ABSTRACT
The Way symbolizing man's life in the worlds towards the uttermost goal as a becoming better, more, further, as he willed, as he heeded the inner bidding. But for the Indian, becoming was of the perishable; only Being was divine. The high value of becoming, in Sakya, sank away. And the Sakyan monks transferred the "making-to-become", while it banished the becoming as evil, to the mind, instead of the self. Now "becoming" has been translated "an exercise"; but Visakha is clearly speaking of effect, of fruit, of the result of exercise. Now bhava, by itself, meant for the monk rebirth; not an opportunity for becoming better, but rather an occasion for further ill. But as used in a sanctioned formula, bhava was correct and in place. Bhava-nirodho nibbanam: the stopping of becoming is Nirvana, and the effecting this is named among the chief aims of the holy life.
