Part 1 - Timing of inake

In that period, at that time, Indrabhuti Gautama raised the following question:

Q. 1. Bhante! When does a soul (when moving on to its next birth) remain without food?

A. 1. Gautama! In the first unit of countable time (samaya), it is sometimes with food and sometimes without it; so in the second unit of countable time; and so again in the third unit; but in the fourth unit, as a rule, it takes food. The same applies to all the (twenty-four) species. Minute forms of life, including those with one organ of sense, take food in the fourth unit of countable time, the rest in the third unit.

Q. 2. Bhante! When does a soul ha[s?] the smallest Intake of food?

A. 2. Gautama! A soul has the smallest intake of food during the first unit of countable time of rebirth and also during the final unit in this world. This holds good of all the species till the Vaimānikas.

Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):

Q/A. 1. When the soul is to be reborn straight In the first unit of time after death, then, it takes food in that very first unit. But when it is to be reborn, not straight, but in a roundabout manner, in the second unit, then the soul remains without food in the first unit and takes food in the second unit. The same holds as between the second and the third units of time. But by the fourth unit of time, no soul remains unborn, and hence none is without food.

Q/A. 2. During the first time unit after rebirth, the intake is the smallest because of the limited physical capacity. So also at the final moment when the capacity for intake is very much contracted. The Prajñāpaṇā Sūtra distinguishes between volitional and automatic intake of food. The reference here is to the latter form of intake.