The Sanskrit word ''bhava'' (भव) means being, worldly existence, becoming, birth, be, production, origin,
[Monier Monier-Williams (1898), Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Archive]
भव
, bhava but also habitual or emotional tendencies.
In
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, ''bhava'' is the tenth of the
twelve links of ''
Pratītyasamutpāda''. It is the link between reincarnations.
In the
Thai Forest Tradition, ''bhava'' is also interpreted as the habitual or emotional tendencies which leads to the arising of the sense of self, as a mental phenomenon.
In Buddhism
In
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, ''bhava'' (not ''bhāva'', condition, nature) means being, worldly existence, becoming, birth, be, production, origin
experience,
in the sense of rebirths and redeaths, because a being is so conditioned and propelled by the karmic accumulations;
but also habitual or emotional tendencies.
[What is Habitual Tendencies?](_blank)
by Bhante Vimalaramsi and Sister Khanti-Khema
The term ''bhāva'' (भाव) is rooted in the term ''bhava'' (भव), and also has a double meaning, as emotion, sentiment, state of body or mind, disposition and character, and in some context also means becoming, being, existing, occurring, appearance while connoting the condition thereof.
[Monier Monier-Williams (1899), Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Archive]
भाव
, bhAva
''Bhava'' is the tenth of the
twelve links of
pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination), which describes
samsara, the repeated cycle of our habitual responses to sensory impressions which leads to renewed ''
jāti'', birth. Birth is usually interpreted as rebirth in one of the realms of existence, namely heaven, demi-god, human, animal, hungry ghost or hell realms (''
bhavacakra'') of Buddhist cosmology.
In the
Thai Forest Tradition, ''bhava'' is also interpreted as the habitual or emotional tendencies which leads to the arising of the sense of self, as a mental phenomenon.
In the
Jātakas, in which the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
didactically reminds various followers of experiences they shared with him in a past life, the hearers are said not to remember them due to ''bhava'', i.e. to having been reborn.
[Caroline A.F. Rhys Davids, ''Stories of the Buddha (Being Selections from the Jātakas)'', 1989, Dover Publications, ''Introduction'', pp. xix, also see pp. 2, 6, 11, etc.]
In Hinduism
''Bhava'' appears in the sense of becoming, being, existing, occurring, appearance in the Vedanga literature Srauta Sutras, the Upanishads such as the
Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
and other ancient Hindu texts.
See also
*
Bhava samadhi
*
Rebirth (Buddhism)
Rebirth in Buddhism refers to the teaching that the actions of a sentient being lead to a new existence after death, in an endless cycle called ''saṃsāra''. This cycle is considered to be ''dukkha'', unsatisfactory and painful. The cycle stops ...
*
Twelve Nidanas
References
{{Buddhism topics
Twelve nidānas
Sanskrit words and phrases