[Unergerah]

Hi Element,

Could you help clarify what the term jāti means in the Bhaya-bherava Sutta (MN 4), which you've quoted above? Usually, it is argued that jāti refers literally to birth, as in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11), where it is stated:

Idaṃ kho pana, bhikkhave, dukkhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ— jātipi dukkhā, jarāpi dukkhā, byādhipi dukkho, maraṇampi dukkhaṃ, appiyehi sampayogo dukkho, piyehi vippayogo dukkho, yampicchaṃ na labhati tampi dukkhaṃ— saṃkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā.

http://studies.worldtipitaka.org/tip...12/12.2/12.2.1

"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress:[1] Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....011.than.html
To understand what jāti means in connection with the term pubbenivāsā in the context of recalling "past lives" would be of great help in this line of inquiry.

Abhaya