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Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
Karmically, the death may be defined as the loss of earlier-earned lifespan karma and the birth as the realisation of new life-span karma. The birth may also be defined as the intake of mattergic particles suitable for formation of gross or other bodies homolocalised with the soul spacepoints like milk and water. 5. There are three types of births through which the living beings appear in this world. The first one seems apparent Cārvāka way where spontaneous generation of the living unit takes place. The definition of the first birth does not seem to be very clear, but it indicates accumulation or agglutination of mattergic particles from the upper, lower or oblique surroundings to from the resultant embodiment without any sex involvement Thus, this should be called as a-sexual birth equivalent to the Ayonija (non-uterine) birth of the Vaišeşikas. Should this a-sexuality be involving procreation of the first from of life from the non-living material spontaneously ? If so, it goes against the theory of nondestruction or new creation of embodied soul and cause-effection. In any case, it can not mean the Cārvāka or Aristotlean view. Defining this birth as a way having no fixed place or vagina, does preclude Cārvāka meosis theory but with no internal fertilisation.
There are no details about this birth in literature. However, it has been said later in aphorism 2.35 that the living being with 1-4 senses and even some others with five senses have this type of birth. The sprouting plants and sweatborn beings also come in this category. Thus, all beings observed in faeces, cow-dung, stale foods, rottening matterrs and the like are are called a-sexual by birth in literature.
However, the scienttists have shown that a new species is procreated by any of the processes-(a) vegetative (b) a-sexual and (c) sexual. These
he gradual stages of evolution. The first two processes involve the natural processes of procreation when sex signs are not evolved. They occur under favourable conditions. Both of these, in a way, could be merged into asexual process not involving fusion of nuclei and meosis. They occur only in low level living ones like virus, bacteria or non-flowering plants. The a-sexual birth of this text will, thus involve the first and second type of scientific classification- i.e. vegetative and a-sexual combined including part-henogenesis. This is the birth of some canonical 1-sensed and some 2-sensed only if bacteria etc. are taken as 2-sensed. The current science has, thus, limited the sphere of a-sexual birth to some 1-sensed only. Even the flowering plants and tapeworms (2-sensed) have been observed to have internal or extenal fusion of nuclei- i.e. sexual birth. Even if a-sexual could involve the invisible sexual fertilisation, still the living beings upto 4 sensed could not be includeed in it as even the later Jaina scholars have pointed out the uterine oviparous birth of many 2-4 sensed beings.
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