|
<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: Dhamma and Science > Origin of Life > Human Life – A Mental Base (Gandhabba) and a Material Base (Cell) |
July 15, 2019; revised July 16, 2019; rewritten November 30, 2024
A living cell is the basis of a physical body. The mental aspects come from the manomaya kāya or gandhabba.
Current Scientific Understanding of Human Birth
1. Science assumes that life is only associated with a physical body, and when the physical body dies, that is the end of the story. This is what we called “uccheda diṭṭhi” in the post, “Sakkāya Diṭṭhi – Getting Rid of Deeper Wrong Views.” The following is a summary of the current scientific understanding of the beginning of human life.
▪During the mother’s menstrual cycle, one egg (ovum) is usually released from an ovary and is swept into the funnel-shaped end of one of the fallopian tubes.
▪After intercourse with the father, If a sperm penetrates the egg there, fertilization results, and the fertilized egg (zygote) moves down the fallopian tube and ends up in the uterus. This zygote divides into two cells, those two to four cells, etc. (eventually to a fetus with all body parts within a few months).
▪This collection of cells enters the uterus in 3 to 5 days. In the uterus, the cells multiply by continuous cell division, becoming a ball of cells called a blastocyst. Inside the uterus, the blastocyst attaches to its wall, developing into an embryo attached to the placenta and surrounded by fluid-filled membranes; see WebLink: merchmanuals.com: Stages of Development of the Fetus.
▪This cell division causes the baby to grow (first inside and then outside the womb) into a full-grown human with trillions of cells. That first cell (which could not even be seen with the naked eye) has eventually multiplied into a mass of trillions of cells in a grown human!
How/When Does an Inert Zygote Become Alive?
2. A key question is: When and how does an inert fertilized egg (zygote) become conscious? When does it become a human being? How can an inert single cell turn “alive” and start to grow into a baby within a couple of days?
▪This “time of conception” varies widely based on personal and religious beliefs, but none can say how/when that cell turns “alive.”
▪Some people believe life starts at the moment of the merger of the egg and sperm (to form the zygote). On the other hand, some say the actual birth of the baby (i.e., coming out of the womb) is the start of human life! Some others define life as starting when the embryo’s heart starts beating inside the womb. But none can say how and when it becomes “alive.”
▪This confusion disappears when one understands the process described by the Buddha.
▪One needs to understand the concepts of bhava, okkanti, and jāti to know how a human being is conceived in the womb (conception) and is born nine months later.
Buddhist Description of a Human Life – Bhava and Jāti
3. According to the suttās and Abhidhamma in the Tipiṭaka, a new human existence (bhava) does not start in a womb. It starts at the cuti-paṭisandhi moment when the previous bhava ends. For example, if a Deva dies and becomes a human, a human gandhabba (fine mental body) will be formed at the time of death of that Deva; see “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein.”
▪A human bhava can last thousands of years. On the other hand, a physical human body lasts only about 100 years. In between successive births with “human bodies,” the gandhabba (mental body) lives in what is called “para loka.” The para loka co-exists with our human loka, but we cannot see those fine mental bodies of gandhabbā; see “Micchā Diṭṭhi, Gandhabba, and Sotāpanna Stage.”
▪It must be noted that all living beings have a mental body called “manomaya kāya.” Gandhabba is a specific case of a manomaya kāya; see #12 below.
▪That human gandhabba will be pulled into a suitable womb at some point. By “suitable,” it means that the gati (loosely related to character/habits) of the gandhabba must match those of the parents, especially the mother. Gati is a critical concept in Buddha Dhamma that has been ignored for a long time; search for “gati” using the search box on the top right to find about “gati.” A starting post is “The Law of Attraction, Habits, Character (Gati), and Cravings (Āsavās).”
▪Anytime after the egg and sperm are merged to form the zygote, a “matching gandhabba” can descend to the womb and merge with that zygote. The zygote provides the “physical base,” and the gandhabba is the “mental base.” That is how a new human life starts with merging a mental body (gandhabba) with the seed for a physical body (zygote).
4. Therefore, the time of conception is precise in Buddha Dhamma: It happens when the lifeless zygote becomes “alive” with the merging of the gandhabba. That is the time of conception, and it happens very early, generally within a day or two after intercourse.
▪In suttās, this is called “okkanti” (a gandhabba or a paṭisandhi viññāṇa descending to a womb); see “Gandhabba State – Evidence from Tipiṭaka.” When the baby is born, that is jāti.
▪The moral issues involving contraception and abortions are discussed in the post “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception.”
Human Life Starts at the Moment a Gandhabba Merges with a Zygote
5. The inert fertilized egg (zygote) becomes alive with the merging of a gandhabba. Then, the zygote starts growing into a fetus by repeated cell division.
▪The baby’s physical body will also incorporate some features of the mother and father via the zygote; see #1 above. Therefore, the new baby will have a complex mixture of physical characteristics of all three.
▪But the mental characteristics come from the gandhabba. All gati/anusaya/saṁyojana of the baby comes from the gandhabba.
▪All this is discussed in more detail in several posts, including “Ghost in the Machine – Synonym for the Manomaya Kāya?”, “Manomaya Kāya (Gandhabba) and the Physical Body,” and a more technical description in “Cuti-Paṭisandhi – An Abhidhamma Description.”
Salamander Growing Starting with a Single-Cell
6. The following is a real-time, time-lapse video of the growth of a salamander starting with a single cell. It is incredible to see how different body parts emerge as it grows.
▪Of course, such videos for a human baby would not be possible. Yet, it is the exact mechanism.
A Mental Base (Gandhabba) and a Material Base (Cell)
7. A human life (as we experience) requires two essential components: a mental body (gandhabba/paṭisandhi viññāṇa) and a physical body (consisting of cells).
▪A brand new “sentient life” cannot be created. A mental body or gandhabba (in different forms) has existed forever with any existing life form. A “lifestream” has no discernible beginning; it moves among the 31 realms; see “What Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream.”
▪The material/physical body starts with a single cell created by the union of mother and father; that single cell (zygote) multiplies over time, leading to an adult’s body with trillions of cells.
▪As I pointed out towards the end of the previous post (“Origin of Life – There is No Traceable Origin”), a cell is the basic building block of a living physical body. All living things (sentient beings and plants) are made of cells. Each of these cells comes into existence from pre-existing cells! No new cells are produced individually.
▪The first cells on the Earth were created by kammic energy.
No Credible Evidence for the First Cell to have Evolved
8. Many scientists today believe that the “first cell” was created solely with inert matter early in Earth’s history, within 300 million years of its formation.
▪This “first formation time” comes from archeological studies. As new studies find fossilized cells returning to earlier rocks, the time it took to form the “first cell” has now been pushed back within 300 million years of the Earth’s formation!
▪However, a living cell is too complex to be formed via random combinations of inert molecules, no matter how long a time is given. It is not just forming complex molecules of DNA, but those DNA strands have a built-in program for life, just like a computer program written to accomplish a specific task. That is why “creationist scientists” propose that a Creator God did that; see Ref. 4 and Ref. 5 in “Origin of Life – There is No Traceable Origin.” Of course, that assumption is unnecessary in Buddha’s explanation; the “programming” is done via Paṭicca Samuppāda.
▪Random re-arrangement of inert molecules CAN NOT lead to forming a “programmed cell.”
All Life on Earth is Made of Cells
9. All life we see (whether sentient or not) is made of cells. To be more precise, human and animal bodies — and plants — are made of cells.
▪Some of them (plants) are not conscious, i.e., they do not have a mind. Humans and animals are also made of cells, but they have a mind, too.
▪Everything in this world is made of suddhaṭṭhaka (meaning it has eight elements.) Four (pathavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo) arise due to avijjā, and the other four (vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja) due to taṇhā. For example, a rock would not have significant vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja, or vāyo components. On the other hand, sugar would have a lot of rasa components to provide a sweet taste.
▪The primary building block of a sentient being is the hadaya vatthu, which is also a suddhaṭṭhaka. See “The Origin of Matter – Suddhaṭṭhaka.” For example, a human hadaya vatthu would have a significant rasa component matching that of sugar. That is why humans get the “sweet taste of sugar,” which is really a saññā. On the other hand, the hadaya vatthu of a cow would also have a rasa component, but that would match the rasa component in the grass! We will discuss this fascinating subject to understand the origin of the “distorted saññā.”
10. We must realize that being alive and conscious are two different things. Plants are alive but cannot think: plant cells perform “pre-programmed” functions mechanically. On the other hand, humans and animals are also made up of cells, but an additional entity is associated with them: gandhabba, or manomaya kāya! (“manomaya kāya” means “a body made by the mind.”)
▪Brahmās have only a manomaya kāya; they don’t have a physical body made of cells.
▪A manomaya kāya of a human or an animal is called a gandhabba because it can inhale aroma — gandhabba comes from “gandha” + “abba” or “taking in aroma or scents” –, and become dense; see, “Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) and Manomaya Kāya.”)
▪Incredibly, even plant cells are very active, buzzing with activity. All cells are programmed for various functions; different types of cells are programmed to carry out specific tasks. We do not want to get too involved in this exciting topic because it can distract from learning Dhamma and following the Noble Eightfold Path.
▪However, having at least a rough idea about the complexities of life can motivate one to learn more about Buddha Dhamma.
Complex Structure of a Cell
11. The following video explains the current status of understanding cells.
WebLink: Youtube: Organelles of the Cell
▪Note that a plant cell is 10-100 micrometers long, and an animal cell is 10-30 micrometers long. For comparison, a human hair is approximately 70 micrometers.
▪I hope you can realize how impossible it would be to start with just atoms and molecules jostling around and end up with a “working complex factory” inside such a miniature cell.
▪That is why “creationist scientists” propose that a Creator God did that; see Ref. 4 and Ref. 5 in “Origin of Life – There is No Traceable Origin.” Please re-read that post to fully understand the importance of focusing on the origin of the “first cell.”
▪I will get to more relevant aspects in the next post, “Clarification of “Clarification of “Mental Body” and “Physical Body” – Different Types of “Kāya””
12. Energy for ALL cells comes from Solar energy. Plant cells first convert Solar energy to forms of energy that can be used by animal cells. Therefore, plant cells play a major role in sustaining human and animal life!
WebLink: Youtube: Introduction to Cells: The Grand Cell Tour