This seems interesting, but I don't understand what Indaka's question is, perhaps because of the poor translation.(1) Indako Ý The Non-Human Indaka
1. At one time the Blessed One was living in Rajagaha on the Indakuta rock, the home of the non-human Indaka.
2. Then the non-human Indaka approached the Blessed One and said this stanza:
The Enlightened Ones say, there is no life in matter.
When there is no strength, how is the body to know?
How is a skeleton formed for him?
And without strength what clings in the womb?
3. First there is the suitable soil. In it there is a swelling
In the swelling rises a lump of flesh.
The lump of flesh becomes a hard mass.
Then major and minor limbs arise in the hard mass.
And hair of the head and body and nails arise.
He is nourished with the eatables and drinks eaten by the mother.
Thus the man gone to the mother's womb is nourished
What Pali words are being used here for "life in matter" and "strength"?
EDIT:
I found an alternate translation.
The alternate translation clarifies a bit by showing what Pali is used, but then, I don't understand the Buddha's response."As the Buddhas say that form is not the soul,
How then does one obtain this body?
From where do one's bones and liver come?
How is one begotten in the womb?
[The Blessed One]:
"First there is the kalala;
From the kalala comes the abbudha;
From the abbuda the pesi is produced;
From the pesi the ghana arises'
From the ghana emerge the limbs,
The head-hair, body-hair, and nails...
...
Wouldn't kalala, abbudha, pesi, and ghana all be "rupa"?