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**HOTgirlsXXL** · 08-25-2012, 10:43 PM

Deshy is Sri Lankan and I am not sure what these terms mean in Singalese, which has a strong influence on Buddhism.

The term for 'past lives' is 'pubbenivāsā', which literally means 'past homes'.

Nivasa in Sinhala language means home, a house, a place of abiding. It has a definite materialistic meaning in modern usage, which is why I personally don't think "past homes" is a good translation. It may not necessarily reflect how the term might have been used originally in pali, and by the Buddha way before even sankrit came to be leave aside pali.

Personally I prefer translations which use the term "dwelling" since it does not necessarily refer to a past life or a place of abiding but merely a memory of any past incidence - a dwelling.

08-25-2012, 10:43 PM	#21
HOTgirlsXXL Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 347 Senior Member	Deshy is Sri Lankan and I am not sure what these terms mean in Singalese, which has a strong influence on Buddhism. The term for 'past lives' is 'pubbenivāsā', which literally means 'past homes'. Nivasa in Sinhala language means home, a house, a place of abiding. It has a definite materialistic meaning in modern usage, which is why I personally don't think "past homes" is a good translation. It may not necessarily reflect how the term might have been used originally in pali, and by the Buddha way before even sankrit came to be leave aside pali. Personally I prefer translations which use the term "dwelling" since it does not necessarily refer to a past life or a place of abiding but merely a memory of any past incidence - a dwelling.
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