Other writers do not take as explicit a route as Robinson does, simply borrowing the concept of reincarnation that lies at the heart of samsara for whatever purpose they deem it suitable – I have seen romance novelists use the concept for their own purposes, usually taking the idea of two lovers whose souls are bound together for the rest of eternity, following and finding each other through each and every incarnation. Some writers use it to explore deeper themes: a good example would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt, which goes so far as to use a specifically Tibetan Buddhist take on the concept for the purposes of the novel. It is also a concept that writers have played with over the years, in various ways and with equally various effects. This is an oversimplification of the concept, I know, but it’s a very good way of describing in broad, general terms what the concept is. One is born, one dies, and then one is reborn again, with the circumstances of one’s rebirth being determined by one’s karma (the quality of one’s actions).
Hinduism (and other, sister religions like Buddhism and Jainism) has an interesting concept: samsara, which is a term used to describe the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that the human soul undergoes.
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