Hi all,
Ānandajoti has a similar translation: “the pollutant of craving for continued existence”. Animals also want to continue to exist, although probably on a more “subconscious” level than humans. But if you want to discuss the meaning of bhava, this (click) is a better place.
As well as Thanissaro and Ireland.
I agree with Sabbamitta. And the six sense may be left out because unlike with the other senses the enlightened ones don’t feel pain through it anymore. Either way, this seems irrelevant because the discourse says the cessation of existence happens “after this life”, being opposed to the cessation of the defilements which “pertains to the present life”. And you can’t directly perceive “after this life” right now, even if you’re enlightened. That was the point I’m making.
I didn’t say that. I called it a “direct realization” and “knowledge”. ‘Cognitive’ doesn’t just mean ‘intellectual’. So unless you think the Buddha’s knowledge that “there won’t be a next existence” is an intellectual conceiving, I don’t really understand this objection.
Noble ones can have a direct encounter with a temporary cessation of suffering, but that’s not what this perception is about. The cessation of suffering includes the cessation of perception. But Sariputta was still percipient.