________________
Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
The word 'neuter' means neither man nor woman. This is due to the realisation of physique-making karma of inauspicity and that of the karma of neuter libido which is a form of quasi-passion. They are a class of the conductdeluding karma.
Thus, this aphorism makes it a rule that the infernals and aggultinationals are neuter only by gender. There is not a bit of pleasure due to agreeable words, smell, face. taste and touch desired by the males or females.
The aphorism 2.50 implies that all other types of living beings should have all the three genders except the infernals and agglutinationals. The following aphorism points out some exception where there is no neuter gender at all:
Na Devāh
2.51 The celestial beings are never neuter by gender.
The celestials are never neuter by gender as they experience the extreme pleasure associated with male and female genders due to the realisation of the physique-making karma of auspicious destinity. Their pleasures will be described in chapter 4 later.
The next aphorism indicates as to how many genders or sexes are there in the rest of the living beings:
Sesah-trivedāb
2.52 The rest of the living beings, i.e. other than celestials, infernals and asexuals have all the three libidoes (sexes or genders). 1.Q. There are three genders or libidoes- male, female and neuter. How could they be proved to be existing in the rest of the living beings? A. The three sexes occur due to the realisation of (i) physique-making karma of limbs and minor limbs and (ii) quasi-passion of libido which is a variety of conduct-deluding karma. The libido (veda) is that which is experienced or felt. It is also known as sex. The sex has two varieties- (i) physical and (ii) psychical. The physical sex is formed by the realisation of physique-making karma and it is in the form of uterus and genitals. The psychical sex occurs due to the realisation of karma of quasi-passions.
The female is defined as that being which conceives due to the realisation of karma of feminine libido. The male is defined as that being who produces the children due to the realisation of masculine libido or becomes instrumental in it. The neuter is defined as that being who is devoid of the capacity of the both- the male and the female due to the realisation of the karma of neuter libido.
All these three terms are conventional words also. In case of them, the root-based derivation is for general derivation only as in the case of 'gau' (cow) which moves (from root-gam-to move). If the root-based meaning is taken,
183
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org