Dear Gunnar, Nina, Ole, Chanida and friends,

thanks for the explanation. It is much clearer now. Using "breaking
up of the body" sounds much like "decomposition of the (dead) body"
to me. But, of course, provided the context is made clear, "break up"
can has many meanings, and I agree with Nina that it is not exactly a
bad choice afterall. However, I would like to propose "dissolution of
the aggregate", either as a direct replacement or as a comment. How
does it sound?

As for the term 'purgatory', Nina, I understand that in Catholic
theology hell and purgatory have different meanings. However, I am
treating them as equivalents. Also, in Buddhism, any hell is
purgatory. Since you bring up this point, I will take note of it in
the future.


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, chanida jantrasrisalai wrote:

Yes, as Ole and Nina have explained. "Kaayassa" here does not denote
only "physical body" but "life".

In the Pali canon, the phrase "kaayassa bhedaa" (or "kaayassa bhedaa
param maranaa") is always followed by another phrase indicating
situation of the new life of the person(s) being said. So "kaayassa
bhedaa" does not mean biological decomposing process of the physical
body by micro-organism that takes time. Rather it denotes the
separation of elements that compose what we call "life".