# The emperor jailed the pope over reincarnation

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-pope-jailed-over-reincarnation
- Themes: rebirth, power, history, religion
- Life situations: institutional pressure, changing beliefs

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Early-church framing: a pope who held reincarnation is ordered by the emperor to ban it; refusal leads to a year in jail — after which the pope no longer believes in reincarnation.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

Pope V Julius I think his name was and the Pope was really into reincarnation but they Emperor was not and the Emperor told the Pope look ban reincarnation make it anathema and the Pope refused so actually the religious authority at that time was very much into reincarnation and so you know what did the Pope do in those days he put the Pope and then what did the Emperor do the emperor put the Pope in jail for one year and after one year in jail the Pope said I don't believe in re

## Teaching point

Power can rewrite doctrine faster than argument.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

In Ajahn Brahm's telling, an emperor jailed a pope for a year until he stopped believing in reincarnation, and politics, not faith, removed rebirth from Western teaching. He also met a young man studied for past-life memories who was teased for years about his 'wife'. Hold views humbly and never mock someone's experience.

## Source

- [Hard Questions To A Soft Teacher (1/2) | Ajahn Brahm & Venerable Canda | 27-06-2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6vs0bptc9g) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:36:18 to 1:37:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6vs0bptc9g&t=5778s