As long as they are still under the karmic influence, rebirth is the inevitable future for every ordinary being and even for some accomplished meditators. According to Buddhism, death is not the end of life. Your physical body will dissolve into the elements at the time of death. But your mind or consciousness — your true identity — will take rebirth according to what your past karma will ordain for you. The chain of lives will go on through successive deaths and births, until the chain of karmas ceases upon the attainment of buddhahood.

-- Tulku Thondup Rinpoche