Dighanikaya 15.115

15.115

Na okkamissathāti pavisitvā pavattamānaṃ viya paṭisandhivasena na vattissatha. Samuccissathāti paṭisandhiviññāṇe asati api nu kho suddhaṃ avasesaṃ nāmarūpaṃ antomātukucchismiṃ kalalādibhāvena samuccitaṃ missakabhūtaṃ hutvā vattissatha. Okkamitvā vokkamissathāti paṭisandhivasena okkamitvā cutivasena vokkamissatha, nirujjhissathāti attho. So panassa nirodho na tasseva cittassa nirodhena, na tato dutiyatatiyānaṃ nirodhena hoti. Paṭisandhicittena hi saddhiṃ samuṭṭhitāni samatiṃsa kammajarūpāni nibbattanti. Tesu pana ṭhitesuyeva soḷasa bhavaṅgacittāni uppajjitvā nirujjhanti. Etasmiṃ antare gahitapaṭisandhikassa dārakassa vā mātuyā vā panassa antarāyo natthi. Ayañhi anokāso nāma. Sace pana paṭisandhicittena saddhiṃ samuṭṭhitarūpāni sattarasamassa bhavaṅgassa paccayaṃ dātuṃ sakkonti, pavatti pavattati, paveṇī ghaṭiyati. Sace pana na sakkonti, pavatti nappavattati, paveṇī na ghaṭiyati, vokkamati nāma hoti. Taṃ sandhāya ‘‘okkamitvā vokkamissathā’’ti vuttaṃ.

'Would it not descend': would it not proceed by way of rebirth-linking, as though having entered and continuing? 'Would it coagulate': in the absence of rebirth-linking consciousness, would the bare remaining name-and-form indeed proceed, having coagulated and become mixed in the mother's womb in the state of the embryonic drop and so forth? 'Having descended, would it pass away': having descended by way of rebirth-linking, would it pass away by way of decease—it would cease, is the meaning. But that cessation of it does not occur through the cessation of that very consciousness, nor through the cessation of the second or third [cittas] after it. For thirty instances of form born of kamma arise together with the rebirth-linking consciousness. While these are still persisting, sixteen life-continuum consciousnesses arise and cease. During this interval, there is no impediment to the child who has taken rebirth-linking or to its mother. For this is indeed an 'impossibility'. If, however, the forms that arose together with the rebirth-linking consciousness are able to provide a condition for the seventeenth life-continuum, the course proceeds, the continuity is joined. But if they are not able, the course does not proceed, the continuity is not joined, and it is called 'passing away'. With reference to that, it was said: 'Having descended, would it pass away?'