Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo

40 Rebirth and the Western Buddhist
cannot be produced from material causes alone. Losang
Gyatso gives two arguments, both invalidated by scientific
observation.
(a) The theory asserts that the substantial cause of the
external body of a womb-born being is semen from the
father and blood from the mother. Sometimes a misleading
impression of modernity is given by translating
"semen and blood" as "sperm and egg," but it should be
remembered that Tibetans had no idea of the existence of
these microscopic germ cells, let alone of how each one
holds enough genetic information to fill a whole library of
books, as is now well-established by a multitude of
observations. Thus it is purely from ignorance of the
processes of reproduction that Losang Gyatso is led to
argue that the mere combination of semen and blood is
insufficient to generate the aggregate called a body because
"much semen and blood is seen which even
though combined is unable to generate such an aggregate."
(LG 24) This simply does not apply to the formation
of a body from the fusion of germ cells as understood
scientifically, any more than it does to the growth of a
plant body via a seed, which in fact involves a closely
similar process of fusion of male and female germ cells.
(b) The other argument, to which Losang Gyatso attaches
considerable weight, depends on the ancient view
that insects and other small creatures are born "from heat,
moisture, earth, manure and so on" by spontaneous
generation. If there were no need to have the subtle mind
and wind-body from a previous existence present as a
dominant condition, then all sorts of such creatures
would be born in every portion of matter all the time,
because the only cause necessary would be the presence
of matter (LG 28-35, 56-61).
There'd be no portion of earth and so on
In which beings would not be born
Of heat and moisture and the rest. 75