Speaking of reincarnation...

Now I don't literally take claims of reincarnation and souls seriously...(and I think Buddhism's take on it is generally far more sublte than is often presented by critics), but given:

a) the fact that the elements that compose us have been recycled quite a bit - every breath we breathe contains molecules breathed by Caeser or Socrates... and

b) our bodies recycle themselves

it's more of a superstition to see "our bodies" as fixed objects into which a "soul" is poured...

From the above link...

Whatever your age, your body is many years younger. In fact, even if you're middle aged, most of you may be just 10 years old or less.

This heartening truth, which arises from the fact that most of the body's tissues are under constant renewal, has been underlined by a novel method of estimating the age of human cells. Its inventor, Jonas Frisen, believes the average age of all the cells in an adult's body may turn out to be as young as 7 to 10 years.

But Dr. Frisen, a stem cell biologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, has also discovered a fact that explains why people behave their birth age, not the physical age of their cells: a few of the body's cell types endure from birth to death without renewal, and this special minority includes some or all of the cells of the cerebral cortex...

Prevailing belief, by and large, is that the brain does not generate new neurons after its structure is complete, except in two specific regions, the olfactory bulb that mediates the sense of smell, and the hippocampus, where initial memories of faces and places are laid down.

This consensus view was challenged a few years ago by Elizabeth Gould of Princeton, who reported finding new neurons in the cerebral cortex, along with the elegant idea that each day's memories might be recorded in the neurons generated that day.

Dr. Frisen's method will enable all regions of the brain to be dated to see if any new neurons are generated. So far he has tested only cells from the visual cortex. He finds these are exactly the same age as the individual, showing that new neurons are not generated after birth in this region of the cerebral cortex, or at least not in significant numbers. Cells of the cerebellum are slightly younger than those of the cortex, which fits with the idea that the cerebellum continues developing after birth.

So maybe it's just some cells that are "reincarnated" around a new body recycled eveyr 7-10 years.

I don't think about it all that much though...some Tibetans, I understand, hold that
rebirth takes places in fractions of seconds...

But - like hell- I think that there's a point beyond this birth/death dance that's more important...and it's not a "place" we go when we die...

I don't think it was all that important to the historical Buddha anyway- it's simply that the prevailing religion in which he found himself- Hinduism- already had that structure, but "where" he was birth and death were transcended- meaning that they did not become obstacles (factoid: "obstacle" and "diabolic" have the same root words).