porpoise wrote:Isn't the idea "I am" actually self-view, one of the fetters ( sakkāya-diṭṭhi )? I'm not clear how you're equating this to "bhava".
Exactly. It is an affirmation of this self view. As I said, bhāva in the PS is pointing out a mistake in understanding.
EDIT - Well not exactly. Sakkāya-diṭṭhi a personality perspective, but even when eliminated there can still be a belief in a self. So not exactly, but yes it is along the same lines in regard to a misinterpretation of experience. I understand sakkāya-diṭṭhi as the character that is played and even though we stop behaving like that character, we still hold a more subtle and fundamental idea that there is a self.
porpoise wrote:Also your interpretation of bhava seems to be contradicted by the way the nidanas are defined in MN9 and SN12.2 ( see my earlier post with sections from SN12.2 ).
Not at all, although I can see that it appears so especially when trying to understand it using the three lives interpretation.
porpoise wrote:"And what is becoming? These three are becomings: sensual becoming, form becoming, & formless becoming. This is called becoming."
"From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress & suffering.
"And what is birth? Whatever birth, taking birth, descent, coming-to-be, coming-forth, appearance of aggregates, & acquisition of [sense] media of the various beings in this or that group of beings, that is called birth.
"Now what is aging and death? Whatever aging, decrepitude, brokenness, graying, wrinkling, decline of life-force, weakening of the faculties of the various beings in this or that group of beings, that is called aging. Whatever deceasing, passing away, breaking up, disappearance, dying, death, completion of time, break up of the aggregates, casting off of the body, interruption in the life faculty of the various beings in this or that group of beings, that is called death."
When experience is seen as ‘being’, there is the thought “I am” or “I exist”. This is the affirmation in the belief in a self. When a self exists, this prompts the identification of where the self came from and where the self is going. In other words, “Where did I come from and where am I going?” First birth is seen as where “I” came from and then aging and death is seen as where “I” am going. Being > Birth > Aging and Death.
So it is due to the thought “I am” that brings about the idea of birth, the idea of death and, in turn, this whole mass of suffering. If there is no idea that “I am” – if a self is no longer identified in experience – then there will be no analysis of the birth and death of the self and no suffering.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3