I. Introduction

II. Conception

A. Conditions for entering the womb

B. How a woman fails to conceive

C. How the being enters the womb

III. The composition of the embryo

A. The composition of the embryo: neither the same as nor different from the semen and blood

B. Simile of butter and curdled milk

C. Simile of grass, cow dung, jujubes, and curdled milk and worms

D. The functions of the great elements in the embryo and the undesirable consequences of their absence

E. Simile of a sweet heated and blown into a shape like a lotus root

F. Simile of seeds

G. Simile of setting dung on fire with a crystal

IV. Gestation

A. The essential nature of birth is suffering

B. The thirty-eight weeks of gestation

V. The newborn being

A. The sufferings of the newborn being

B. The 80,000 worms and the damage they do to health

VI. The course of life and its sufferings

A. The number of seasons, months, fortnights, and days in a lifetime

B. The number of meals eaten in a lifetime

C. Two types of suffering

1. Internal diseases

2. External suffering

D. The basis of suffering and the impossibility of experiencing pleasure

VII. The benefits of practice for oneself and others

VIII. Conclusion