Buddhist: Wait, didn't I die?
Alien: Yes.
Buddhist: Is this the Bardo State?
Alien: No. This is a virtual reality terminal. Your soul was captured and temporarily placed here so I can do my thesis study.
Buddhist: But souls aren't real.
Alien: Yes and no. Souls aren't naturally occurring, but they exist. Do not worry, your religion is absolutely true and correct. You're a simulacra, a copy of the individual. Long ago, an ancient precursor race seeded souls— an artificially forged high density energy matrix— amongst the primitive organisms of the Universe using self-replicating drones. This way, the souls could record the mind-state of their hosts and preserve them from the ravages of entropy and death.
Buddhist: Where are these souls now?
Alien: Most of them float around aimlessly in space. There are entire galaxy sized pools of them all over the cosmos.
Buddhist: But why?
Alien: No one knows for sure. The theory is that the precursors were hoping to unlock the secrets to Resurrection and Immortality. But they couldn't figure out how. Their next best strategy was creating souls and making sure a copy of every sapient being's mind state was saved. They were probably hoping future species could figure out the technology to put these souls into new bodies. But that's harder then anyone expected. Oh we know how to make souls easily enough. I could do it with my 3D printer right now and it'll automatically float away and stick to any soul-less sapient animal in the vicinity.
Buddhist: So no one figured out how to bring back the dead, not even today?
Alien: Not completely, no. Some species figure out how to create robot armies with the souls of the dead. Others figured out how to use souls as computational programs. Some combined many souls together to create god-like beings. Some have actually succeeded in raising the dead in truth, but they were incapable of changing or growing, being forever stuck as what they were at death. My own people only make use of souls for research purposes. In this case, I want to ask you some questions about religion.
Buddhist: Alright. This is fascinating.
Alien: Many would have an existential crisis at this point, but you do not.
Buddhist: I mean, you said it yourself, souls are artificial. And I don't believe in things like eternity, substances, or God. I am not worried. Somewhere, someone inherited the causal conditions of my actions, irrespective of whatever I am now. Besides, mind-forks are not unknown in Buddhism, that is what emanations are after all.
Alien: And being a copy does not bother you?
Buddhist: Should it? I have no original self anyway. There is no abiding self.
Alien: A very wise perspective. Perhaps when we are both resurrected by some far future species, we can share a meal.
Buddhist: I would like that.
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