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## English Translation:
**68.1** (1) When a piece of the *Prajñāpanā Sūtra* is seen, i.e., its fragments are not uniform, but diverse and jagged, one should understand that each (bodied) being is like the root, tuber, trunk, etc. (2) Where the bark is thinner than the wood (the central core) of the root, tuber, trunk, or branch, one should understand that it is inhabited by many beings. (3) Plants like *Palāṇḍukanda*, *Lahsunakanda*, *Kadalikanda*, and *Kustumba* should all be understood as having many beings within them. All such infinite plants devoid of the characteristics of fossils should be understood as having many beings within them. (4) The stalks (petioles), outer petals, and the basic granules of the leaves of all types of lotuses like *Padma*, *Utpala*, *Nalin*, *Subhaga*, *Saugandhika*, *Araviṇḍa*, *Kokanada*, *Śatapatra*, and *Sahasrapatra* are all inhabited by one being. Their inner leaves, stamens (filaments), and pollen are also inhabited by one being. (5) The axis, nodes, and *balimotaka* (the circular part surrounding the node) of all types of grasses like bamboo, *naḍa*, *ikṣuvaṭikā*, *samāsekṣu*, *ikkaḍa*, *karkara*, *sūṭhi*, *vihaṅgu*, and *dūba*, as well as plants with nodes, are all inhabited by one being. Their leaves are also inhabited by one being. However, their flowers are inhabited by many beings. (6) Each leaf (individually), stalk, calyx, pulp, and seeds with or without filaments of fruits like *pūṣya* and *kāliṅga* are inhabited by one being.
**Can the being of the seed become the being of the root, etc.?**
There are two states of a seed: the *yoni* state and the *ayoni* state. (1) When the seed does not abandon the *yoni* state but is abandoned by the being, then that seed is called *yoni-bhūta*. (2) It cannot be definitively said by a *chhadmastha* (a person who is not a true knower) whether the seed has been abandoned by the being. Therefore, nowadays, the *chetana* (conscious) or *achetana* (unconscious) that is *avidhvasta-yoni* (not destroyed *yoni*) is called *yoni-bhūta*. The *vidhvasta-yoni* (destroyed *yoni*) is regularly *achetana* (unconscious) and is therefore an *ayoni-bhūta* seed. Such a seed is not capable of germinating. The meaning is that *yoni* refers to the place of origin of the being. Only the *avidhvasta-śakti-sampanna* (undestroyed power-possessing) seed is *yoni-bhūta*, and it is in this that the being is born.
**The question is whether the same being from the previous seed is born in such a *yoni-bhūta* seed or whether a different being is born in it?**
The answer is that both possibilities can occur. The meaning is that the being that was in the seed abandoned the seed when its lifespan was exhausted. The seed became lifeless, but if that seed again receives the combined material of water, time, and earth, then perhaps the same previous being is born in that same previous seed, taking on the name and lineage of the root, etc. Sometimes, a new being, like an earth-bodied being, is also born in that seed.
**Characteristics of Ordinary-bodied, Cloud-plant-bodied Beings**
Ordinary plant-bodied beings are born together, their bodies are formed together, they simultaneously take in the *pudgalas* suitable for *prāṇāpāna* (inhalation and exhalation), and they breathe together. The taking in of *pudgalas* for food, etc., by one being is the taking in by many beings (dependent on that body). Similarly, the taking in of *pudgalas* for food, etc., by many beings is also the taking in of *pudgalas* for food, etc., by one being.