starting point or limit, no origin and no goal, no purpose or aim. They say that every being must continue throughout eternity in this state of constant transferal from one body to another. Fifth, in the opinion of this group, there is no sense in talking about a Return or any rewards and punishments at a (Day of) Rising. 107 108 Knowing the Spirit They believe that any justice and equity and balancing out of the consequences of actions will take place only in this world, by means of those ongoing transfers (from one body to another). In other words, if a spirit commits a good or bad action in one body, then it will reap the fruits of that action in one or more subsequent bodies. Sixth, the proponents of transmigration are divided into several schools, including the following groups: (a) The school of “replacement”: this group maintains that the transferal of a human spirit after the death and decay of the body is (only) to another human body. They call this the process of “replacement” (naskh).3 (b) The school of “metamorphosis” (into animals): this group claims that the transferal of the human spirit after death is to the bodies of various animals—including higher animals, insects, and others—in accordance with the moral qualities of the good and bad actions of each spirit when it was in a human body. Thus, for example, (the spirits of) greedy individuals may be transferred into ants or pigs, or those of thieves may become mice, crows, and the like. They call this the process of “metamorphosis ” or “zöomorphosis” (maskh). (c) The school of “dissolution”: they are like the preceding group, except that they extend the process of transferal (of human spirits ) to the realm of plants, including trees, herbs, and others. This they call the process of “dissolution” (faskh). (d) The school of “implantation:” this sect shares the opinions of the two preceding groups, with the exception that they extend the transferal of human spirits after death to include as well the whole mineral realm, including rocks, soil, and so on. This is what they call the process of “solidification” (raskh). The late Hajj Mulla Håd¥ Sabzavår¥, in his book the Manz¶mah,4 says (by way of summarizing these four groups affirming tanåsukh): “Replacement, metamorphosis, dissolution, solidification : they are divided according to (transferal into) humans, animals, minerals, and plants.” (e) Still another group are called the “proponents of ascension”: some people consider them a fifth sect among the transmigrationists, while others would include them among those who argue for the process of spiritual perfection. In any case, this group, unlike the preceding four groups, maintain that the The Belief of the Proponents of Transmigration 109 soul’s transferal—or the process of the spirit’s perfection—takes place in an ascending direction, not through any descent (into lower realms of existence). Thus they say: “The vegetal soul is gradually transferred from lower to higher levels of existence until it reaches a body among the lowest animal levels. Then it is gradually transferred in the same way from the lower to the nobler levels of animals until it enters the body of a human being. Likewise the human spirit is transferred after death into heavenly bodies.” Next, keeping in mind the above-mentioned different groups of those who believe in transmigration, we will...