[fruttomma]

dear sutta students

often, the term 'pubbenivasa' has been noted on this forum as meaning 'past dwellings' or 'past abodes', literally, 'past homes', rather than the commonly used 'past lives'

the term 'pubbenivasa' is found in the following stock phrases & discourses:

So evaṃ samāhite citte parisuddhe pariyodāte anaṅgaṇe vigatūpakkilese mudubhūte kammaniye ṭhite āneñjappatte pubbenivāsānussatiñāṇāya cittaṃ abhininnāmesiṃ. So anekavihitaṃ pubbenivāsaṃ anussarāmi, seyyathidaṃ – ekampi jātiṃ dvepi jātiyo tissopi jātiyo catassopi jātiyo pañcapi jātiyo dasapi jātiyo vīsampi jātiyo tiṃsampi jātiyo cattālīsampi jātiyo paññāsampi jātiyo jātisatampi jātisahassampi jātisatasahassampi

When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two... five, ten... fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand

MN 4 Sāvatthinidānaṃ. ‘‘Ye hi keci, bhikkhave, samaṇā vā brāhmaṇā vā anekavihitaṃ pubbenivāsaṃ anussaramānā anussaranti sabbete pañcupādānakkhandhe anussaranti etesaṃ vā aññataraṃ. Katame pañca? ‘Evaṃrūpo ahosiṃ atītamaddhāna’nti – iti vā hi, bhikkhave, anussaramāno rūpaṃyeva anussarati. ‘Evaṃvedano ahosiṃ atītamaddhāna’nti – iti vā hi, bhikkhave, anussaramāno vedanaṃyeva anussarati. ‘Evaṃsañño ahosiṃ atītamaddhāna’nti… ‘evaṃsaṅkhāro ahosiṃ atītamaddhāna’nti… ‘evaṃviññāṇo ahosiṃ atītamaddhāna’nti – iti vā hi, bhikkhave, anussaramāno viññāṇameva anussarati’’.

At Savatthi. "Monks, any brahmans or contemplatives who recollect their manifold past lives all recollect the five clinging-aggregates, or one among them. Which five? When recollecting, 'I was one with such a form in the past,' one is recollecting just form. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such a feeling in the past,' one is recollecting just feeling. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such a perception in the past,' one is recollecting just perception. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such mental fabrications in the past,' one is recollecting just mental fabrications. Or when recollecting, 'I was one with such a consciousness in the past,' one is recollecting just consciousness.

SN 22.79 the Haliddakani Sutta has been recently pointed out to me. it seems to possibly clear up the meaning of 'pubbenivasa'

regards

Kathañca, gahapati, anokasārī hoti? Rūpadhātuyā kho, gahapati, yo chando yo rāgo yā nandī yā taṇhā ye upayupādānā cetaso adhiṭṭhānābhinivesānusayā te tathāgatassa pahīnā ucchinnamūlā tālāvatthukatā anabhāvaṃkatā anabhāvaṃgatā āyatiṃ anuppādadhammā.

And how does one not live at home? Any desire, passion, delight, craving, any attachments, clingings, fixations of awareness, biases [Bhikkhu Bodhi: 'adherences'] or obsessions with regard to the property of form: these the Tathagata has abandoned, their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. Therefore the Tathagata is said to be not dwelling at home.

SN 22.3 Haliddakani Sutta Nivāsa [fr. nivasati2] stopping, dwelling, resting -- place, abode; living, sheltering J i.115 (˚ŋ kappeti to put up); ii.110; PvA 76, 78. Usually in phrase pubbe -- nivāsaŋ anussarati "to remember one's former abode or place of existence (in a former life)," characterising the faculty of remembering one's former birth D i.13, 15, 16, 81; S i.167, 175, 196; ii.122, 213; v.265, 305; A i.25, 164; ii.183; iii.323, 418 sq.; iv.141 sq.; v.211, 339. Also in pubbenivāsaŋ vedi It 100; Sn 647=Dh 423; p -- n -- paṭisaŋyuttā dhammikathā D ii.1; p -- n -- anussatiñāṇa D iii.110, 220, 275; A iv.177. Cp. nevāsika.

Nivesa [Vedic niveśa, fr. ni+viś] 1. entering, stopping, settling down; house, abode.

Nivesana (nt.) [Vedic niveśana, fr. nivesati, cp. niviṭṭha] 1. entering, entrance, settling; settlement, abode, house, home. -- 2. (fig.) (also nivesanā f.: Nd2 366) settling on, attachment, clinging to (in diṭṭhi˚ clinging to a view=dogmatism cp. nivissa -- vādin)

Abhinivesa [abhi + nivesa, see nivesa2 & cp. nivesana] "settling in", i. e. wishing for, tendency towards , inclination, adherence; as adj. liking, loving, being given or inclined to -- Often combd. with adhiṭṭhāna e. g. S ii.17; Nd2 176, and in phrase idaŋ -- saccɔ âbhinivesa adherence to one's dogmas, as one of the 4 Ties: see kāyagantha and cp. Cpd. 171 n. 5.

Adhiṭṭhāna (nt.) [fr. adhi + sthā] 1. decision, resolution, self -- determination, will. -- 2. mentioned in bad sense with abhinivesa and anusaya, obstinacy, prejudice and bias M i.136; iii.31, 240; S ii.17; iii.10, 135, 194. -- As adj. ( -- ˚) applying oneself to, bent on A iii.363. -- 3. looking after, management, direction, power Miln 309 (devānaŋ); PvA 141 (so read for adhitaṭṭhāna). [adiṭṭhāna as PvA 89, used as explanatory for āvāsa, should perhaps be read adhiṭṭhāna in the sense of fixed, permanent, abode].

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