諸經要集 8.11

8.11

Also, in the Antarābhava-sūtra, the Buddha asked Maitreya: 'From the time an infant of Jambudvīpa falls to the ground upon birth until the age of three, how much milk does it drink in its mother's embrace?' Maitreya answered: 'It drinks one hundred and eighty hu of milk, excluding the four parts of nourishment taken within the mother's womb. An infant of Pūrvavideha, from falling to the ground upon birth until the age of three, drinks one thousand eight hundred hu of milk. An infant of Aparagodānīya, from falling to the ground upon birth until the age of three, drinks eight hundred and eighty hu of milk. In Uttarakuru, when an infant falls to the ground upon birth, it is placed beside the road, where passersby offer their fingers to suck, and in seven days it becomes an adult; in that land there is no milk. Sentient beings in the intermediate state drink and draw upon the wind.' (Ancient measures used a small sheng; compared to today's Tang sheng, one sheng corresponds to three old sheng, which is why the volume of milk seems large).