法苑珠林 67.40

67.40

Eighteenth, there are also sentient beings who have no sons from birth to old age, standing alone and solitary. What transgression caused this? The Buddha said: In their past lives, being violent and evil, they did not believe in transgression and blessing. When the hundred birds were nesting and breeding, they took bottles and vessels and followed the islets of large waters to seek and collect the eggs of swans, cranes, parrots, geese, and various birds, carrying them back to boil and eat them. The birds, having lost their young, cried in grief and shrieked until blood flowed from their eyes. Therefore, they incurred this retribution.