The First Citta in Life - Rupa also caused by kammas

At the first moment of our life kamma produces the patisandhi-citta and then rūpa has to arise at the same time. One may wonder what the cause is of the rūpa arising at the first moment of life. We see that people are born with different bodily features: some are strong, some are weak, some are handicapped from birth. This must have a cause. It is kamma which causes both nāma and rūpa to be born. 

 

Could the rūpa which we call 'dead matter' and the rūpa we call 'plant' be

produced by kamma? A plant is not 'born' because a plant cannot perform

good and bad deeds; it has no kamma that could cause its birth. Temperature

is the condition for the life of a plant. As regards human beings, kamma

produces rūpa at the moment the patisandhi-citta arises. There couldn’t be

life if kamma did not produce rūpa from the first moment of life. There are

four factors which produce different rūpas of the body. As we have seen

kamma is one factor. The other factors are: citta, temperature and nutrition.

Kamma produces rupa at the moment the patisandhi-citta arises and after

that the other factors also start to produce rūpas. Temperature produces

rūpa; if there were not the right temperature the new life could not develop.

Temperature produces rūpa throughout our life. As soon as the patisandhi-

citta has fallen away, at the moment the next citta arises, citta too starts to

produce rūpa, and it produces rūpa throughout our life. Furthermore, nutrition

produces rūpa so that the body can grow. It produces rūpa throughout our

life. Thus we see that there are four factors which produce rūpas of the body.

As regards rūpas which are not of the body but rūpas outside, such as rūpas

in dead matter or in plants, these are produced solely by temperature.

  Kamma produces rūpa not only at the first moment of life but throughout our life. Kamma does not only produce the vipākacittas which experience pleasant and unpleasant objects through the sense-doors, it also produces throughout our life the rūpas which can function as the sense-doors through which these objects are received. Could we for instance create our own eyesense? It could not be produced by temperature, only by kamma. Transplantation of the eye cannot be successful unless kamma produces eyesense in the body of the receiver.