In English translations, we often find epithets for nibbāna such as amata and ajāta translated as “the deathless” and “the unborn”, which may be read as an implicit reification of nibbāna.
The most prominent example is perhaps Udāna 8.3:
“Atthi, bhikkhave, ajātaṃ abhūtaṃ akataṃ asaṅkhataṃ. No cetaṃ, bhikkhave, abhavissa ajātaṃ abhūtaṃ akataṃ asaṅkhataṃ, nayidha jātassa bhūtassa katassa saṅkhatassa nissaraṇaṃ paññāyetha. Yasmā ca kho, bhikkhave, atthi ajātaṃ abhūtaṃ akataṃ asaṅkhataṃ, tasmā jātassa bhūtassa katassa saṅkhatassa nissaraṇaṃ paññāyatī”ti.
Bhikkhu Ānandajoti translation:
“There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned. If, monks there were not that unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, you could not know an escape here from the born, become, made, and conditioned. But because there is an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, therefore you do know an escape from the born, become, made, and conditioned.”
Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation is quite similar:
There is, monks, an unborn[1] — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated. If there were not that unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, there would not be the case that escape from the born — become — made — fabricated would be discerned. But precisely because there is an unborn — unbecome — unmade — unfabricated, escape from the born — become — made — fabricated is discerned.
While ajātaṃ may certainly be translated as “the unborn” or “an unborn” perhaps it could also be translated as “not-being-born” and amata as “not-dying”.
A while back, there was a discussion on dhammawheel where tiltbillings suggested using “freedom from birth”, or “freedom from death”. Here is his proposed translation:
“Monks, there is freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning. For, monks if there were not this freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning, then escape from that which is birth, becoming, making, conditioning, would not be known here. But, monks, because there is freedom from birth, freedom from becoming, freedom from making, freedom from conditioning, therefore the escape from that which is birth, becoming, making, conditioning is known.”
More discussion on dhammawheel here.
I haven’t found a discussion regarding this on this forum apart from this post by Bhikkhu Brahmāli where something similar was suggested: