Reincarnation, Rebirth, Transmigration Sumitra Phoenix Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (by creative work and dissertation) December 2016 Victorian College of the Arts University of Melbourne 1 Thesis Reincarnation, rebirth, transmigration This thesis sought to examine the common elements in reincarnation beliefs, as encountered in stories from world religions and cultures, in scholarly literature and studies, in films made from 1990 to 2010, and in the lived experiences of thirty yoga practitioners over the past fifty years. It then sought to incorporate these recurring themes into the screenplay and the final production of an engaging, hand drawn, narrative, animated film. Abstract To achieve the aims of the thesis, interviews were conducted with 33 participants, all of whom had practised yoga or meditation. After analysing these interviews, six main themes were identified. Participants talked of how they remembered past lives in meditation, dreams, and visions. They mentioned that visiting a particular place sparked memories of having been there in another era. They revealed relationships with friends and family that continued through different lifetimes. Many of them remembered a moment of death, particularly if the death was violent. Most of them had these experiences within a year of beginning an intense practice of yoga or meditation. Finally, participants were asked about authenticity, and whether these stories could be verified. From the themes identified in the interviews, a narrative screenplay was written. From this screenplay, a 14 minute animation was developed with added music which was specially composed for this film. The animation is entitled ‘The Reincarnation of Pearl and Carly.’ In addition, a representative sample of international films completed since 1990 were analysed by applying the six themes arising from the interviews to explore the universality of the themes as expressed in this medium . 2 Declaration This is to certify that (i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) the thesis is 70,275 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices, as approved by the Research Higher Degrees Committee. Acknowledgements Many thanks to my supervisors: Professor Alun Jackson, who supervised my dissertation. Paul Fletcher, who supervised my creative work. Thank you to everyone who told me their stories. 3 Table of Contents Thesis ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Declaration ................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 4 Conceptual Map of the Practice-Based PhD .............................................................................. 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 8 Literature review ...................................................................................................................... 10 Conceptual and Empirical Studies of Reincarnation ........................................................... 10 Psychological approaches .................................................................................................... 10 Carl Jung .......................................................................................................................... 10 Ian Stevenson ................................................................................................................... 12 Spiritual approaches ............................................................................................................. 16 The Dalai Lama................................................................................................................ 16 Paramahansa Yogananda ................................................................................................. 18 Religious approaches ........................................................................................................... 18 Rabbi Yonassan Gershom ................................................................................................ 18 Method ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 22 Method - Literature and Film reviews ................................................................................. 23 Method – Film Analysis....................................................................................................... 23 Method – Interviews ............................................................................................................ 24 Analysis of interviews.............................................................................................................. 26 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 26 Stories highlighting the six main themes ............................................................................. 27 1. Ways of Remembering .................................................................................................... 27 2. The Significance of Place ................................................................................................ 31 3. Connections...................................................................................................................... 33 4. Transition ......................................................................................................................... 37 5. Spiritual Practices ............................................................................................................ 40 4 6. Authenticity...................................................................................................................... 42 Analysis of Films ..................................................................................................................... 45 Themes ................................................................................................................................. 45 Individual Film Analysis.......................................................................................................... 47 Belladonna ........................................................................................................................... 47 Ten Canoes........................................................................................................................... 53 Dean Spanley ....................................................................................................................... 56 Birth ..................................................................................................................................... 61 Dead Again .......................................................................................................................... 65 Fluke .................................................................................................................................... 71 The Fountain ........................................................................................................................ 76 What dreams may come ....................................................................................................... 81 Youth without Youth ........................................................................................................... 86 Pan’s Labyrinth .................................................................................................................... 89 Le Quattro Volte .................................................................................................................. 97 Don’t Die without Telling me where you are going .......................................................... 100 Samsara .............................................................................................................................. 105 Valley of Flowers ............................................................................................................... 110 Uncle Boonmee who can remember his past lives ............................................................ 118 Ab Ke Baras ....................................................................................................................... 121 The Cave of the Yellow Dog ............................................................................................. 125 Reincarnation (Rhinne) ...................................................................................................... 127 Oan Hon ............................................................................................................................