Help with Pali - nābhavissa

Q & A
1

Hello everyone :pray::wave::pray:

I’m pondering on bhava and two suttas in which Buddha explains bhava

https://suttacentral.net/an3.76/pli/ms?layout=linebyline&reference=none&notes=none&highlight=false&script=latin

https://suttacentral.net/an3.77/pli/ms?layout=linebyline&reference=none&notes=none&highlight=false&script=latin
My main question is

What is the meaning and classification of the word nābhavissa
Is it
na + abhavissa - so is it a double negative?
n + ābhavissa - doesn’t seem right or I can’t understand this variant
nā + bhavissa - also seems to be wrong to me

If it’s optative and expresses “potential”, used for any hypothetical action.
Then why it’s not
bhaveyya = “should, would, could be” and what difference bettween

Bhaveyya and bhavissa

Please help clarifying that

Ps And additional question is: may be you can advise some other suttas where I can get deeper understanding of bhava.

Thank you
With metta

2

Hi,
I haven’t looked at your links, but ‘abhavissa’ is the conditional form of bhavati.
Formed with the aorist a augment plus the future tense ‘ss’ termination.
The ‘na’ would negate it.

You can find the conditional explained in any grammar book, Duroiselle, et al.

3

Hi. Thanks

How it should sound in English I can’t connect future and aorist past together.

The best I can get “Will not existed” or kind of “wouldn’t came to existence”

But both sound wrong.

4

“…ānanda, kammaṁ nābhavissa”

“If, Ānanda, there were no deeds…”

A well known instance of ‘bhavati’ in the conditional is found in the Anattalakkhaṇa sutta:

Rūpañca hidaṁ, bhikkhave, attā abhavissa,…
For if, bhikkhus, this form were self,…

5

bhavissa = abhavissa
na + bhavissa = na + abhavissa
na bhavissa = nābhavissa