Rebirth in Buddhism is the doctrine that the evolving
consciousness (Pali:
samvattanika-viññana) or stream of consciousness (Pali:
viññana-sotam, Sanskrit:
vijñana-srotam, vijñana-santana, or
citta-santana) upon death (or "the dissolution of the aggregates" (P.
khandhas, S.
skandhas)), becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new aggregation. The consciousness in the new person is neither identical nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream.