Bhava
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Bhava
is one of the
is one of the
bhava (T. srid pa སྲིད་པ་; C. you 有) is translated as "becoming," "existence," "process of existence,"[1] etc. Bhava has multiple usages in Buddhism, including:
- as the tenth link of the twelve links of dependent origination.
- in a general sense, as “existence” and hence in some cases as a synonym of saṃsāra[2]
Within the twelve links, bhava arises due to "grasping" (upādāna), and it leads to birth (jāti).
Pali tradition
Within the three realms
The Pali tradition distinguishes between three types of bhava, depending upon which of the three realms the process is occuring in.[1][2]
The three types of bhava in this context are:[1][2]
- sensuous becoming/existence (kāma-bhava), occurs in the desire realm (kāmadhātu)
- fine-material becoming/existence (rūpa-bhava), occurs within the form realm (rūpadhātu)
- immaterial becoming/existence (arūpa-bhava), occurs within the formless realm (arūpadhātu)
Active and passive aspects
The Buddhist Dictionary states:
- The whole process of existence may be divided into two aspects:
- (1) Karma-process (kamma-bhava), i.e., the karmically active side of existence, being the cause of rebirth and consisting in wholesome and unwholesome volitional actions...
- (2) Karma-produced rebirth, or regenerating process [upapatti-bhava], i.e., the karmically passive side of existence consisting in the arising and developing of the karma-produced and therefore morally neutral mental and bodily phenomena of existence.[1]
Peter Harvey states:
- Grasping then leads on to ‘becoming’ (bhava), that is, a particular kind of character or nature that is crystallizing into a certain mode of being. The Theravdin Abhidhamma explains this as having two aspects:
- ‘karma-becoming’, that is, karmically fruitful and harmful volitions, and
- ‘resultant-becoming’, existence in some world as a result of grasping and karma (Vibh.137). Such a world is primarily meant as a new rebirth but, arguably, it can also be seen as applying to a ‘world’ in this life, that is, a developed identity or a situation one finds oneself in as a result of one’s grasping and actions.[3]
Sanskrit tradition
The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism states:
- According to the Abhidharmakośabhāsya and Mahayana sources, the word bhava as the tenth link in the chain of dependent origination is a case of ascribing the name of the result (“becoming” reborn) to its cause (the most intense moment of upādāna attraction that fully ripens the volitional action in the instant prior to rebirth). The term is also used in a more general sense as “existence” and hence in some cases as a synonym of saṃsāra. (See bhavacakra).
- In Tibetan, the translation of the term, srid, also denotes the secular realm, as opposed to the religious realm (chos).[2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Nyanatiloka Thera 2019, s.v. bhava.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. bhava.
- ↑ Harvey 2013, s.v. Chapter 3, section "The Second True Reality for the Spiritually Ennobled.
Sources
Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University
Harvey, Peter (2013), An Introduction to Buddhism (Second ed.), Cambridge University Press- Nyanatiloka Thera (2019), Nyanaponika Thera, ed., Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Pariyatti Publishing
