Hello all,
How does Buddhist theory on reincarnation account for the population expanding? Let’s say that at one time, way back in the day, humans numbered 100,000. Now we number in the billions. Assuming that the 100,000 original souls keep transferring from life to life, where do the rest of us get our souls?
Awww, this one’s easy. I mean, I’m an atheist and I thik the idea of reincarnation is silly. But animals can be reincarnated as people…which would indicate that fewer and fewer people have been people before, probably explaining why the 20th century was so awful.
Every living thing can ascend to nirvana. So they must have a soul, as pointed out earlier.
Btw, lemur- great reference to the 20th century!
Hello Barbello, and welcome to the SDMB!
In addition, don’t forget that there are several other planes of existence (couldn’t think of a better way of phrasing it on the fly) that are inhabited by ‘souls’ (for lack of a better word, while I try and swat that fly). I think there are seven kingdoms all together, depending on how you divide it up. There is the human realm (the existence most likely to lead to enlightenment) the God-realm (a close second to being a human, actually) the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, the… the… not-so-bad-hell or something - you get the point. So many of the spirits (not the best substitution of ‘soul’, but it does the trick) that have ‘ascended’ to be born as a person could have existed in many different forms long before the physically present (i.e. normally observable to you and me).
Sound too kooky? Well then, consider another possibility - Though it seems that there are a lot of people running about today, the number dwarfs in comparison to the number of, say, maggots out there. So, you could easily lower the maggot population by four or five billion, and the math adds up. Considering the number of extinctions that man has caused, it isn’t too much of a stretch to figure that the total number of ‘life forms’ has remained constant. In fact, going with Lemur’s line of thought that a lot of people are reincarnated maggots, and that is why the 20th century is such a mess might not be such a bad idea. Not that the place is such a mess, but the general spirit of everything is improving. More beings are attaining human form, and that is a good thing, very much in line with the Greater Vehicle.
Lastly, throw everything out the window. See through the illusion of concrete numbers, ephemeral notions of time, and false distinctions between you, I, and it. Poke through the Louts Sutra to get a feel for the abstractions of reality present in a Buddhist’s cosmology and you will begin to understand why your question is not answerable in normal terms.
Makes perfect sense to me…endangered species are supposedly being wiped out at some astronomical rate in the rain forests, oceans, etc. So, all those animals are coming back as Indians, Chinese, etc.
If we assume you can add plants and insects to the mix, you can really get around this problem. I’ve personally killed enough mosquitos to account for most of the world’s population growth in the past decade 
Don’t make the mistake of thinking there is only one theory or doctrine of evolution. Not so. There are many different slants on it. Some permit new souls to emerge, some do not.
Strictly speaking, a theory of re-incarnation need not stipulate that a new soul cannot come into being. It only needs to embrace the notion of a soul having more than one physical or corporeal life - same wine, different pot. In other words, it stipulates your destination (either nirvana or another trip down here) but not necessarily your origin. You COULD be a new soul.
Thanks for all the feedback. I went out yesterday and bought a used copy of the Lotus Sutra, in order to probe a little more deeply. I also realize that to approach it in only concrete, “normal” terms as a mathematical equation is to reduce it in a way that obscures its full meaning. It is nice to get a range of opinions on the subject, and more are welcome! I’m just beginning to explore Buddhism and it’s powerful stuff, as well as being great fun to play with. I never realized how much mythology is involved – all the levels of existence, gods, ghosts, etc. Any further enlightenment on the subject from others would be great…