Transmigration

The term transmigration, from the Latin transmigrare (to migrate across or over), means to pass from one condition, place, or body to another. Transmigration is usually identified with the Greek word metempsychosis (change of soul), the "transmigration of souls" drawing on the Greek Orphic mysteries. In South Asian religions, transmigration is related to the karmic cycle where one's moral action determines the condition of the soul and the quality of its rebirth. In Hinduism, the cycle of rebirth is eternal unless the soul is liberated (moksha) by knowledge or arduous effort (Yoga). In Buddhism the soul and transmigration are ultimately illusory (maya), being passing emergents from samsara, the eternal, undifferentiated stream of being.

See also KARMA; LIFE AFTER DEATH

ERNEST SIMMONS