Buddhism holds that rebirth is a reality, and that there is no self that is reborn. Already a fascinating problem at the level of philosophy, some everyday contemporary Cambodians also claim to remember past lives. Based on many years of fieldwork, this talk presents several cases of Cambodians with past-life memories, as well as how those memories affect their current ones. We will also develop a preliminary typology of past-life memory claims. By exploring examples of children, ambitious adults, and elders who have maintained their past-life memories from childhood into old age, this talk will begin to articulate how Cambodians understand the workings of karma across lifetimes, the vital importance of relationships to Buddhist moral progress, and suggests a new way of answering a long-standing concern within Buddhism: what is reborn and what are we? The Cambodian practices, ideas, and emotions associated with past-lives suggest that it is karmic relationships that are reborn; that in a meaningful way, we are each other’s destiny.
Erik Davis studies and teaches about Buddhism, ritual, and the theory of religion. Much of his work focuses on Cambodia, where he lived from 2003-2006 during his initial period of fieldwork. He has written and edited books on Buddhist funeral rituals, temple boundaries (sīmā), and folktales. His current book manuscript, Each Other’s Destiny: Rebirth and Relationship in Cambodian Buddhism, is in press with University of Hawai`i. Davis has served committees and groups focused on Buddhism and Southeast Asia in the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) and the American Academy of Religions (AAR). He is also an active member of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS). Davis completed his undergraduate degree at Macalester College (1996), his master’s at the University of Washington in Seattle (2000), and his doctorate at the University of Chicago Divinity School (2009).