Esoteric Theravada by Kate Crosby

Author:Kate Crosby [Crosby, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2020-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

The garbha [fetus] is made up of the four elements (prabhava, bhūta)—namely, wind, fire, earth, and water—and six types of nourishment (rasa). These are also constituents of maternal blood, paternal semen, food, and one’s own deeds, which in turn contribute the components of the garbha. Contributions from karma and the parents thus have a physical basis.23

In the Caraka Saṃhitā the physical components of the body are divided according to whether they come from the mother or the father. There is a general tendency for bloody and softer components such as the flesh, fat, and heart to come from the mother, and harder substances, such as nails, teeth, and bones, to come from the father,24 a division also found throughout borān kammaṭṭhāna. The heart is the place where the fetus experiences feelings. Its heart is linked to the mother’s heart. Nutrients pass from the mother’s heart to the fetus’s heart through connecting channels.25

The three doṣa/dosa (Sanskrit/Pali) are further associated with three strands or qualities, guṇa, that make up the material realm: suddha “pure,” rajas “impulsive,” and tamas “lethargic.”26 The Caraka Saṃhitā understands that the character of the fetus and future child relate to the relative predominance of each of these. It also equates the character of the fetus with different cosmological realms. Fetuses in which the pure (suddha) quality predominates are equated with different deities, and the character of the child-to-be will match the qualities of the relevant gods. The Brahmā-god fetus will be truthful and wise, the Indra type powerful, et cetera.27 Buddhism similarly equates different mental states, based on the three roots of akusala (greed, hatred, and delusion) and the three roots of the beautiful mental states (non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion), which are present in such meditative attainments as the jhāna, with different cosmological realms.28 Both traditional medicine and Buddhism therefore correlate the character of an individual with their constitution and with cosmological realms.

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