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According to the Buddhist teachings all beings are subject to Samsara and one can escape Samsara as he finds enlightenment.

But if all beings were ultimately to be reborn, with exception of those that reached enlightenment, wouldn't that mean that there is a finite number of beings, which only decrements?

Jordy van Ekelen
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  • This question can not be answered easily or by the dharma. It is like asking is there a finite amount of stars in the universe. If it could be answered it would not be buddhism that answers these kinds of questions. – Thien Sep 10 '14 at 20:23
  • I think it's a very elementary question which is only concluding that what is taught, and in my opinion it is certainly up to Buddhism to answer, as it comes forth out the Buddhist philosophy itself. – Jordy van Ekelen Sep 10 '14 at 20:31
  • The questions seems irrerelevent in the way of cesassion of suffering. – nothingness Mar 29 '15 at 10:06

4 Answers4

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Learning mathematics, I was warned to beware of logic based on an informal or naive definition of infinity (it is tricky and error-prone, see for example Zeno's paradoxes).

According to Wikipedia, 4th century BCE Jain mathematicians distinguished between "uncountable" and "infinite" (see ref and ref and ref) but I'm not sure that other (Buddhist) literature/authors supported a similar, specific, precise, or modern meaning of the word "infinity".

Some of The unanswered questions are questions about infinity: including whether the world is infinitely large, and whether it's eternal.

If these two questions were unanswered for good reason, then perhaps your question should be too.

ChrisW
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  • Yes, that's very true and I am familiar with Zeno's paradox. Though I am talking about finite rather than infinite. It's very hard, maybe impossible to answer, but as it was not listed in any of the unanswered questions, the Buddha might have spoken about it. – Jordy van Ekelen Sep 11 '14 at 10:29
  • https://www.google.com/search?q=buddha+"countless+beings" returns results but I'm not sure whether that's helpful: a) whether 'countless' means 'infinite' in that context b) whether the Buddha said it or whether it's a later addition c) whether it's a useful Q+A to consider, compared for example with some of the other things which the Buddha is (more clearly, perhaps more importantly) known to have said. – ChrisW Sep 11 '14 at 10:52
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    It seems the Buddha indeed mentioned countless beings as in "How can I care about countless beings" - I find 'countless' really multi interpretable, but let's leave it at there as it becomes very subjective when it comes to interpretation ;) – Jordy van Ekelen Sep 11 '14 at 15:13
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According to Buddhism there are infinite number of beings. The number of Buddhas are like the grains of the sand in the banks of the Ganges. (Infiniti literally. ) The enlightened beings during a Buddha Sasana in also very large.

Because there are infinite being though and infinite of beings have crossed don't reduce the number of beings.

Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
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I am aware that the question posted is an imponderable and one among the unanswered questions by the Buddha, and doesn't help alleviate my suffering in samsara.

But just to give my thoughts on this, I seem to gravitate towards the notion of "infinite beings", because this universe seems infinitely huge. And only an infinite universe can host either finite or infinite number of beings, and latter is my bet. Not implying that the universe exists only because sentient beings live in it though.

Be that as it may, we will never decipher certain mysteries that lie behind the thicket of veil of ignorance, without rooting it out of our mind and reaching enlightenment. Peace.

Iowa
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According to zen attitude: one could say there are no beings, and also everything is being, and neither are there no beings or everything is being.

This is uncertainty. When one says something with certainty, there is only one side of the subject. The universe if 96% dark matter and energy of which we have no conceptual understanding except to know it exists. How can we speak of certainties.

If we must have confession, I am guilty of trying to make things certain too often.

None of what I said may be true. Or all of it. Or neither of these. Uncertainty is harder to live with than certainty.

soulsings
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