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 ''Pratītyasamutpāda'' (Sanskrit: प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद, Pāli: ''paṭiccasamuppāda''), commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising, is a key doctrine in Buddhism shared by all schools of B ...

''. It is the link between reincarnations. In the

Thai Forest Tradition The Kammaṭṭhāna Forest Tradition of Thailand (from meaning Kammaṭṭhāna, "place of work"), commonly known in the West as the Thai Forest Tradition, is a Parampara, lineage of Theravada Buddhist monasticism. The Thai Forest Traditi ...

, ''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

, ''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?
by

Bhante Vimalaramsi Bhante Vimalaraṁsi (; August 7, 1946 – June 27, 2023) was an American Buddhist monk and Abbot of the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center in Annapolis, Missouri. Biography Born Marvel Mills Logan, Bhante Vimalaramsi studied with Anagarika Munindr ...

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 ''Pratītyasamutpāda'' (Sanskrit: प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद, Pāli: ''paṭiccasamuppāda''), commonly translated as dependent origination, or dependent arising, is a key doctrine in Buddhism shared by all schools of B ...

(dependent origination), which describes samsara, the repeated cycle of our habitual responses to sensory impressions which leads to renewed ''

jāti ''Jāti'' is the term traditionally used to describe a cohesive group of people in the Indian subcontinent, like a caste, sub-caste, clan, tribe, or a religious sect. Each Jāti typically has an association with an occupation, geography or trib ...

'', 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 The bhavachakra (Sanskrit: भवचक्र; Pāli: ''bhavacakka''; Tibetan: སྲིད་པའི་འཁོར་ལོ, Wylie: ''srid pa'i 'khor lo'') or wheel of life is a visual teaching aid and meditation tool symbolically represen ...

'') of Buddhist cosmology. In the

, ''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 ''Shvetashvatara Upanishad'' (, ) is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters.Robert Hume (1921)Shveta ...

, 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.

References

{{Buddhism topics Twelve nidānas Sanskrit words and phrases

In Buddhism

In Hinduism

See also

References