Rebirth as doctrine and experience.

About The Author.  
Francis Story ( Anagarika Sugatananda) was born in England in 1910 and became acquainted with Buddhist teachings early in life. For 25 years he lived in Asian countries-India, Burma, and Sri Lanka-where he deeply studied the Buddhist philosophy of life. With that background and endowed with a keen analytical mind, he produced a considerable body of writings, collected and published in three volumes by the Buddhist Publication Society. At the age of 61 he passed away at a London hospital after a severe case of bone cancer.  
From the time of his early contacts with Buddhism, Francis Story had a special interest in the subject of rebirth, which grew keener during his years in Burma when he encountered cases of individuals who could actually recall their previous lives. He wrote prolifically on the doctrinal side of the Buddhist rebirth teaching and on its correlate, the doctrine of karma. His interest in cases of rebirth memories finally led him to assist Dr. Ian Stevenson in tracing, investigating, and studying such cases in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and India, How fruitful this co-operation proved to be is vividly told in Professor Stevenson's Introduction and documented by the case studies included in this book.  
Dr. Ian Stevenson was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1918 and received his medical training in various institutions in Canada and the united States. He was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Parapsychology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Professor Stevenson has had an almost life-long interest in parapsychology and has been actively engaged in research in this field since 1957, specialising in cases of the rebirth type. He has made numerous field trips to investigate such cases in Asia and other parts of the world. He was frequently accompanied on such trips by Francis Story until the latter's death in 1971. His publications include: Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, Xenoglossy, and three volumes of  Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Vol. I. Ten Cases in India; Vol.2. Ten Cases in Sri Lanka; and Vol.3. Fifteen Cases in Thailand, Lebanon and Turkey. These are all published by the University Press of Virgina, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901, U.S.A.  

Contents   

Editor's Preface vii 

INTRODUCTION by Ian Stevenson, M.D. ix 

PART ONE: EssAys on REBIRTH 1 

The Belief in Survival 3 
Rebirth and its Investigation 6 
The Buddhist Concept of Rebirth 13 
What is Reborn? 17 
Rebirth and the Western Thinker 21 
Rebirth, Karma, and Modem Science 37 
Karma as a Factor in Disease 45 
The Karmic Force in the Rebirth Process 49 
The Buddhist Doctrine of Rebirth in Subhuman Realms 52 
Did the Buddha Teach Rebirth? 80 
A Change of Heart 84 
A Question of Terminology 89 
Types of Rebirth Cases 99 
A Case of the Reincarnation Type in Ceylon 102 
Another Case of the Reincarnation Type in Ceylon 116 
The Siamese Sergeant 130 
The Metamorphosis of a Mother 134 
Rebirth or Possession 142
What Happens Between Incarnations 148
The Case for Rebirth 173