Chapter 5: On birds

Venue: Rājagṛha.... made the following submission:

Q. 79. Bhante! How are the five-organ aerial beings (birds) born?

A. 79. Gautama! They are born in three ways, viz., from eggs (andaja), with a foetus (potaja) and without mating. For details refer to Jīvābhigama Sutra, till ‘so expansive are the vimānas stated to be that they cannot be crossed through’.

Gāthā;

Mode of birth, tinges, outlook,
Activities, knowledge, yoga, upayoga,
Genesis, span of life, samudghāta,
Descent from heaven, caste and line.

—Bhante: Right you are. It is truly so.

Chapter Five ends.

Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):

Q/A. 79. The compound yoṇi-saṃgraha has two words, viz., yoṇi which is the source of birth and saṃgraha their plurality.

Some birds are bora from eggs, others are born with the foetus and still others are born without mating by the parents.

Those born from eggs and with foetus may be male, female or impotent, but those born without mating by the parents are invariably impotents.

In general, they have six tinges, three outlooks, three types of knowledge and three corresponding ignorances, three activities and three instruments. They hail from all the four species and they go to all the four. Their minimum life-span is less than a muhūrta, and the maximum is an infinitesimal fraction of a palya.

Attention has been given to the dimension of the four vimāṇas, viz., Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta and Aparājita. They are very vast. If a heaven-born covers 850740 18/60 yojanas in a single step and walks incessantly like this for six months, then it is likely that he will see the end of some vimāṇas, but not that of most others.