Conception in the Yogacarabhumi Sastra

[thecowisflying]

The description of conception in the Yogacarabhumi sastra seems a bit weird. It talks about how the bardo body sees its future parents engaging in sex, then if it wishes to be female desire/infactuation for the father arises and it wishes for the mother to leave and vice versa.

Is there further explanation for this? This seems rather strange?

[Sentient Light]

I think you have to consider the cultural context here, and take away any weird western sexual hang-ups that come from Christianity (or even Freud). What this text is saying is simply that craving toward sexuality is the conditional factor that typically results in gender expression. If you think about it from a Taoist perspective--which would not be the context this was written in, but I think it leads to some insight into your query here--it's merely about the balancing of the masculine and feminine aspects. So when a being-to-be is ready to take birth, there are three requirements on top of that being being ready... a male aspect and a female aspect coming into unknown, and the presence of a bhavanga.

The intermediate being will perceive--as a result of previous causes and conditions--a grasping desire toward either the male or female aspects of this union. Whichever is the object of craving, the body of form takes on the opposing nature in order to complement the grasping. (I think, today, we would say that the body of form has a tendency to take on the opposing nature, but not always, in order to account for homosexuality.)

But in essence, this is just saying that craving for sexuality is the immediate/near cause for biological sex (as opposed to the materialist view that biological sex tends to determine sexuality/attraction).

[thecowisflying]

I think you have to consider the cultural context here, and take away any weird western sexual hang-ups that come from Christianity (or even Freud). What this text is saying is simply that craving toward sexuality is the conditional factor that typically results in gender expression. If you think about it from a Taoist perspective--which would not be the context this was written in, but I think it leads to some insight into your query here--it's merely about the balancing of the masculine and feminine aspects. So when a being-to-be is ready to take birth, there are three requirements on top of that being being ready... a male aspect and a female aspect coming into unknown, and the presence of a bhavanga.

The intermediate being will perceive--as a result of previous causes and conditions--a grasping desire toward either the male or female aspects of this union. Whichever is the object of craving, the body of form takes on the opposing nature in order to complement the grasping. (I think, today, we would say that the body of form has a tendency to take on the opposing nature, but not always, in order to account for homosexuality.)

But in essence, this is just saying that craving for sexuality is the immediate/near cause for biological sex (as opposed to the materialist view that biological sex tends to determine sexuality/attraction).

Thanks, that clears everything up!