[sPncEjF7]

Bohi continues:

Bhava and Rebirth
8. The definition of bhava or becoming (Ven. ~Naa.naviira's 'being') offered in the Suttas dealing expressly with PS is nowhere near as transparent as the former definitions, the reason being that the definition of this term is set against the particular cosmology that underlies the Buddha's Teaching. Nevertheless, the Suttas provide no basis for Ven. ~Naa.naviira's claim that bhava means the puthujjana's taking himself to be a self.
In the suttas on PS, when the Buddha defines bhava, he does so merely by enumerating the three types of becoming:
"And what, monks, is becoming? There are these three types of becoming: sense-sphere becoming; fine-material-sphere becoming; immaterial-sphere becoming."
This definition refers to the three planes of existence in the Buddhist cosmos, and the term 'bhava' thus would signify concrete individual existence in one or another of these three planes.


What an interesting spin Bodhi puts on this translation in order to kick his cosmology into place in the Buddha's paticcasamupada!

The Pali terms in question are as follows: hīnāya dhātuyā, majjhimāya dhātuyā, paṇītāya dhātuyā -- Hinaya meaning lowly, majjhimaya meaning middle, and panitaya meaning higher realms. The Buddha is referring to mind states here: the mind of an animal arises due to craving and clinging, and we behave like an animal -- we experience an "animal birth". The mind of a "hungry ghost" arises, and we behave as a hungry ghost -- we experience a "hungry ghost birth".




For illumination as to how bhava functions in the PS series, our most helpful resource is the Bhava Sutta, a short exchange between the Buddha and the Venerable Aananda (AN 3:76/i, 223-24):

...


"Thus, Aananda, kamma is the field, consciousness is the seed, craving the moisture; for beings obstructed by ignorance and fettered to craving, consciousness becomes grounded in a low realm...in a middling realm...in a superior realm. Thus, Aananda, there is the production of re-becoming in the future. It is thus, Aananda, that there is becoming."



Bodhi neglects to mention that there is a nearly identical sutta, AN 3:77, uses the terms “volition” (cetanā) and “aspiration” (patthāna) in place of the word "consciousness" (viññāṇa). Which makes it:



"Thus, Aananda, kamma is the field, consciousness is the seed, craving the moisture; for beings obstructed by ignorance and fettered to craving, volition and aspiration becomes grounded in a low realm...in a middling realm...in a superior realm. Thus, Aananda, there is the production of re-becoming in the future. It is thus, Aananda, that there is becoming."

This in particular accords with the Buddha's teaching of paticcasamuppada in the here-and-now, and also illustrates that the "consciousness" the Buddha refers to in AN 3:76 is ones perceptions in the here-and now, and that these perceptions, under the inflouence of ignorance-induced craving and clinging, become grounded in lower, middle, or higher patterns of mentality, i.e., a mentality that one would associate with teh metaphorical model of an animal or a peta or a deva arises.


But at least he translates the references to the "realms" properly this time. He uses the term "re-becoming, though I have seen another (re-birthist) translation that translates it "further rebirth":

Thus, too, Ananda, karma is the field, consciousness is the seed, craving is the moisture,2 for
the consciousness the volition and the aspiration> of beings, hindered by ignorance and fettered
by craving, that is established in <a low realm> <a middling realm> <a subtle realm>.
Even so, Ananda, there is further rebirth. Even so, Ananda, there is existence.

The Pali goes:

Iti kho Ānanda kammaṁ khettaṁ viññāṇaṁ bījaṁ taṇhā sineho avijjā,nīvaraṇānaṁ sattānaṁ
taṇhā,saṁyojanānaṁ .

Evaṁ āyatiṁ puna-b,bhavâbhinibatti hoti. Evaṁ kho Ānanda bhavo hotî ti.


And our friend Element also provides this word-by-word translation of a similar passage:

Avijjā[ignorance]nīvaraṇānaṃ[hindered] sattānaṃ[beings] taṇhā[craving]saṃyojanānaṃ[fettered] majjhimāya[middling] dhātuyā[element of] viññāṇaṃ[consciousness] patiṭṭhitaṃ[established in] evaṃ[ in this way] āyatiṃ[length of time, future] puna[again]bbhav[becoming]abhi[?] nibbatti[product] hoti.


Bodhi continues:
Clearly, this sutta is offering a succinct statement of the same basic process described more extensively in the usual twelve-factored formula of pa.ticca-samuppaada: When there is avijjaa and ta.nhaa, ignorance and craving, then kamma -- the volitional action of a being -- effects the production of a new existence or 're-becoming in the future' (aayati.m punabbhava) in a realm that corresponds to the qualitative potential of that kamma.


Except the Buddha does not use the word "kamma" in paticcasamuppada at all. But clearly volition comes into play in the nidana of "becoming", and clearly it occurs in the moment: Ones intentions become those we would associate with the metaphorical model of an animal or a peta or a deva, and ones actions reflect that mindset. Thus we experience an "animal birth", a "peta birth", or a "deva birth" in the here and now.



Bodhi continues:
It is for this reason that the Commentaries interpret bhava in the usual PS formula as having two aspects that pertain to two different lives: one aspect called kammabhava, 'kammically active existence', which refers to the kamma with the potential of generating rebirth in one or another of the three realms; the other aspect called upapattibhava, 'rebirth existence', which refers to existence produced in one or another of the three realms. Although such a distinction is not explicitly drawn in the old Suttas, it seems to be implied by such passages as the one just quoted above.


Which means that it is an eisegesis perpetrated to force paticcasamuppada as a reincarnation model that it was clearly not.


More to come...