(Samsāra) A Sanskrit term referring to the cycle of repeated rebirth, usually translated “transmigration” or “reincarnation.” Its connotation in Hinduism is a kind of aimless wandering — that is to say, there is no implication of evolution, progress, or teleology involved in the concept, as there is in the theosophical teaching about reincarnation. Helena P. Blavatsky, as well as later theosophical writers, rarely use the term samsara, preferring “reincarnation,” “rebirth,” or “metempsychosis.”

R.W.B.

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