諸經要集 20.8

20.8

The Buddha addressed the bhikṣus: 'In wandering through the long night of saṃsāra, the blood shed from your bodies has been exceedingly abundant and innumerable, surpassing the waters of the Ganges and the four great oceans. In the long night, you were once born among elephants, where your ears, noses, heads, tails, and four feet were severed, and the blood was immeasurable; or you received rebirth as horses, camels, donkeys, oxen, and birds and beasts, where your ears, noses, heads, feet, and four limbs were cut off, and the blood was immeasurable; or your bodies decayed and life ended, abandoned in charnel grounds, the pus and blood flowing out in an immeasurable number; or falling into hells, animal realms, and hungry ghosts, your bodies decayed and life ended, and the blood shed was likewise so. Or wandering through the long night of saṃsāra, you lost parents, brothers, sisters, the six classes of kin, and friends, or lost wealth and shed tears for them, exceedingly abundantly and immeasurably, surpassing the waters of the four great oceans.'