The next link is the link between Upàdàna and bhava or the link between clinging and becoming. Conditioned by clinging becoming arises. The Pàli word for becoming here is Bhava. There can be a ittle confusion here because the word 'Bhava' is used in a different way here than in other places. Here the Pàli texts themselves as well as the Commentaries state that there are two kinds of Bhava, two kinds of becoming. The first is Kamma becoming or Kammabhava and the second is rebirth becoming or in Pàli Upapattibhava. The reason we have two kinds of Bhava here is because of the next link which is between Bhava and Jati. Jati is also rebirth. If we take Bhava as rebirth, then it is the same as saying A conditions A. So we have to take something different. Bhava here means two things Kammabhava and Upapattibhava.

You have heard the word Kamma. So you have guessed that Kammabhava means Kamma. That is correct. Kammabhava or Kamma-becoming means just the good and bad Kamma conditioned by ignorance. If you remember the 12 factors, the second factor is Kamma formations. Kmma formations mean the volition accompanying the wholesome types of consciousness belonging to the mundane world and unwholesome consciousness also. Here Kammabhava means the same volition accompanying the same types of consciousness and just a little bit more.

It is explained in the Commentary. 'It is in brief volition also and states of covetousness etc. associated with the volition and reckoned as Kamma too according as it is said. Herein what is Kamma-process-becoming? Formation of merit, formation of demerit, the formation of the imperturbable either with the small limited plane or with the large exalted plane, that is called Kamma-process-becoming. Also all Kamma that leads to becoming is called Kamma-process-becoming.'

'All Kamma that leads to becoming' here means both volition and the states of covetousness etc. associated with that volition. We learn a new thing here. Formerly we think when we say Kamma, we only mean volition. Volition is Kamma. But here Kamma means volition plus the states of covetousness or the absence of covetousness associated with volition. This is the difference. Kammabhava means volition, the same as the second factor as well as covetousness etc. concomitant with it.

Upapattibhava here just means the resultant aggregates. There are nine Upapattibhavas or becomings like Kamma-becoming, Rupa-becoming and so on.In brief they are just the aggregates generated by Kamma. That means when you do some Kamma here, then as a result of one of these Kammas, you will be reborn in any of the states. At the moment of relinking or at the moment of rebirth there is the relinking consciousness or the rebirth consciousness. Together with the rebirth consciousness generally there are some material properties.They are called the resultant aggregates. Actually Upapattibhava means the different existences - as human beings, as deities, as Brahmas and so on.

Why is Kamma or volition repeated here? Kamma formations are also volition. Kammabhava or Kamma-becoming is also volition. What is the difference? One and the same thing is mentioned twice in this doctrine. What is the first factor? Ignorance. And the second? Kamma formations. What re Kamma formations? They are just Kamma, good or bad Kamma. Conditioned by this good or bad Kamma there is what? Consciousness, resultant consciousness. 'Resultant consciousness' means in the next life the rebirth consciousness, the life-continuum consciousness and death consciousness. Sankhàra or the second link belong to the past life. Consciousness, mind and matter, the six bases and so on belong to the present life. They are different in that the Sankhàras belong to the past life or past time and the Kammabhava or Kamma-becoming belong to the present life or the present time. So they are different with respect to time. That is why they are taken twice in this doctrine. You know this doctrine covers three lives. There is the past, the present and the future. We are still in the present.

Cetanàs as Sankhàras are the conditions in the past life for rebirth in the present life. Here Cetanà as Kamma-becoming is the condition in this life for the future life. That is the difference.

'Alternatively in the former instance in the passage beginning here in what is the formation of merit it is profitable volition of the sense sphere, it ws only volitions that were called 'formations', but here with the words 'all Kamma that leads to becoming' the states associated with the volition are also included. The other difference is that among the Sankhàras, the second factor, only volition is taken. But here as Kammabhava volition and also the states of covetousness etc. are taken. This is the difference between the Sankhàras and this factor Kammmabhava.

'In the former instance it was only such Kamma as is a condition for consciousness that was called formations. But now also that which generates non-percipient becoming is included.' Do you understand that? You know the Sankhàras condition Viññàna, Kamma formations condition rebirth conscioousness. What about mindless beings? Mindless beings are not included in consciousness because they have no consciousness. But here at Kammabhava the cause or the condition for mindless beings is also included. That is the difference. In the Sankhàras the cause or the condition for rebirth as a mindless being is not included, but here it is included. That is one difference.

I think the commentator got wearied. 'But why so many words in the clause, 'with ignorance as condition there are formations only profitable and unprofitable states are expressed as the formation of merit etc., but in the clause with clinging as condition there is becoming profitable, unprofitable and also functional.' It says 'functional'. I want to substitute another word. ' Indeterminate states are expressed because of the inclusion of rebirth process becoming.' That mens among the Sankhàrs there are only Cetanàs or volitions concomitant with profitable or unprofitable or wholesome or unwholesome types of consciousness. But since we take Bhava to be of two kinds here, the Kammabhava and Upapattibhava (rebirth Bhava), Cetanà concomitant with Kusala (wholesome) and Akusala (unwholesome) are taken and also other states. Since we take Bhavas, since we take rebirths, we take also the rebirth consciousness which is neither Kusala nor Akusala. We take also here the indeterminate ones or the indeterminate types of consciousness and also material properties which are always indeterminate or Abyàkata. The difference between these two is that in Sankhàra there are only wholesome and unwholesome states, but here in Bhava there are wholesome states, unwholesome states and also indeterminate states or indeterminate things (consciousness, mental factors and material properties). This is the difference.

This repetition has a purpose in each case. That is why Cetanà or volition is repeated here. We have to understand the difference between Sankhàra and Kamma becoming here. According to this link Clinging conditions both becomings, Kamma becoming as well as rebirth becoming. The direct result of clinging is Kamma becoming. Because of this clinging, because of the four types of clinging we perform different deeds, good deeds or bad deeds. Clinging conditions Kammabhava directly. It also conditions Upapattibhava or rebirth becoming indirectly through Kamma becoming. It is like this: clinging conditions Kamma becoming or just Kamma and Kamma conditions rebirth.

There are four types of clinging and two types of Bhava. How they are conditioned and how is the condition, this is explained in the Commentary. 'Which for which becomes condition means that here the exposition should be known according to what kind of clinging is condition for what kind of becoming.' Four clingings nd two kinds of becoming, so what kind of clinging is condition for what kind of becoming. But what is condition for what here? Any kind is condition for any kind. For the ordinary man is like a mad man. Without considering is this right or not, then aspiring by way of the kinds of clinging to any of the kinds of becoming,he performs any of the kinds of Kamma.' 'Ordinary man' is like a mad man. He may do anything he likes.

'Therefore it should be accepted that all kinds come about through all kinds.' All kinds of becoming come about through all kinds of clinging. It is fortunate that the Commentary gives us some details.

'For example someone thinks in accordance with heresay or false view that sense desires come to be fulfilled in the human world among great warrior families etc. and in the six divine worlds of the sense sphere. Misled by listening to wrong doctrines etc. and imagining by this kamma sense desires will be fulfilled, he performs for the purpose of attaining them acts of bodily misconduct etc. through sense desire clinging. By fulfilling such conduct he is reborn in the states of loss.'

Suppose we hear from someone or we have this view that sense desires come to be fulfilled in human world among the great warrior families (That means among kings etc.) and in the six divine worlds of the sense sphere. We may have heard or we may have read that it is better to be in the world of Devas or in the world of higher human beings because they have all kinds of pleasures that they want. So we have clinging; we want to be reborn there. Let us say we want to be reborn in the world of Devas because there we will have more fulfillment of sense desires. When somebody says that there is much happiness there, we are attached to these existences. So we want to be reborn there. What do we do? Sometimes we may go to a wrong teacher or we may follow a wrong doctrine which say if you want to be reborn as a Deva or as a rich human being, then you need to sacrifice an animal or something like that. If you sacrifice an animal, by this act of sacrificing or giving, you will be reborn as deities. We believe them and with the intention of doing wholesome acts, we really do unwholesome acts, like killing an animal. This killing of the animal, this unwholesome act will not cause us to be reborn in the world of Devas, but in the four woeful states (in hell, in animal kingdom and so on). The desire or clinging to sense desires in the Deva world make us acquire some Kammabhava, make us acquire some Akusala in this case. This Akusala, this unwholesome act is conditioned by our clinging to these sense pleasures in the Deva world.

There are many such false views or such false doctrines. Some people think animals are suffering beings. So if we kill animals we are saving them from suffering. They don't have to suffer a long time when we kill them. Some people say it is by killing them that you can save them. If we believe those people, then we will kill animals with the understanding that we are helping them. Actually we are not helping them. We are killing them and doing what is blameworthy. This is an unwholesome (Akusala) act. It will drag us to the four woeful states instead of taking us to the human or Deva world.

Also there is something like 'mercy killing'. For Buddhists there can be no 'mercy killing'. Even though a person may be suffering much, we have no right to shorten his life. If we ask that person what his wish is, it is the desire to get free from suffering, not to be killed, not to get out of this life although he may say, 'I want to die.' Actually he wants to die in order to get rid of suffering. He may have hope that if he dies he will be reborn somewhere else and get out of this suffering. It is not right to kill or to let people die before the actual time for their dying so that they can be freed from their present suffering. It is just killing. So it should not be done by the followers of the Buddha. We may do whatever we can to diminish suffering for that person or that being, but we have no right to shorten his life even by a minute or by a second.

There is a Burmese lady in Florida. She has a dog. She said that the dog had a stroke. He could not walk well and his eyesight was also impaired. She took the dog to the Veternarian. The Doctor advised her to 'put the dog to sleep'. But as a Buddhist she could not do that. She said 'No.' She took the dog back to the house again. What she did was to call upon the deities to help heal the dog. She also recited Paritta for the dog again and again and again. The dog got better. The dog was walking around and playing when I went there. She said that she could not let them 'put the dog to sleep'. I think that is correct.

This 'mercy killing' is very dangerous with regard to one's own father and mother in suffering. If you do something so that your father or mother dies a little erlier than the appropriate time he or she is to die, then there is the offense of killing one's own mother or one's own father. So it is very important if you follow the teachings of the Buddha not to do anything to shorten their life even though it may seem like it is helping them to get rid of pain or suffering.

Let us say that you kill a person who is in pain because you have compassion for that person. So you kill that person, but you don't know what that person will get in the next life. He may be reborn in hell and get more suffering than the suffering he is having here. So it is never correct or never right to shorten the life of a person even though he may be suffering from intense pain.

Once I and some friends fo mine, all monks, were attending a senior monk who was like our teacher. He was put on a resirator. When the Doctor thought he was hopeless,

he came to us and asked us for permission to remove the aparatus. We said, 'No, we cannot say that.' It would amount to killing our own teacher. So we could not say anything. The aparatus was removed though and the monk died later. So it is very important for monks at such times not to agree to have the aparatus taken away from a patient. It will amount to killing.

These are all false views regarding saving beings. However instead of saving beings, we are doing something bad to them. This is doing something wrong with the understanding that we are doing something good. We may be doing something wrong because we want to be reborn in a better world, in the world of Devas or in the world of Brahmas.

'Or he performs acts of bodily misconduct aspiring to sense desires visible here and now and protecting those he has already acquired. By fulfilling such misconduct he is reborn in the states of loss.' Sometimes you want to get something in this life. You want to get richer or you want to get more of something. So you do something wrong, some misconduct. As a result of that misconduct, you will be reborn in the woeful states.

Sometimes people do misconduct or wrong things because they have clinging or attachment to themselves and also those whom they love. Sometimes the wife mya want the husband to get something for her. If the husband cannot get it lawfully, he may rob or he may kill person and take the thing away and so on. Such things can happen. These are all wrong or misconduct.

In the Jàtakas there is a story. There was a man and a woman. They were very poor. They only had one garment. When there was a festival, the woman wanted to go out in a beautiful dress. Since there was no dress, the husband told her to put on the garment that they had. The woman said, 'I do not want to put on that white garment. I want to wear something with color.' The husband hd no money with which to buy dye. So he went to the king's garden and stole some flowers to make dye out of them. He was caught stealing the flowers. He was impaled, put on the stake. At that time he had a lot of suffering and the crows came and bit him on the eyes and so on. When these crows bit him he said aloud, 'The fact that the crows are biting me is not suffering for me. What is suffering for me is the thought that my wife will not have the opportunity to have the dress she wanted to put on and to enjoy the festival with me. That is the greater suffering for me, greater than the cows coming and biting me.' So such things can happen. It is said that he died and he was reborn in hell. He wanted to make his wife happy, but in doing that he did something wrong and was caught. He died and was reborn in hell. His clinging to his wife and his clinging to his wife's happiness is the condition for his Akusala, for his misconduct, for his stealing. That is Kammabhava. That Kammabhava conditions his next life in hell.

'Another whose knowledge has been intensified by listening to good Dhamma and so on imagines that by this kind of Kamma sense desire will come to be fulfilled. He performs acts of good bodily conduct etc. through sense desire clinging. By fulfilling such bodily conduct he is reborn among deities or human beings.'

This is a happy story. You hear that it is good to be reborn in the realms of the Devas and you are fortunate to have the true doctrine or a true teacher. The teacher may tell you that if you want to be reborn in the Deva world, you should practice Dàna, you should practice keeping precepts, you should practice meditation and so on. So you practice these and you will be reborn in the world of Devas. Your practice of Dàna, Sìla and Bhàvanà is Kamma becoming here. This Kamma becoming here is conditioned or caused by your clinging to the world of Devas. As a result of this Kamma becoming after this life, you will be reborn as Deva. That is Upapattibhava, or Jati becoming, or rebirth becoming. That is the good part of the explanation.

Here also there can be much clinging. People wish for clinging. There are people who aspire to be reborn as a man and a woman, as a husband and wife in the life to come. 'May I be the same husband; may I be the same wife' is their desire. Such things have happened in the past as well as in the present time.

There was a very rich man during the time of the Buddha. In a past life his wife, his son, his daugther-in-law and his slave were all living together. They were very rich. At one time there was a famine in the country. So all the grain was used up. One day the wife brought a small mesure of rice which she had hidden somewhere. She cooked it and divided it into five portions. They were about to eat that rice when a Pacceka Buddha, a silent Buddha came for alms. When the man saw the silent Buddha, he thought, 'It is because that I did not do much good in the past that I meet with this famine. If I eat this food, I will live for one more day. But the next day I will have no food and will die of hunger. Let me die of hunger now. I will offer food to the silent Buddha.' Then he made an aspirtion: 'May I not meet with such famine in Saçsàra. May I be able to fill all my warehouses with grain.' And lastly he aspired: 'May I see the same wife, the same son, the same daughter-in-law and the same slave in the lives to come.'

Then the wife also offered food to the silent Buddha and wished that she may not meet with famine in the future. She also wished that she would have a pot of rice that would not diminish however much rice she took from the pot. Then she made the same aspiration: 'May I meet this man as a husband; may I meet this man as a son;' and so on.

It goes on. The son also offered rice to the silent Buddha. He made an aspiration that he would have a bag of money and however much money he took and gave to people, the money in the bag would not diminish. Also he made the same aspiration that he would have this man as a father, this woman as a mother, this woman as a wife and this man as a slave.

Then his wife also made a resolution something like that. She also made a wish that she would have the same father-in-law, the same mother-in-law and the same slave.

It is very strange. The slave also wished that he would be a slave to this man in every existence. He did not wish for becoming a rich man himself in the future lives. He said, 'May I be his slave in the future lives.'

After that the silent Buddha took the food and went back to where they live in the Himilayas. By their magic power they made themselves to be seen by the five people sharing the food.

After some time the man was hungry and told his wife to find something. Perhaps there was something left in the pot. But the woman had already cleaned the pot and stored it away. However the woman did not say anything to him. She said, 'I will go and see.' When she went to the pot and removed the lid, it was full of rice. So they all ate rice. They died and were reborn as they had asired, as a rich man and so on when the Buddha appeared in the world. The same slave was their slave at that time also. So it is very strange that a slave would not aspire to become a free man or to become a rich man. He wanted to be a slave for that man.

In our country there is a saying about people making aspirations. 'Even though we are born as birds, may we sit on the same branch.' This clinging to life, this clinging to sense desires is very strong. So they always want to be together in this journey through Saçsàra. Sense desire can be the condition for Kusala or Akusala Kammabhava. And Kusala and Akusala Kammabhava can be the condition for rebirth Bhavas or rebirth becoming.

'Another hears or conjectures that sense desires come to still finer perfection in the fine material and inmaterial kinds of becoming and through sense desire clinging he produces the fine material and inmaterial attainments and in virtue of his attainments he is reborn in the fine material or inmaterial Brahma world.'

It is not correct that he hears or conjectures that sense desires come to still finer perfection in the fine material and inmaterial kinds of becoming. Actually there are no sense objects in the worlds of the fine material and inmaterial Brahmas. They do not have nose, tongue and body sensitivity. There is only sight and sound there. But this person may have heard from some other person the wrong information. So he may want to be reborn in the world of Brahmas to enjoy more sensual pleasure. That person practices meditation and gets Jhàna. Then he might be reborn there. His clinging to that world made him practice meditation and get Jhàna which is Kammabhava here. As a result of Kammabhava or in this case Jhàna he is reborn in the world of Brahmas. This is how sense desire clinging conditions becoming.

'Another clings to the annihilationist view thus: this self comes to be entirely cut off when it is cut off in the fortunate states of the sense sphere, or in the fine material or inmaterial kinds of becoming and he performs Kamma to achieve that.' This person has the annihilationist view. That means this person believes everything is cut off at the end of this life. He clings to the view that htis self comes to be entirely cut off when it is cut off in the fortunate states or sense sphere, or fine material sphere, or inmaterial sphere. That means he must be reborn in those states and that would be his last life. He will be cut off from that state. So with that clinging he practices good conduct, or he practices meditation nd gets Jhàna. Therefore he will be reborn in those states. This is the wrong view clinging conditioning becoming.

'Another through self theory clings to things. This self comes to be blissful or free from fever in the becoming in the fortunate states in the sense sphere or in one of the other of the fine material or inmaterial kinds of becoming. He performs kamma to achieve that.' This man has a self theory, the wrong view of self theory. He thinks that the self comes to be blissful or comes to be free of fever in the fortunate states of sense sphere, or in the fine material sphere, or inmaterial sphere. Accordingly he practices meritorious deeds and meditation and he is reborn in those states. That is self theory clinging conditioning becoming.

'Then through rites and ritual clinging - this rite and ritual leads him to the perfect bliss in becoming in the fortunate states of the sense sphere, or in the fine material or inmaterial kinds of becoming.' This person thinks the rites and rituals could be achieved to perfection in the blissful states. So he wants to be reborn there so that he may practice the rites and rituals to perfection. He practices good conduct or meditation and he is reborn in the blissful states of sense sphere, or in the fine material or inmaterial spheres. This is rite and ritual clinging conditioning the Kammabhava or Kamma becoming and also rebirth becoming. This is how clinging conditions different becomings - the Kamma becoming and also the rebirth becoming.

Now their relation - how are they related? There are four clingings and there is Bhava. Clinging is taken as one. Bhavas are taken differently. Clinging is a condition for the fine material existence and inmaterial existence by way of decisive support. Because they belong to different times only decisive support condition can be had. Clinging is the condition for rebirth in the sense sphere world by way of decisive support.

Clinging can be the condition of Kamma becoming which is wholesome by way of decisive support because clinging and wholesome Kammabhava cannot arise together. Clinging is unwholesome and the other is wholesome so they cannot arise together. Therefore they are related by way of decisive support.

Clinging is the condition for Kammabhava which is unwholesome by way of what? Clinging is unwholesome and Kammabhava is unwholesome. So they can arise at the same time. There can be conascence, mutuality, support, association, presence, non-disappearance, root conditions. That is the unwholesome Kammabhava connected with or concomitant with clinging, arising at the same time with clinging. There is some unwholesome Kammabhava that does not arise with clinging. With regard to that there is only one kind of relationship and that is by way of decisive support.

Clinging and becoming can arise at the same time and also they can arise at different times. When they arise at different times, they are related by way of decisive support. When they arise at the same time, then they can be related by way of conascence because they arise together. They may be mutually supporting, and one is dependent on the other. Also they are called associated. So here in this link the conditioning factor and the conditioned factor both arise at the same time and also at different times. We are to understand the relationship between different factors with reference to the teaching in the Patthàna. Sometimes they arise at different times and sometimes they arise at the same time, but one is called the conditioning factor and the other is called the conditioned factor. Let us call them cause and effect. So cause and effect can be simultaneous or they can belong to diffeent times. Each link cannot be explained by cause producing effect only. Some links are linked in that way, the cause producing the effect. Other links re not linked in that way. They just arise together and support or help each other. One is called conditioning and the other is clled conditioned. Sometimes we may find the conditioning nd the conditioned factor at the same time. Sometimes we may not. This is the link between Upàdàna and Bhava or between clinging and becoming.

We have two more links to go. So we will take that up tomorrow. Thank you.

Sàdhu! Sàdhu! Sàdhu!