476 Chapter Three
of the physical world
1.
of the physical world
1.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-2-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
Its sides are two hundred fifty yojanas.
Such are the adornments of the city itself.
436
5. Ornaments outside of the city are the four Parks: Caitraratha,
Parusyaka, MiSraka, and Nandana, fields of play for the gods.
437
6. At the four sides of these Parks, from a distance of twenty
438 yojanas on, there are four fields of play with a marvellous sun,
delightful and which appears to rival them.
7. The magnolia tree called Parijataka is, for the Thirty-three
439
Gods, the place par excellence for pleasure and for love; its roots go
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inhabit the summit of
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m
down fiftyyojanas\ it is one hundredyojanas high; with its branches,
leaves and petals, it covers fifty yojanas.
The fragrance of its flowers spreads one hundredyojanas away with
the wind, fifty against the wind.
So be it, it can spread to one hundredyojanas with the wind, but how
can it go against the wind?
According to one opinion, one says that it spreads to fifty yojanas
against the wind, because it does not go beyond the tree [which covers in fact fifty yojanas],
[But this explanation does not hold: for] the text says that it goes against the wind
We say then that the fragrance does not go against the wind, that it perishes where it arises: but such is the quality of this fragrance that, even though it would be arrested by the lightest divine wind, it gives birth to a new "series" of identical fragrances. Nevertheless, the fragrances become weak, weaker, entirely weak and are completely arrested, incapable of going as far as it does when the wind is favorable.
Does the series of this fragrance have for its support only its own primary elements which constitute the fragrance? Or rather should one suppose that the wind becomes perfumed? [In the same way as, when the grains of sesame are perfumed byflowers,there arises a new odor which is no longer the fragrance of the flowers. ]
The opinion of the masters is not fixed on this.
441
Yet the Blessed One said, "The fragrance offlowersdoes not go
against the wind, neither does the fragrance of good go against the wind; but the satpurusa goes in all directions. " How do you reconcile this statement with the theory that fragrance "goes against the wind? "
This statement refers to odors of the world of humans, which, it is
quite evident, does not go against the wind
442
The MahlSasakas read, "The fragrance [of the flowers of the
Parijataka tree] go with the wind for a hundredyojanas; in the absence of wind, to fifty. "
443
8. In the southeast lies Sudharma, the room where the gods come
together {devasabha) in order to examine the good and the evil deeds committed by human beings.
Such is the arrangement of the receptacle or physical world of the Thirty-three Gods.
? 444 69a-b. Above, the gods reside in "houses. "
The gods higher that the Thirty-three Gods reside in vimdnas or aerial abodes. These gods are the Yamas, the Tusitas, the Nirmanaratis, and the Paranirmitavasavartins, plus the gods of Rupadhatu, namely sixteen categories of gods beginning with the Brahmakayikas. In all, twenty-two types of gods live in the physical world and occupy set
445 446 residences. [There are many other gods, the Kridapramosakas, the
Prahasakas, etc. , which a summary treatise like this does not take into account].
**#
69b-d. There are six gods who taste pleasure; they unite through coupling, an embrace, the touch of hands, a smile, and a look.
The CaturmaharSjakayikas, Trayastrimsas, Yamas, Tusitas, Nirma- naratis and Paranirmitavasavartins are the gods of Kamadhatu. The higher gods are not in Kamadhatu.
The Caturmaharajakayikas and the TrayastrimSas live on the
ground; thus they unite by coupling, like humans; but they appease the
fire of their desire through the emission of wind, since they do not have
any semea The Yamas appease the fire of their desire by embracing, the
Tusitas by the touch of hands, the Nirmanaratis by smiling, and the
Paranirmitavasavartins by looking at each other. Such is the doctrine of
447
the Prajfiapti.
According to the Vaibhasikas (Vibhasd, TD 27, p. 585b27), these
expressions of the Prajnapti, "embracing," "touching of the hands," etc. , do not indicate the mode of union--for all the gods couple--but the
448
duration of the act. The more ardent the desire by reason of the more
pleasurable object, so much shorter is the duration of the union.
#**
A small god or goddess appears on the knees, or from out of the knees of a god or goddess; this small god or goddess is their son or
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daughter: all the gods are "apparitionaT (iii. 8c).
70a-c. Among these gods, their newborn are similar to infants of five to ten years.
From five to ten years according to the category of the gods. Young gods grow up quickly.
449 70c-d The gods of Rupadhatu are complete and clothed.
The gods of Rupadhatu, from their birth, are complete in their development; they are born fully clothed.
450 All the gods speak the Aryan language.
In Kamadhatu,
71a-b. There are three "arisings" of the objects of desire: the
451
1. There are beings whose objects of desire (kdmaguna) are placed (by outside factors) at their disposition; but they are able to dispose of these objects. These are humans and certain gods--namely the first four classes of gods.
2. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by themselves; and they dispose of these objects which they create. These are the Nirmanaratis.
3. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by others but
who themselves dispose of these objects created by others. These are the
452 ParankmitavaSavartins.
The first enjoy the objects of desire which are presented to them; the second enjoy objects of desire which they create at their will; and the third enjoy objects of desire that they create or have others create at their will. These are the three arisings of the objects of desire (kdmopapattis).
In Rupadhatu,
71c-& There are three "arisings of pleasure": the nine spheres of
453 three Dhyanas.
The nine spheres of the first three Dhyanas are the three "arisings of pleasure. " The gods of the first three Dhyanas, for long periods, pass their time pleasantly through pleasure born from separation from the defilements, through pleasure consisting of joy arisen from absorption
gods of Kamadhatu together with humans.
? (samddhija: seeing the disappearance of vicdra and vitarka) and through pleasure free from joy (nihpritikasukha, seeing the disapparance of satisfaction or saumanasya). By reason of their absence of suffering, and by reason of their duration, these arisings are indeed "arisings of pleasure" (sukhopapatti).
In dhyanantara there is no pleasure consisting of joy. Is this an "arising of pleasure? "
454 This is to be discussed
###
At what height are the twenty-two heavenly residences situated, starting from the Qlturmaharajikas to the highest gods of Rupadhatu?
It is not easy to calculate this height in yojanas, but
72a-b. To the extent that there is descent from one residence, to
455 this extent there is ascent towards a higher residence.
In other words, to the extent that a residence is above Jambudvlpa, to that extent it is below its next higher residence. For example, the fourth house of the Caturmaharajikas, the dwelling of the Caturmaha- rajikas themselves is forty thousand yojanas above here; to the extent that this residence descends to here, to that extent this residence ascends to the residence of the Trayatrim? as, [on the summit of Meru, eighty thousand yojanas from here]. As many yojanas as there are from TriiyastrimSas to here, that many are there from Trayastrim? as to the Yamas. And thus following: the Akani? thas are above the SudarSanas thesamenumberofyojanas thattheSudarsanasareaboveJambudvlpa.
Above the Akanisthas, there are no more residences (sthdna). This is because this residence is higher than the others, no residence is
456
opinion, this residence is called agha-nispba, because agha signifies
457 matter.
***
Can a being born in an inferior residence go to a higher house and see its superior beings?
superior to it, and so it is called a-kanispha.
"assembled matter", and this residence is the limit (nispha) of this
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According to another
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72c-d The gods do not see their superiors without magic or the assistence of another.
When they possess magical powers, or when they are assisted by a
being possessing magical powers or by a Yama god, the Trayastrim? as
458 can go to the Yamas; and thus following.
A being born in an lower residence can see a being born in a higher
residence who makes a visit to an inferior residence, but not if this being 459
belongs to a higher Dhatu, or to a higher bhumi\ in the same way that one cannot feel a tangible things [higher in Dhatu or bhumi], because it
460
is not of the sphere [of a lower organ]. This is why beings higher
through their Dhatu or bhumi do not descend with their own bodies, but with a magic body of the sphere of the bhumi to where they wish to descend (Digha, ii. 210).
461
desires, lower beings can see him in the same way as they see a being of
According to another school, their own bhumi.
if a being of a higher bhumi so
***
What are the dimensions of the houses of the Yamas and the other gods?
According to one opinion, the houses of the four types of higher gods of Yama have the dimension of the summit of Mem.
According to others, the dimension of the First Dhyana is the dimension of the universe with its four continents; that of the Second, the Third, and the Fourth Dhyana is, respectively, the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm.
According to anothers, the first three Dhyanas have, respectively,
the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm; the Fourth
462 Dhyana is without measure.
*##
What is a small, a second, and a third chiliocosm?
73-74. One thousand four-continents, moons, suns, Merus, dwellings of the Kama gods, and world of Brahma, make up a
? small chiliocosm; one thousand small chiliocosms make a dichiliocosm, the middle universe; and one thousand dichilio- cosms make a trichiliocosm. The destruaion and the creation of
463 the universes lasts the same time.
A sdhasra cudika lokadhatu, or small chiliocosm \s made up of one thousand Jambudvlpas, Purvavidehas, Avaragodaniyas, Uttarakurus, moohs, suns, Merus, dwellings of the dturmaharajakayikas and the Other gods of Kamadhatu, and worlds of Brahm? . One thousand universes of this type make a dichiliocosm, a middle universe (dvisahasro madhyamo lokadhatuh). One thousand universes of this type make a trichiliomegachiliocosm {tnsdhasramahdsdhasro loka- dhatuh).
464
The periods of destruaion and creation are equal in length. The
stanza uses the word sambhava in the sense of vivatta. ***
In the same way that the dimensions of the physical worlds differ, in that same way the dimensions of the beings inhabitating them differ:
75-77. The inhabitants ofJambudvipa have a height of four, or of three elbows and a half; those called Purva, Goda and Uttara, by doubling each time. The bodies of the gods of Kamadhatu increase, by quarters of krosa9 until a krosa and a half. The bodies ofthegodsofRupadhatuareatfirstahalfyojana\ thenincrease by a half; beyond the Parittabhas, the bodies double, and reduce three yojanas from the Anabhrakas o a
Humans of Jambudvipa generally are three elbows and a half, sometimes four elbows in height; the Purvavidehakas, the Avara- godaniyakas, and the Auttarakauravas are respeaively eight, sixteen, and thirty-two elbows in height.
The Caturmaharajakayikas are a quarter of a krosa (iii. 88a) in height; the height of the other gods of Kamadhatu increases successively by this same quarter: the Trayastrimsas, by half a krosa; the Yamas, by three quarters of a kro/a; the Tusitas, by one krosa; the Nirmanaratis, by a krofa and a quarter; and the Parinirmitavasavartins, by a krosa and a
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half.
The Brahmakayikas, who are the first gods of Rupadhatu, are a
half-yojana in height; the Brahmapurohitas, one yojana in height; the Mahabrahmans, one yojana and a half in height; and the Parlttabhas, two yojanas in height.
Beyond the Parlttabhas, the dimensions double: Apramanabhas are four, Abhasvaras, eight, and the same until the &ubhakrtsans, who are sixty-four yojanas in height. For the Anabhrakas, one doubles this number but subtracts three: they are then one hundred twenty-five
yojanas in height. One continues doubling, from the Punyaprasavas on who are two hundred fiftyyojanas in height, to the Akanisthas, who are sixteen thousandyojanas in height.
***
The length of life of these beings also differs. With regard to humans:
78. Life, among Kurus, is one thousand years in length; in the two continents, it diminishes twice by half; here, it is in- determinate: nevertheless it is ten years at the end and
465 incalculable at the beginning.
The lifespan of beings in Godanalya is half the lifespan of beings in Uttarakuru, thus five hundred years in length; the life of beings in Purvavideha is two hundred and fifty years in length.
InJambudvipa, length of life is not determined, sometimes it is long, 466
sometimes short. At the end of the cosmic age or kdpa (iii. 98c), at its minimum, it is ten years; whereas the lifespan of humans at the beginning of the cosmic age (prdthamakdpikay iii91a) is incalculable: one cannot measure it by counting in thousands, etc
##*
The lifespan of the gods of Kamadhatu is an integral of the length of a day:
79a-80b. Fifty human years make a day-and-night for the lowest gods of Kamadhatu, and these gods live a life of five hundred
? 467 years. For the higher gods, double the day and the life.
Fifty human days make a day in the life of the Caturmaharajakayikas,
m
whose lifespan is of five hundred years of twelve month of thirty days. For the TrayastrimSas, one day equals one hundred human years, and dieir lifespan is one thousand years in length; for the Yamas, one day equals two hundred human years and their lifespan is two thousand years in length; and so o a
But there is qo sun or moon above Yugandhara; how is a day of the gods determined, and how are the gods illumined?
Day and night are marked by the flowers which open or close, like
the kumuda and the padma in the world of humans; by the birds that 469
sing or that are silent; and by sleep which ends or begins. Furthermore the gods themselves are luminous.
***
As for the gods of Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu:
80b-81d. There is no day and night for the gods of Rupadhatu;
their lifespans are calculated in kalpas whose number is fixed by
the dimensions of their bodies. In Arupyadhatu, a lifespan of a
thousand kalpas which increases as much. These kalpas are, 470
from the Parittabhas on, mahakdpas\ below, halves.
The gods of Rupadhatu whose bodies are half ^yojana in height-- the Brahmakayikas--live a half kalpa; and thus following to the Akanisthas, whose bodies are sixteen thousand yojanas in height, and whose lifespan is thus sixteen thousand kalpas in length.
In AkaSanantyayatana, a lifespan is twenty thousand kalpas in length; fifty thousand kalpas in length in Vijiiananantyayatana, sixty thousand kalpas in length in Akimcanyayatana, and eighty thousand in Naivasamjnanasarhjnnayatana or Bhavagra.
But to which kalpas does this refer: to intermediate kalpas (antarakdpas), to kalpas of destruction (samvarta), to kalpas of creation (vivaria), or to great kalpas (mahdkalpas, iii. 89d)?
From the Parittabhas (lower gods of the Second Dhyana) on, they refer to the great kalpas; below (Brahmaparisadyas, Brahmapurohitas,
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Mahabrahmans) they refer to half great kalpas. In fact, there are twenty antarakalpas during which the world is created[: Mahabrahma appears from the beginning]; then twenty antarakalpas during which the world lasts; and then twenty antarakalpas during which the world is destroyed[: Mahabrahma disappears at the end]. Thus the life of Mahabrahma lasts sixty intermediate antarakalpas: these sixty make a kalpa and a half; half a great kdpa (or forty intermediate kalpas) is considered to be a kalpa.
***
What is the length of a lifespan in the painful realms of rebirth?
Let us examine in order the first six hot hells, the last two hot hells, animals, Pretas, and the cold hells.
82. In six hells, Samjiva, etc. , a day and night has the length of the life of the gods of Kamadhatu; with such days, life as for the gods of Kamadhatu.
A day in the six hells,--Samjiva, Kalasutra, Samghata, Raurava, Maharaurava, and Tapana,--is equal in this order to the life of the gods of Kamadhatu, the Caturmaharajakayikas, etc
The damned in Samjiva have, like the Caturmaharajakayikas, a life of five hundred years of twelve months of thirty days; but each of these days has the length of the total lifespan of the Caturmaharajakayikas. Same relationship between the damned of Kalasutra and the Traya- strimsas, and between the damned of Tapana and the Paranirmitava- Savartins.
83a-b. In Pratapana, a lifespan of a half antahkalpa; in Avici, a likespan of one antahkalpa.
In Pratapana, a lifespan lasts one half of an antarakalpa; in Avici, 471
83b-d. The life of animals is one kdpa in length at most; the life of the Pretas is five hundred years with its days the duration of a month.
one antarakalpa.
The animals that live the longest time live one antarakdpa\ these
? are the great Naga Kings, Nanda, Upananda, ASvatara, etc The Blessed
One said, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, eight great Naga Kings who live a 472
kolpa and who sustain the earth . . ,"
The days of the Pretas have a length of one human month; they live
five hundred years made up of days of this length.
84. Life in the Arbudas is the time of the exhaustion of a vaha, by taking a grain of sesame every one hundred years; the others by
473 multiplying each time by twenty.
The Blessed One has indicated the length of a lifespan in the cold hells only through comparisons, "If, Oh Bhiksus, a Magadhan vaha of
474 475
sesame of eighty khdris were full of sesame seeds; if one were to
take one grain each one hundred years, this vdha would be empty before a lifespan of beings born in the Arbuda hell would end: this is what I say. And, Oh Bhiksus, twenty Arbudas make, Oh Bhiksus, one Nirar- buda. . . " (See above, note 413).
###
Do all beings, whose length of lifespan has just been indicated, live the full length of this lifespan?
85a. With the exception of Kuru, there is death before their
476 time.
The life of beings in Uttarakuru is fixed; they necessarily live one
477
thousand years: their length of life is complete. Everywhere else there
is antaramrtyu, "death in the course of, in the middle of, a complete life," or premature death. Nevertheless certain persons are sheltered from premature death, namely the Bodhisattva who, in Tusita, is no longer bound to birth; a being in his last existence [who will not die before
478
having obtained the state of Arhat]; one who has been the object of a
479 prediction by the Blessed One; one who is sent by the Blessed One; a
oraddhanusarin and a Dharmanusarin (vi. 29a-b) [who will not die
before having become a Sraddhadhimuktika and a Drstiprapta]; a
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woman pregnant with the Bodhisattva or with a Cakravartin, etc
***
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We have explained the residences and the bodies by measuring them in terms ofyojanas, and lifespans by measuring them in terms of years; but we have not explained yojanas and years.
These can be explained only through the means of words (ndman); one must then say that it is the limit (paryanta) of words, etc
85b-c An atom (paramanu), a syllable (aksara), and an instant 481
(ksana) is the limit of matter, of words, and of time.
A paramanu is the limit of physical matter (rupa); so too a syllable is
482
the limit of words, for example, go; and an instant, the limit of time
(advan).
What is the dimension of an instant?
If the right conditions (pratyaya) are present, the time that it takes for a dharma to arise; or rather the time that it takes for a dharma in
m progress to go from one paramanu to another paramdnu.
#**
According to the Abhidharmikas, there are sixty-five instants in the
484 time that it takes a healthy man to snap his fingers.
85d-88a. Paramanu, anu, loharajas, abrajas, sasarajas, avirajas, gorajas, chidrarajas, liksd, that which comes out of the liksd,yava, and anguliparvan, by multiplying each time by seven; twenty-
four angulis make one hasta; four hastas make one dhanus; five hundred dhanus make one krofa, the distance a hermitage should be located; and eight kroias make what is called one
m yojana.
[Thus seven paramdnus make one anu9 and eight anus make a loharajas.
Avirajas signifies edakrajas, and chidrarajas signifies vdtdyana- cchidrarajas.
"That which come out of the liksa* is the yuka.
The author does not say that three anguliparvans make one anguli,
486 for that is well known. ]
487 A hermitage, aranya, should be located one kro/a from a village.
? 88b-89c One hundred and twenty ksanas make one tatksana\ sixteen tatksanas make one lava\ we obtain a muhurta or hour,
an ahorata or one day and night, and a mdsa or month, by multiplying the preceeding term by thirty; a samvatsara or year,
488 is of twelve months by adding the tinardtras.
One muhurta equals thirty lavas. Thirty muhurtas make one day and night; a night is sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, and sometimes equal to a day.
489
There are four months of winter, of heat, and of rain; twelve
months which, with the days called unaratras, make a year. The
unardtras are the six days which, in the course of the year, one should
omit (for the calculation of the lunar months). There is a stanza about
this: "When one month and a half of the cold, hot, rainy season has
elapsed, the learned omit one unardtra in the half-month that 490
remains. "
*#*
We have explained the year; we must explain the kalpa or cosmic period
491 89d There are different types of kalpa:
492 There is a distinction between a small kalpa (antarakalpa) , a
49
kalpa of disappearance (samvatta), * a kalpa of creation (vivaria), and a
great kalpa.
90a-b. A kalpa of disappearance lasts from the non-production
of the damned to destruction of the receptacle world
The period that extends from the moment when beings cease being reborn in hell until the moment when the world is destroyed is called a samvartakalpa, a kalpa of destruction.
"Destruction" is of two types: destruction of the realms of rebirth, and destruction of the Dhatu.
It is again of two types: destuction of living beings, and destruction
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of the physical world
1. When no being is reborn in hell--even though beings in hell
continue to die--the period of twenty small kalpas during which the world lasts is terminated; and the period of destruction begins.
When not a single being remains in the hells, the destruction of
beings in hell is achieved, and the world has been destroyed to that
extent: if a being of this universe has committed any actions which
should be retributed in hell, the force of these actions causes him to be
reborn in the hell of another universe not in the process of
494 destruction.
2. So too is the destruction of animals and Pretas. The animals that
reside in the great ocean disappear first; those that live with humans will
495 disappear at the same time as do humans.
3. Among humans of Jambudvlpa, a person enters by himself,
496
without a teacher, by reason of dharmata, into the First Dhyana.
Coming out of this Dhyana, he exclaims, "Happy is the pleasure and the joy that arise from detachment! Gdm is the pleasure and joy that arise from detachment! " Understanding these words, other persons also enter into absorption and, after their death, pass into the world of Brahma. When, by this continual process, there does not remain a single person inJambudvlpa, the destruction of the persons ofJambudvlpa is finished.
The same for the inhabitants of Purvavideha and Avaragodaniya. The inhabitants of Uttarakuru are incapable of detaching themselves from Kamadhatu and, as a consequence, of entering into dhyana: they are also reborn, not in the world of Brahma, but among the gods of Kamadhatu.
When a single human being no longer remains, the destruction of humans is finished, and the world has been destroyed to this extent.
4. The same then holds for the gods of Kamadhatu, from the Caturmaharajakayikas to the Paranirmitava^avartins, who enter into dhyana and are reborn in the world of Brahma, and who successively disappear. When a single god no longer remains in Kamadhatu, the destuction of Kamadhatu is finished.
5. It then happens, by reason of dharmata, that a god of the world of Brahma enters into the Second Dhyana. Coming out of this Dhyana, he excaims, "Happy is the pleasure and joy that arise from absorption!
? Calm is the pleasure and joy that arise from absorption! " Understanding these words, other gods of the world of Brahma enter into the Second Dhyana and after their death, are reborn in the heaven of the Abhasvaras. When a single being no longer remains in the world of Brahma, the destruction of beings (sattvasamvartant) is finished and the world has been destroyed to that extent.
6. Then, by reason of the exhaustion of the collective action which
has created the physical world, and by reason of the emptiness of the
497
world, seven suns successively appear, and the world is entirely
consumed from this sphere with its continents to Meru. From this world
thus inflamed, the flame, conducted by the wind, burns the houses of the
498
world of Brahma. Even though it is well understood that the flame
that burns these houses is a flame of Rupadhatu, the destruction of Kamadhatu has not yet taken hold of Rupadhatu. But it is said that the flame goes from this world and burns the world of Brahma, because a new flame arises in relation to the first one.
So too, mutatis mutandis, is the destruction through water and through wind, which are similar to destruction through fire but which
499 extend higher.
The period that extends from the moment when beings cease to be born in the hells until the moment when the physical world has been destroyed is what is called a samvartakalpa, a kalpa of disappearance.
90c-d The kalpa of creation lasts from the primordial wind until the production of hellish beings.
From the primordial wind (prdgvayu) until the moment when beings arise in hells.
The world, which has been destroyed as we have seen, stays destroyed for a long time--during twenty small kalpas. There is only space where the world once was.
1. When, by reason of the collective action of beings, there appears the first signs of a future physical world; when some very light winds arise in space, then this period of twenty small kalpas during which the world remained destroyed is finished; and the period, also of twenty
500 small kalpas, during which the world is created, begins.
The winds come gradually and, finally, constitute a circle of wind; then there arises all of the receptacles as we have just described: a circle
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of water, a sphere of gold, Meru, etc. The mansion of Brahma appears
first and then all the mansions until those of the Yamas. But this is only
501 after the circle of wind arises.
The physical world is thus created, and the world is now created to this extent.
2. Then a being, dying in Abhasvara, is born in the mansion of Brahma which is empty; other beings, dying one after the other in Abhasvara, are born in the heaven of the Brahmapurohitas, the Brahmakayikas, the Paranirmitavasavartins and the other gods of Kamadhatu; in Uttarakuru, Godaniya, Videha, andJambudvlpa; among the Pretas and animals; and in the hells. The rule is that the beings who disappear last reappear first.
When a being is born in the hells, the period of creation, of twenty small kalpas, is finished, and the period of duration begins.
[The first small kdpa of the period of creation is used for the creation of the physical world, the mansion of Brahma, etc] During the nineteen small kalpas that complete this period, until the appearance of the beings in hell, the lifespan of humans is infinite in length.
91a-b. A small kdpa, in the course of which a lifespan, from infinite, becomes a lifespan ten years in length.
Humans, at the end of the period of creation, have an infinitely long lifespan; their lifespan diminishes when creation is achieved, until it is not more then ten years in length (iii. 98c-d). The period in which this diminution takes place constitutes the first small kdpa of the period of destruction.
91c-d. The eighteen kalpas which are of augmentation and of diminution.
A lifespan, which is now ten years in length, increases until it is eighty thousand years in length; then it decreases and is reduced to a length of ten years. The period in the course of which this increase and this decrease takes place is the second small kdpa.
This kdpa is followed by seventeen similar ones. 92a. One, of augmentatioa
The twentieth small kdpa is only of increase, not of decrease. The lifespan of humans increases from ten years to eighty thousand years in
? length.
How high, by increase, do these increases go?
502 92b. They go to a lifespan of eighty thousand
But not beyond. The time required for the increase and the decrease
of the eighteen kalpas is equal to the time that the decrease of the first 503
kdpa and the increase of the last take.
92c-d. In this way then the world stays created for twenty kalpas.
The world remains created for twenty small kalpas thus calculated. As long as this period of duration lasts,
93a-b. During the same length of time, the world is in the process of creation, in the process of disappearance, and in a state of disappearance.
The creation, the disappearance, and the period when the world disappears lasts a total of twenty small kalpas. There are not, during these three periods, any phases of increase and decrease of lifespan, but these periods are equal in length to the period during which the world remains created.
The physical world is created in one small kalpa\ it is filled during nineteen; it is emptied during nineteen; and it perishes in one small kdpa.
Four times twenty small kalpas make eighty: 93c. These eighty make a great kalpa.
This is the extent of a great kalpa. ***
Of what does a kalpa consist?
The kalpa is by nature the five skandhas.
***
It is said that the quality of Buddhahood is acquired through cultivation that last three asamkhyeya kalpas. To which among the four types of kalpas does this refer?
93d-94a. The quality of Buddhahood results from three of these
504
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\kdpas\TM
Of these great kdpas that we have just defined
But the word asamkhya (-asamkhyaya) signifies "incalculable;" how can one speak of three "incalculables? "
One should not understand it in this manner, for, in an isolated 306
(muktaka) Sutra, it is said that numeration is to the sixteenth place. 507
What are these sixteen places?
One, not two, is the first place; ten times one is the second place; ten times ten (or one hundred) is the third; ten times one hundred (or one thousand) is the fourth. . . and so on, each term being worth ten times
the preceeding: prabheda (10,000), laksa (1000,000), atilaksa, koti, madhya, ayuta, mahdyuta, nayuta, mahanayuta, prayuta, mahdprayuta, kamkara, mahdkamkara, bimbara, mahabimbara, aksobhya, mahdkso- bhya, vivdha, mahdvivdha, utsanga, mahotsariga, vdfoana, mahdvdhana, tifibha, mahdtitibha, hetu, mahahetu, karabha, m&hakarabha, indra, mahendra, samdpta (or samdptam), mahdsamdpta (or mahasamap- tam), gati, mahdgati, nimbarajas, mahdnimbarajas, mudrd, mahamudra, bala, rnahdbala, samjria, mahdsamjnd, vibhuta, mahavibhuta, balaksa, mahdbalaksa, and asamkhya.
508 In this list eight numbers have been lost.
A great kdpa successively numbered (=multiplied) to the sixteenth m
place is called an asamkhyeya; if one begins again, one has a second, and a third asamkhyeya. An asamkhyeya [kalpa] does not receive its name from the fact that it is incalculable.
***
But why do the Bodhisattvas, once they have undertaken the resolution to obtain supreme Bodhi, take such a long time to obtain it?
Because supreme Bodhi is very difficult to obtain: one needs a great accumulation of knowledge and merit, and of innumerable heroic works in the course of three asamkhyeya kdpas.
One would understand that the Bodhisattva searches out this Bodhi so difficult to obtain, if this Bodhi were the sole means of arriving at deliverance; but such is not the case. Why then do they undertake this infinite labor?
? For the good of others, because they want to become capable of pulling others out of the great flood of suffering.
But what personal good do they find in the good of others?
The gpod of others is their own good, because they desire it.
Who believes this?
In truth, persons devoid of pity and who think only of themselves
believe with difficulty in the altruism of the Bodhisattvas; but compassionate persons believe in it easily. Don't we see that certain persons, confirmed in the absence of pity, find pleasure in the suffering of others even when it is not to their benefit? In the same way one must admit that the Bodhisattvas, confirmed in pity, find pleasure in doing good to others without any egoistic concerns. Don't we see that certain persons, ignorant of the true nature of the conditioned dharmas (i. e. , the samskaras) that constitute their pretended "self," are attached to these dharmas through the force of habit, as completely devoid of personality as these dharmas are, and suffer a thousand pains by reason of this attachment? In the same way one must admit that the Bodhisattvas, through the force of habit, detach themselves from the dharmas that constitute the pretended "self," no longer consider these dharmas as "me" and "mine," increase compassionate solicitude for others, and are ready to suffer a thousand pains because of this solicitude.
In a few words, there is a certain category of persons, who,
indifferent to what concerns them personally, are happy through the
well-being of others, and are unhappy through the suffering of
51
others. ? For them, to be useful to others is to be useful to themselves. A
stanza says, "An inferior person searches out, by all means, his personal well-being; a mediocre person searches out the destruction of suffering, not well-being, because well-being is the cause of suffering; an excellent person, through his personal suffering, searches out the well-being and the definitive destruction of the suffering of others, for he suffers from
511 the suffering of others. "
***
During what periods do the Buddhas appear, during a period of increase or during a period of decrease?
512 94a-b. They appear during the decrease to one hundred.
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The Buddhas appear during the period of the decrease of lifespan, when the length of life decreases from eighty thousand years to one hundred years in length.
Why do they not appear when life decreases from one hundred to ten years?
Because the five corruptions (dyuhkasdya, kalpakasdya, klesakasdya, 513 514
drstikasdya, and sattvakasaya) then become very strong.
In the final period of the decrease of lifespan, the length of life (or
dyus) becomes bad, base; being corrupted, it is called a kasdya or "corruption;" the same for the other corruptions.
The first two corruptions deteriorate the vitality and the means of
515
subsistance. The next two corruptions deteriorate the good; the
corruption of defilements deteriorate beings through laxity (kamasuka-
hallikd); the corruption of views through the practice of painful
asceticism; or rather the corruption of defilement and the corruption of
views deteriorate respeaively the spiritual good of householders and of
516
wanderers. The corruption of beings deteriorates beings from the
physical and the mental point of view; it deteriorates their height, beauty, health, force, intelligence, memory, energy, and firmness.
***
During what periods do the Pratyekabuddhas appear?
94c. The Pratyekabuddhas appear in the course of two
517 periods.
They appear during the period of increase and during the period of
decrease of lifespan. One distinguishes in fact two types of Pratye-
kabuddhas: those that live in a group (vargacdrin), [and who also appear 518
during the period of increase], and those who live like a rhinoceros. a. The first are the ancient Sravakas [who will obtain the first or
second result of the Sravakas under the reign of a Buddha].
According to another opinion, there are also Prthagjanas who have 519
realized, in the vehicle of the Sravakas, the nirvedhabhagtyas (vi. 20); in the course of a subsequent existence, by themselves, they will realize the Way. The masters who follow this opinion find an argument in the
? 520
where they read, "Five hundred ascetics cultivated painful austerities on a mountain. A monkey who had lived in the company of Pratyekabuddhas imitated the attitudes of the Pratyekabuddhas in front of them. These ascetics then imitated the monkey and, they say, obtained the Bodhi of the Pratyekabuddhas. " It is dear, say these masters, that these ascetics were not Aryans, Sravakas; for, if they had previously obtained the result of the Sravakas, namely liberation from rules and rituals (filavratapardmarsa, v. French trans, p. 18), they would not have given themselves up later to painful austerities.
b. The Pratyekabuddhas who are "like a rhinoceros" live alone.
521 94d The Rhinoceros by reason of one hundred kalpas.
The Rhinoceros has cultivated for one hundred great kalpas in his preparation for Bodhi, [that is, he has cultivated morality, absorption, mdprajna]. He obtains Bodhi (vi. 67) without the help of the teaching or dgama, but alone. He is a Pratyekabuddha because he himself brings about his salvation without converting others.
Why does he not apply himself to the conversion of others? He is certainly capable of teaching the Law: he possesses the comprehensions (pratisamvids, vii. 37b): [and even if he does not possess them,] he can [through his pranidhijnana, vii. 37a] remember the teachings of the ancient Buddhas. He is no longer deprived of pity, for he manifests his
522 supernormal power with a view to being of service to beings. He can
no longer say that beings are "unconvertible" in the period in which he
lives, for, in this period--the period of decrease of life--beings can
523
detach themselves from Kamadhatu by the worldly path. Why then
does he not teach the Law?
By reason of his previous habit [of solitude], he finds pleasure in,
and aspires to absence of turmoil; he does not have the courage to apply himself to making others understand the profound Dharnia: he would have to make disciples; he would have to conduct the multitude who follow the current against the current, and this is a difficult thing. Now he fears being distracted from his absorption and of entering into
524 contact (samsarga, vi. 6a) with humans.
Purvakathd
***
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Chapter Three
95-96. The Cakravartin Kings do not appear when lifespan is under eighty thousand years in length; they have a wheel of gpld, a wheel of silver, a wheel of cooper, and a wheel of iron; in inverse order, he reigns over one, two, three, or four continents; but never two at once, like the Buddhas; they triumph through spontaneous default, personal influence, fighting, or the sword,
525
1. The Cakravartin Kings appear from the period when the lifespan of humans is infinite to the period when their lifespan is eighty thousand years in length; not when life is shorter, for then the world is no longer a suitable receptacle for their glorious prosperity.
They are called Cakravartins, because their nature is to reign (rdjyam
526
cakrena vartayitum).
527
2. There are four types of Cakravartin Kings, Suvarncakravartin,
Rupyacakravartin, Tamracakravartin, and Aya&akravartin, accordingly as their wheel (cakra) is of gold, silver, copper, or iron: the first is the best, the second is almost best, the third is mediocre, and the fourth is inferior. The Cakravartin whose wheel is iron reigns over one continent, the Cakravartin whose wheel is copper reigns over two continents, and soon.
528
This is the doctrine of the Prajnapti. A Sutra, in fact, speaks only
of a Cakravartin King having a wheel of gold, by reason of his greater
importance, "When, to a king of royal and consecrated race--who, even
in the days of his youth, on the fifteenth day, having washed his head,
having undertaken the obligations of youth, ascends accompanied by
this ministers to the terrace of his palace--there appears in the east the
jewel of a wheel having a thousand rays, a wheel having a rim, having a
hub, complete in all ways, beautiful, not made by the hand of an artisan,
529 530 all in gold --this king is a Cakravartin King. "
3. Two Cakravartins, the same as two Buddhas, do not appear at the same time. The Sutra says, "It is impossible in the present, or in the future, for two Tathagatas, Arhats, perfect Buddhas to appear in the world without one preceding and the other following. It is impossible. It is the rule that there is only one. And this holds for the Cakravartins as
531 for the Tathagatas. "
but always without doing evil
Here a question is raised. What is the meaning of the expression "in
? the world? " Does this mean "in a great Trisahasra universe" (iii. 74), or
532 "in all the universes? "
According to one opinion, the Buddhas do not appear elsewhere
533
[that is: in two great universes at once] because the coexistence of two
Buddhas would create an obstacle to the power of the Blessed Ones. A single Blessed One applies himself wheresoever: where a Blessed One does not apply himself to the converting of beings, other Blessed Ones do not apply themselves either. Further, we read in the Sutra, " 'Sariputra, if someone comes and asks you if there now exists someone,
534
a Bhiksu or a Brahmin, who is equal to the ascetic Gautama with
regard to Samyaksambodhi, what would you answer him? '
"'If someone were to interrogate me thus, Oh Venerable One, I would answer him that there does not exist now anyone, Bhiksu or
Brahmin, who is the equal of the Blessed One. And why would I respond in this manner? Because I have heard and understood of the Blessed One, that it is impossible, both in the present and in the future, for two Blessed Ones, Arhats, perfea Buddhas to appear in the world without
535 one preceding and the other following/"
Objection: How then are we to understand what the Blessed One
56
said in the Brahmastitra, * "I exercise my power even over a great
Trisahasra universe? "
This text should not be taken literally: it means that without making
an effort (without making a special act of attention), the Buddha sees as
far as this limit. When he desires it, his seeing goes wherever he wills it
537 without limit.
According to other schools, the Buddhas appear at the same time, but in many universes. Here are their arguments. One sees that many persons apply themselves at the same time to the preparations [for Bodhi]. Certainly, it is not proper that many Buddhas should appear at the same time in the same spot (=in the same universe); but, on the other hand, nothing prevents many Buddhas from appearing at the
538
same time: thus they appear in different universes. The universes are
infinite in number, so even if the Blessed One lives an entire kalpa, he cannot go about in the infinity of the universe as he does here; all the more so if he only lives a human lifetime.
What is this activity of the Blessed One?
He wills that a person's faculty (faith, etc. )--by reason of such a
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person, of such a place and of such conditions of time, due to the disappearance of such a defect and to the realization of such a cause, and in such a manner--if not arisen should arise, and if not perfected should be perfected
Objection:But we have quoted the Sutra, "It is impossible for two Tathagatas to appear in the world without one preceding and the other following. "
Answer: There is reason to examine if this text refers to one
universe--a universe with its four continents, a great Trisahasra
universe--or to all universes. Let us observe that the rule which
concerns the appearance of the Cakravartin Kings is formulated in the
same terms as those that concern the appearance of the Tathagatas.
Would you deny that Cakravartin Kings could appear at the same time?
If you do not deny this, why not also admit that the Buddhas, which are
the foundation of merit, appear at the same time in different
539
universes? What is wrong with numerous Buddhas appearing in
numerous universes? Innumerable beings would thus obtain both temporal well-being and supreme happiness.
Such are the adornments of the city itself.
436
5. Ornaments outside of the city are the four Parks: Caitraratha,
Parusyaka, MiSraka, and Nandana, fields of play for the gods.
437
6. At the four sides of these Parks, from a distance of twenty
438 yojanas on, there are four fields of play with a marvellous sun,
delightful and which appears to rival them.
7. The magnolia tree called Parijataka is, for the Thirty-three
439
Gods, the place par excellence for pleasure and for love; its roots go
The World 465
inhabit the summit of
? 464 Chapter Three
m
down fiftyyojanas\ it is one hundredyojanas high; with its branches,
leaves and petals, it covers fifty yojanas.
The fragrance of its flowers spreads one hundredyojanas away with
the wind, fifty against the wind.
So be it, it can spread to one hundredyojanas with the wind, but how
can it go against the wind?
According to one opinion, one says that it spreads to fifty yojanas
against the wind, because it does not go beyond the tree [which covers in fact fifty yojanas],
[But this explanation does not hold: for] the text says that it goes against the wind
We say then that the fragrance does not go against the wind, that it perishes where it arises: but such is the quality of this fragrance that, even though it would be arrested by the lightest divine wind, it gives birth to a new "series" of identical fragrances. Nevertheless, the fragrances become weak, weaker, entirely weak and are completely arrested, incapable of going as far as it does when the wind is favorable.
Does the series of this fragrance have for its support only its own primary elements which constitute the fragrance? Or rather should one suppose that the wind becomes perfumed? [In the same way as, when the grains of sesame are perfumed byflowers,there arises a new odor which is no longer the fragrance of the flowers. ]
The opinion of the masters is not fixed on this.
441
Yet the Blessed One said, "The fragrance offlowersdoes not go
against the wind, neither does the fragrance of good go against the wind; but the satpurusa goes in all directions. " How do you reconcile this statement with the theory that fragrance "goes against the wind? "
This statement refers to odors of the world of humans, which, it is
quite evident, does not go against the wind
442
The MahlSasakas read, "The fragrance [of the flowers of the
Parijataka tree] go with the wind for a hundredyojanas; in the absence of wind, to fifty. "
443
8. In the southeast lies Sudharma, the room where the gods come
together {devasabha) in order to examine the good and the evil deeds committed by human beings.
Such is the arrangement of the receptacle or physical world of the Thirty-three Gods.
? 444 69a-b. Above, the gods reside in "houses. "
The gods higher that the Thirty-three Gods reside in vimdnas or aerial abodes. These gods are the Yamas, the Tusitas, the Nirmanaratis, and the Paranirmitavasavartins, plus the gods of Rupadhatu, namely sixteen categories of gods beginning with the Brahmakayikas. In all, twenty-two types of gods live in the physical world and occupy set
445 446 residences. [There are many other gods, the Kridapramosakas, the
Prahasakas, etc. , which a summary treatise like this does not take into account].
**#
69b-d. There are six gods who taste pleasure; they unite through coupling, an embrace, the touch of hands, a smile, and a look.
The CaturmaharSjakayikas, Trayastrimsas, Yamas, Tusitas, Nirma- naratis and Paranirmitavasavartins are the gods of Kamadhatu. The higher gods are not in Kamadhatu.
The Caturmaharajakayikas and the TrayastrimSas live on the
ground; thus they unite by coupling, like humans; but they appease the
fire of their desire through the emission of wind, since they do not have
any semea The Yamas appease the fire of their desire by embracing, the
Tusitas by the touch of hands, the Nirmanaratis by smiling, and the
Paranirmitavasavartins by looking at each other. Such is the doctrine of
447
the Prajfiapti.
According to the Vaibhasikas (Vibhasd, TD 27, p. 585b27), these
expressions of the Prajnapti, "embracing," "touching of the hands," etc. , do not indicate the mode of union--for all the gods couple--but the
448
duration of the act. The more ardent the desire by reason of the more
pleasurable object, so much shorter is the duration of the union.
#**
A small god or goddess appears on the knees, or from out of the knees of a god or goddess; this small god or goddess is their son or
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daughter: all the gods are "apparitionaT (iii. 8c).
70a-c. Among these gods, their newborn are similar to infants of five to ten years.
From five to ten years according to the category of the gods. Young gods grow up quickly.
449 70c-d The gods of Rupadhatu are complete and clothed.
The gods of Rupadhatu, from their birth, are complete in their development; they are born fully clothed.
450 All the gods speak the Aryan language.
In Kamadhatu,
71a-b. There are three "arisings" of the objects of desire: the
451
1. There are beings whose objects of desire (kdmaguna) are placed (by outside factors) at their disposition; but they are able to dispose of these objects. These are humans and certain gods--namely the first four classes of gods.
2. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by themselves; and they dispose of these objects which they create. These are the Nirmanaratis.
3. There are beings whose objects of desire are created by others but
who themselves dispose of these objects created by others. These are the
452 ParankmitavaSavartins.
The first enjoy the objects of desire which are presented to them; the second enjoy objects of desire which they create at their will; and the third enjoy objects of desire that they create or have others create at their will. These are the three arisings of the objects of desire (kdmopapattis).
In Rupadhatu,
71c-& There are three "arisings of pleasure": the nine spheres of
453 three Dhyanas.
The nine spheres of the first three Dhyanas are the three "arisings of pleasure. " The gods of the first three Dhyanas, for long periods, pass their time pleasantly through pleasure born from separation from the defilements, through pleasure consisting of joy arisen from absorption
gods of Kamadhatu together with humans.
? (samddhija: seeing the disappearance of vicdra and vitarka) and through pleasure free from joy (nihpritikasukha, seeing the disapparance of satisfaction or saumanasya). By reason of their absence of suffering, and by reason of their duration, these arisings are indeed "arisings of pleasure" (sukhopapatti).
In dhyanantara there is no pleasure consisting of joy. Is this an "arising of pleasure? "
454 This is to be discussed
###
At what height are the twenty-two heavenly residences situated, starting from the Qlturmaharajikas to the highest gods of Rupadhatu?
It is not easy to calculate this height in yojanas, but
72a-b. To the extent that there is descent from one residence, to
455 this extent there is ascent towards a higher residence.
In other words, to the extent that a residence is above Jambudvlpa, to that extent it is below its next higher residence. For example, the fourth house of the Caturmaharajikas, the dwelling of the Caturmaha- rajikas themselves is forty thousand yojanas above here; to the extent that this residence descends to here, to that extent this residence ascends to the residence of the Trayatrim? as, [on the summit of Meru, eighty thousand yojanas from here]. As many yojanas as there are from TriiyastrimSas to here, that many are there from Trayastrim? as to the Yamas. And thus following: the Akani? thas are above the SudarSanas thesamenumberofyojanas thattheSudarsanasareaboveJambudvlpa.
Above the Akanisthas, there are no more residences (sthdna). This is because this residence is higher than the others, no residence is
456
opinion, this residence is called agha-nispba, because agha signifies
457 matter.
***
Can a being born in an inferior residence go to a higher house and see its superior beings?
superior to it, and so it is called a-kanispha.
"assembled matter", and this residence is the limit (nispha) of this
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According to another
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72c-d The gods do not see their superiors without magic or the assistence of another.
When they possess magical powers, or when they are assisted by a
being possessing magical powers or by a Yama god, the Trayastrim? as
458 can go to the Yamas; and thus following.
A being born in an lower residence can see a being born in a higher
residence who makes a visit to an inferior residence, but not if this being 459
belongs to a higher Dhatu, or to a higher bhumi\ in the same way that one cannot feel a tangible things [higher in Dhatu or bhumi], because it
460
is not of the sphere [of a lower organ]. This is why beings higher
through their Dhatu or bhumi do not descend with their own bodies, but with a magic body of the sphere of the bhumi to where they wish to descend (Digha, ii. 210).
461
desires, lower beings can see him in the same way as they see a being of
According to another school, their own bhumi.
if a being of a higher bhumi so
***
What are the dimensions of the houses of the Yamas and the other gods?
According to one opinion, the houses of the four types of higher gods of Yama have the dimension of the summit of Mem.
According to others, the dimension of the First Dhyana is the dimension of the universe with its four continents; that of the Second, the Third, and the Fourth Dhyana is, respectively, the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm.
According to anothers, the first three Dhyanas have, respectively,
the dimension of a small, medium and great chiliocosm; the Fourth
462 Dhyana is without measure.
*##
What is a small, a second, and a third chiliocosm?
73-74. One thousand four-continents, moons, suns, Merus, dwellings of the Kama gods, and world of Brahma, make up a
? small chiliocosm; one thousand small chiliocosms make a dichiliocosm, the middle universe; and one thousand dichilio- cosms make a trichiliocosm. The destruaion and the creation of
463 the universes lasts the same time.
A sdhasra cudika lokadhatu, or small chiliocosm \s made up of one thousand Jambudvlpas, Purvavidehas, Avaragodaniyas, Uttarakurus, moohs, suns, Merus, dwellings of the dturmaharajakayikas and the Other gods of Kamadhatu, and worlds of Brahm? . One thousand universes of this type make a dichiliocosm, a middle universe (dvisahasro madhyamo lokadhatuh). One thousand universes of this type make a trichiliomegachiliocosm {tnsdhasramahdsdhasro loka- dhatuh).
464
The periods of destruaion and creation are equal in length. The
stanza uses the word sambhava in the sense of vivatta. ***
In the same way that the dimensions of the physical worlds differ, in that same way the dimensions of the beings inhabitating them differ:
75-77. The inhabitants ofJambudvipa have a height of four, or of three elbows and a half; those called Purva, Goda and Uttara, by doubling each time. The bodies of the gods of Kamadhatu increase, by quarters of krosa9 until a krosa and a half. The bodies ofthegodsofRupadhatuareatfirstahalfyojana\ thenincrease by a half; beyond the Parittabhas, the bodies double, and reduce three yojanas from the Anabhrakas o a
Humans of Jambudvipa generally are three elbows and a half, sometimes four elbows in height; the Purvavidehakas, the Avara- godaniyakas, and the Auttarakauravas are respeaively eight, sixteen, and thirty-two elbows in height.
The Caturmaharajakayikas are a quarter of a krosa (iii. 88a) in height; the height of the other gods of Kamadhatu increases successively by this same quarter: the Trayastrimsas, by half a krosa; the Yamas, by three quarters of a kro/a; the Tusitas, by one krosa; the Nirmanaratis, by a krofa and a quarter; and the Parinirmitavasavartins, by a krosa and a
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half.
The Brahmakayikas, who are the first gods of Rupadhatu, are a
half-yojana in height; the Brahmapurohitas, one yojana in height; the Mahabrahmans, one yojana and a half in height; and the Parlttabhas, two yojanas in height.
Beyond the Parlttabhas, the dimensions double: Apramanabhas are four, Abhasvaras, eight, and the same until the &ubhakrtsans, who are sixty-four yojanas in height. For the Anabhrakas, one doubles this number but subtracts three: they are then one hundred twenty-five
yojanas in height. One continues doubling, from the Punyaprasavas on who are two hundred fiftyyojanas in height, to the Akanisthas, who are sixteen thousandyojanas in height.
***
The length of life of these beings also differs. With regard to humans:
78. Life, among Kurus, is one thousand years in length; in the two continents, it diminishes twice by half; here, it is in- determinate: nevertheless it is ten years at the end and
465 incalculable at the beginning.
The lifespan of beings in Godanalya is half the lifespan of beings in Uttarakuru, thus five hundred years in length; the life of beings in Purvavideha is two hundred and fifty years in length.
InJambudvipa, length of life is not determined, sometimes it is long, 466
sometimes short. At the end of the cosmic age or kdpa (iii. 98c), at its minimum, it is ten years; whereas the lifespan of humans at the beginning of the cosmic age (prdthamakdpikay iii91a) is incalculable: one cannot measure it by counting in thousands, etc
##*
The lifespan of the gods of Kamadhatu is an integral of the length of a day:
79a-80b. Fifty human years make a day-and-night for the lowest gods of Kamadhatu, and these gods live a life of five hundred
? 467 years. For the higher gods, double the day and the life.
Fifty human days make a day in the life of the Caturmaharajakayikas,
m
whose lifespan is of five hundred years of twelve month of thirty days. For the TrayastrimSas, one day equals one hundred human years, and dieir lifespan is one thousand years in length; for the Yamas, one day equals two hundred human years and their lifespan is two thousand years in length; and so o a
But there is qo sun or moon above Yugandhara; how is a day of the gods determined, and how are the gods illumined?
Day and night are marked by the flowers which open or close, like
the kumuda and the padma in the world of humans; by the birds that 469
sing or that are silent; and by sleep which ends or begins. Furthermore the gods themselves are luminous.
***
As for the gods of Rupadhatu and Arupyadhatu:
80b-81d. There is no day and night for the gods of Rupadhatu;
their lifespans are calculated in kalpas whose number is fixed by
the dimensions of their bodies. In Arupyadhatu, a lifespan of a
thousand kalpas which increases as much. These kalpas are, 470
from the Parittabhas on, mahakdpas\ below, halves.
The gods of Rupadhatu whose bodies are half ^yojana in height-- the Brahmakayikas--live a half kalpa; and thus following to the Akanisthas, whose bodies are sixteen thousand yojanas in height, and whose lifespan is thus sixteen thousand kalpas in length.
In AkaSanantyayatana, a lifespan is twenty thousand kalpas in length; fifty thousand kalpas in length in Vijiiananantyayatana, sixty thousand kalpas in length in Akimcanyayatana, and eighty thousand in Naivasamjnanasarhjnnayatana or Bhavagra.
But to which kalpas does this refer: to intermediate kalpas (antarakdpas), to kalpas of destruction (samvarta), to kalpas of creation (vivaria), or to great kalpas (mahdkalpas, iii. 89d)?
From the Parittabhas (lower gods of the Second Dhyana) on, they refer to the great kalpas; below (Brahmaparisadyas, Brahmapurohitas,
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Mahabrahmans) they refer to half great kalpas. In fact, there are twenty antarakalpas during which the world is created[: Mahabrahma appears from the beginning]; then twenty antarakalpas during which the world lasts; and then twenty antarakalpas during which the world is destroyed[: Mahabrahma disappears at the end]. Thus the life of Mahabrahma lasts sixty intermediate antarakalpas: these sixty make a kalpa and a half; half a great kdpa (or forty intermediate kalpas) is considered to be a kalpa.
***
What is the length of a lifespan in the painful realms of rebirth?
Let us examine in order the first six hot hells, the last two hot hells, animals, Pretas, and the cold hells.
82. In six hells, Samjiva, etc. , a day and night has the length of the life of the gods of Kamadhatu; with such days, life as for the gods of Kamadhatu.
A day in the six hells,--Samjiva, Kalasutra, Samghata, Raurava, Maharaurava, and Tapana,--is equal in this order to the life of the gods of Kamadhatu, the Caturmaharajakayikas, etc
The damned in Samjiva have, like the Caturmaharajakayikas, a life of five hundred years of twelve months of thirty days; but each of these days has the length of the total lifespan of the Caturmaharajakayikas. Same relationship between the damned of Kalasutra and the Traya- strimsas, and between the damned of Tapana and the Paranirmitava- Savartins.
83a-b. In Pratapana, a lifespan of a half antahkalpa; in Avici, a likespan of one antahkalpa.
In Pratapana, a lifespan lasts one half of an antarakalpa; in Avici, 471
83b-d. The life of animals is one kdpa in length at most; the life of the Pretas is five hundred years with its days the duration of a month.
one antarakalpa.
The animals that live the longest time live one antarakdpa\ these
? are the great Naga Kings, Nanda, Upananda, ASvatara, etc The Blessed
One said, "There are, Oh Bhiksus, eight great Naga Kings who live a 472
kolpa and who sustain the earth . . ,"
The days of the Pretas have a length of one human month; they live
five hundred years made up of days of this length.
84. Life in the Arbudas is the time of the exhaustion of a vaha, by taking a grain of sesame every one hundred years; the others by
473 multiplying each time by twenty.
The Blessed One has indicated the length of a lifespan in the cold hells only through comparisons, "If, Oh Bhiksus, a Magadhan vaha of
474 475
sesame of eighty khdris were full of sesame seeds; if one were to
take one grain each one hundred years, this vdha would be empty before a lifespan of beings born in the Arbuda hell would end: this is what I say. And, Oh Bhiksus, twenty Arbudas make, Oh Bhiksus, one Nirar- buda. . . " (See above, note 413).
###
Do all beings, whose length of lifespan has just been indicated, live the full length of this lifespan?
85a. With the exception of Kuru, there is death before their
476 time.
The life of beings in Uttarakuru is fixed; they necessarily live one
477
thousand years: their length of life is complete. Everywhere else there
is antaramrtyu, "death in the course of, in the middle of, a complete life," or premature death. Nevertheless certain persons are sheltered from premature death, namely the Bodhisattva who, in Tusita, is no longer bound to birth; a being in his last existence [who will not die before
478
having obtained the state of Arhat]; one who has been the object of a
479 prediction by the Blessed One; one who is sent by the Blessed One; a
oraddhanusarin and a Dharmanusarin (vi. 29a-b) [who will not die
before having become a Sraddhadhimuktika and a Drstiprapta]; a
480
woman pregnant with the Bodhisattva or with a Cakravartin, etc
***
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We have explained the residences and the bodies by measuring them in terms ofyojanas, and lifespans by measuring them in terms of years; but we have not explained yojanas and years.
These can be explained only through the means of words (ndman); one must then say that it is the limit (paryanta) of words, etc
85b-c An atom (paramanu), a syllable (aksara), and an instant 481
(ksana) is the limit of matter, of words, and of time.
A paramanu is the limit of physical matter (rupa); so too a syllable is
482
the limit of words, for example, go; and an instant, the limit of time
(advan).
What is the dimension of an instant?
If the right conditions (pratyaya) are present, the time that it takes for a dharma to arise; or rather the time that it takes for a dharma in
m progress to go from one paramanu to another paramdnu.
#**
According to the Abhidharmikas, there are sixty-five instants in the
484 time that it takes a healthy man to snap his fingers.
85d-88a. Paramanu, anu, loharajas, abrajas, sasarajas, avirajas, gorajas, chidrarajas, liksd, that which comes out of the liksd,yava, and anguliparvan, by multiplying each time by seven; twenty-
four angulis make one hasta; four hastas make one dhanus; five hundred dhanus make one krofa, the distance a hermitage should be located; and eight kroias make what is called one
m yojana.
[Thus seven paramdnus make one anu9 and eight anus make a loharajas.
Avirajas signifies edakrajas, and chidrarajas signifies vdtdyana- cchidrarajas.
"That which come out of the liksa* is the yuka.
The author does not say that three anguliparvans make one anguli,
486 for that is well known. ]
487 A hermitage, aranya, should be located one kro/a from a village.
? 88b-89c One hundred and twenty ksanas make one tatksana\ sixteen tatksanas make one lava\ we obtain a muhurta or hour,
an ahorata or one day and night, and a mdsa or month, by multiplying the preceeding term by thirty; a samvatsara or year,
488 is of twelve months by adding the tinardtras.
One muhurta equals thirty lavas. Thirty muhurtas make one day and night; a night is sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, and sometimes equal to a day.
489
There are four months of winter, of heat, and of rain; twelve
months which, with the days called unaratras, make a year. The
unardtras are the six days which, in the course of the year, one should
omit (for the calculation of the lunar months). There is a stanza about
this: "When one month and a half of the cold, hot, rainy season has
elapsed, the learned omit one unardtra in the half-month that 490
remains. "
*#*
We have explained the year; we must explain the kalpa or cosmic period
491 89d There are different types of kalpa:
492 There is a distinction between a small kalpa (antarakalpa) , a
49
kalpa of disappearance (samvatta), * a kalpa of creation (vivaria), and a
great kalpa.
90a-b. A kalpa of disappearance lasts from the non-production
of the damned to destruction of the receptacle world
The period that extends from the moment when beings cease being reborn in hell until the moment when the world is destroyed is called a samvartakalpa, a kalpa of destruction.
"Destruction" is of two types: destruction of the realms of rebirth, and destruction of the Dhatu.
It is again of two types: destuction of living beings, and destruction
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476 Chapter Three
of the physical world
1. When no being is reborn in hell--even though beings in hell
continue to die--the period of twenty small kalpas during which the world lasts is terminated; and the period of destruction begins.
When not a single being remains in the hells, the destruction of
beings in hell is achieved, and the world has been destroyed to that
extent: if a being of this universe has committed any actions which
should be retributed in hell, the force of these actions causes him to be
reborn in the hell of another universe not in the process of
494 destruction.
2. So too is the destruction of animals and Pretas. The animals that
reside in the great ocean disappear first; those that live with humans will
495 disappear at the same time as do humans.
3. Among humans of Jambudvlpa, a person enters by himself,
496
without a teacher, by reason of dharmata, into the First Dhyana.
Coming out of this Dhyana, he exclaims, "Happy is the pleasure and the joy that arise from detachment! Gdm is the pleasure and joy that arise from detachment! " Understanding these words, other persons also enter into absorption and, after their death, pass into the world of Brahma. When, by this continual process, there does not remain a single person inJambudvlpa, the destruction of the persons ofJambudvlpa is finished.
The same for the inhabitants of Purvavideha and Avaragodaniya. The inhabitants of Uttarakuru are incapable of detaching themselves from Kamadhatu and, as a consequence, of entering into dhyana: they are also reborn, not in the world of Brahma, but among the gods of Kamadhatu.
When a single human being no longer remains, the destruction of humans is finished, and the world has been destroyed to this extent.
4. The same then holds for the gods of Kamadhatu, from the Caturmaharajakayikas to the Paranirmitava^avartins, who enter into dhyana and are reborn in the world of Brahma, and who successively disappear. When a single god no longer remains in Kamadhatu, the destuction of Kamadhatu is finished.
5. It then happens, by reason of dharmata, that a god of the world of Brahma enters into the Second Dhyana. Coming out of this Dhyana, he excaims, "Happy is the pleasure and joy that arise from absorption!
? Calm is the pleasure and joy that arise from absorption! " Understanding these words, other gods of the world of Brahma enter into the Second Dhyana and after their death, are reborn in the heaven of the Abhasvaras. When a single being no longer remains in the world of Brahma, the destruction of beings (sattvasamvartant) is finished and the world has been destroyed to that extent.
6. Then, by reason of the exhaustion of the collective action which
has created the physical world, and by reason of the emptiness of the
497
world, seven suns successively appear, and the world is entirely
consumed from this sphere with its continents to Meru. From this world
thus inflamed, the flame, conducted by the wind, burns the houses of the
498
world of Brahma. Even though it is well understood that the flame
that burns these houses is a flame of Rupadhatu, the destruction of Kamadhatu has not yet taken hold of Rupadhatu. But it is said that the flame goes from this world and burns the world of Brahma, because a new flame arises in relation to the first one.
So too, mutatis mutandis, is the destruction through water and through wind, which are similar to destruction through fire but which
499 extend higher.
The period that extends from the moment when beings cease to be born in the hells until the moment when the physical world has been destroyed is what is called a samvartakalpa, a kalpa of disappearance.
90c-d The kalpa of creation lasts from the primordial wind until the production of hellish beings.
From the primordial wind (prdgvayu) until the moment when beings arise in hells.
The world, which has been destroyed as we have seen, stays destroyed for a long time--during twenty small kalpas. There is only space where the world once was.
1. When, by reason of the collective action of beings, there appears the first signs of a future physical world; when some very light winds arise in space, then this period of twenty small kalpas during which the world remained destroyed is finished; and the period, also of twenty
500 small kalpas, during which the world is created, begins.
The winds come gradually and, finally, constitute a circle of wind; then there arises all of the receptacles as we have just described: a circle
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of water, a sphere of gold, Meru, etc. The mansion of Brahma appears
first and then all the mansions until those of the Yamas. But this is only
501 after the circle of wind arises.
The physical world is thus created, and the world is now created to this extent.
2. Then a being, dying in Abhasvara, is born in the mansion of Brahma which is empty; other beings, dying one after the other in Abhasvara, are born in the heaven of the Brahmapurohitas, the Brahmakayikas, the Paranirmitavasavartins and the other gods of Kamadhatu; in Uttarakuru, Godaniya, Videha, andJambudvlpa; among the Pretas and animals; and in the hells. The rule is that the beings who disappear last reappear first.
When a being is born in the hells, the period of creation, of twenty small kalpas, is finished, and the period of duration begins.
[The first small kdpa of the period of creation is used for the creation of the physical world, the mansion of Brahma, etc] During the nineteen small kalpas that complete this period, until the appearance of the beings in hell, the lifespan of humans is infinite in length.
91a-b. A small kdpa, in the course of which a lifespan, from infinite, becomes a lifespan ten years in length.
Humans, at the end of the period of creation, have an infinitely long lifespan; their lifespan diminishes when creation is achieved, until it is not more then ten years in length (iii. 98c-d). The period in which this diminution takes place constitutes the first small kdpa of the period of destruction.
91c-d. The eighteen kalpas which are of augmentation and of diminution.
A lifespan, which is now ten years in length, increases until it is eighty thousand years in length; then it decreases and is reduced to a length of ten years. The period in the course of which this increase and this decrease takes place is the second small kdpa.
This kdpa is followed by seventeen similar ones. 92a. One, of augmentatioa
The twentieth small kdpa is only of increase, not of decrease. The lifespan of humans increases from ten years to eighty thousand years in
? length.
How high, by increase, do these increases go?
502 92b. They go to a lifespan of eighty thousand
But not beyond. The time required for the increase and the decrease
of the eighteen kalpas is equal to the time that the decrease of the first 503
kdpa and the increase of the last take.
92c-d. In this way then the world stays created for twenty kalpas.
The world remains created for twenty small kalpas thus calculated. As long as this period of duration lasts,
93a-b. During the same length of time, the world is in the process of creation, in the process of disappearance, and in a state of disappearance.
The creation, the disappearance, and the period when the world disappears lasts a total of twenty small kalpas. There are not, during these three periods, any phases of increase and decrease of lifespan, but these periods are equal in length to the period during which the world remains created.
The physical world is created in one small kalpa\ it is filled during nineteen; it is emptied during nineteen; and it perishes in one small kdpa.
Four times twenty small kalpas make eighty: 93c. These eighty make a great kalpa.
This is the extent of a great kalpa. ***
Of what does a kalpa consist?
The kalpa is by nature the five skandhas.
***
It is said that the quality of Buddhahood is acquired through cultivation that last three asamkhyeya kalpas. To which among the four types of kalpas does this refer?
93d-94a. The quality of Buddhahood results from three of these
504
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? 480 Chapter Three
\kdpas\TM
Of these great kdpas that we have just defined
But the word asamkhya (-asamkhyaya) signifies "incalculable;" how can one speak of three "incalculables? "
One should not understand it in this manner, for, in an isolated 306
(muktaka) Sutra, it is said that numeration is to the sixteenth place. 507
What are these sixteen places?
One, not two, is the first place; ten times one is the second place; ten times ten (or one hundred) is the third; ten times one hundred (or one thousand) is the fourth. . . and so on, each term being worth ten times
the preceeding: prabheda (10,000), laksa (1000,000), atilaksa, koti, madhya, ayuta, mahdyuta, nayuta, mahanayuta, prayuta, mahdprayuta, kamkara, mahdkamkara, bimbara, mahabimbara, aksobhya, mahdkso- bhya, vivdha, mahdvivdha, utsanga, mahotsariga, vdfoana, mahdvdhana, tifibha, mahdtitibha, hetu, mahahetu, karabha, m&hakarabha, indra, mahendra, samdpta (or samdptam), mahdsamdpta (or mahasamap- tam), gati, mahdgati, nimbarajas, mahdnimbarajas, mudrd, mahamudra, bala, rnahdbala, samjria, mahdsamjnd, vibhuta, mahavibhuta, balaksa, mahdbalaksa, and asamkhya.
508 In this list eight numbers have been lost.
A great kdpa successively numbered (=multiplied) to the sixteenth m
place is called an asamkhyeya; if one begins again, one has a second, and a third asamkhyeya. An asamkhyeya [kalpa] does not receive its name from the fact that it is incalculable.
***
But why do the Bodhisattvas, once they have undertaken the resolution to obtain supreme Bodhi, take such a long time to obtain it?
Because supreme Bodhi is very difficult to obtain: one needs a great accumulation of knowledge and merit, and of innumerable heroic works in the course of three asamkhyeya kdpas.
One would understand that the Bodhisattva searches out this Bodhi so difficult to obtain, if this Bodhi were the sole means of arriving at deliverance; but such is not the case. Why then do they undertake this infinite labor?
? For the good of others, because they want to become capable of pulling others out of the great flood of suffering.
But what personal good do they find in the good of others?
The gpod of others is their own good, because they desire it.
Who believes this?
In truth, persons devoid of pity and who think only of themselves
believe with difficulty in the altruism of the Bodhisattvas; but compassionate persons believe in it easily. Don't we see that certain persons, confirmed in the absence of pity, find pleasure in the suffering of others even when it is not to their benefit? In the same way one must admit that the Bodhisattvas, confirmed in pity, find pleasure in doing good to others without any egoistic concerns. Don't we see that certain persons, ignorant of the true nature of the conditioned dharmas (i. e. , the samskaras) that constitute their pretended "self," are attached to these dharmas through the force of habit, as completely devoid of personality as these dharmas are, and suffer a thousand pains by reason of this attachment? In the same way one must admit that the Bodhisattvas, through the force of habit, detach themselves from the dharmas that constitute the pretended "self," no longer consider these dharmas as "me" and "mine," increase compassionate solicitude for others, and are ready to suffer a thousand pains because of this solicitude.
In a few words, there is a certain category of persons, who,
indifferent to what concerns them personally, are happy through the
well-being of others, and are unhappy through the suffering of
51
others. ? For them, to be useful to others is to be useful to themselves. A
stanza says, "An inferior person searches out, by all means, his personal well-being; a mediocre person searches out the destruction of suffering, not well-being, because well-being is the cause of suffering; an excellent person, through his personal suffering, searches out the well-being and the definitive destruction of the suffering of others, for he suffers from
511 the suffering of others. "
***
During what periods do the Buddhas appear, during a period of increase or during a period of decrease?
512 94a-b. They appear during the decrease to one hundred.
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The Buddhas appear during the period of the decrease of lifespan, when the length of life decreases from eighty thousand years to one hundred years in length.
Why do they not appear when life decreases from one hundred to ten years?
Because the five corruptions (dyuhkasdya, kalpakasdya, klesakasdya, 513 514
drstikasdya, and sattvakasaya) then become very strong.
In the final period of the decrease of lifespan, the length of life (or
dyus) becomes bad, base; being corrupted, it is called a kasdya or "corruption;" the same for the other corruptions.
The first two corruptions deteriorate the vitality and the means of
515
subsistance. The next two corruptions deteriorate the good; the
corruption of defilements deteriorate beings through laxity (kamasuka-
hallikd); the corruption of views through the practice of painful
asceticism; or rather the corruption of defilement and the corruption of
views deteriorate respeaively the spiritual good of householders and of
516
wanderers. The corruption of beings deteriorates beings from the
physical and the mental point of view; it deteriorates their height, beauty, health, force, intelligence, memory, energy, and firmness.
***
During what periods do the Pratyekabuddhas appear?
94c. The Pratyekabuddhas appear in the course of two
517 periods.
They appear during the period of increase and during the period of
decrease of lifespan. One distinguishes in fact two types of Pratye-
kabuddhas: those that live in a group (vargacdrin), [and who also appear 518
during the period of increase], and those who live like a rhinoceros. a. The first are the ancient Sravakas [who will obtain the first or
second result of the Sravakas under the reign of a Buddha].
According to another opinion, there are also Prthagjanas who have 519
realized, in the vehicle of the Sravakas, the nirvedhabhagtyas (vi. 20); in the course of a subsequent existence, by themselves, they will realize the Way. The masters who follow this opinion find an argument in the
? 520
where they read, "Five hundred ascetics cultivated painful austerities on a mountain. A monkey who had lived in the company of Pratyekabuddhas imitated the attitudes of the Pratyekabuddhas in front of them. These ascetics then imitated the monkey and, they say, obtained the Bodhi of the Pratyekabuddhas. " It is dear, say these masters, that these ascetics were not Aryans, Sravakas; for, if they had previously obtained the result of the Sravakas, namely liberation from rules and rituals (filavratapardmarsa, v. French trans, p. 18), they would not have given themselves up later to painful austerities.
b. The Pratyekabuddhas who are "like a rhinoceros" live alone.
521 94d The Rhinoceros by reason of one hundred kalpas.
The Rhinoceros has cultivated for one hundred great kalpas in his preparation for Bodhi, [that is, he has cultivated morality, absorption, mdprajna]. He obtains Bodhi (vi. 67) without the help of the teaching or dgama, but alone. He is a Pratyekabuddha because he himself brings about his salvation without converting others.
Why does he not apply himself to the conversion of others? He is certainly capable of teaching the Law: he possesses the comprehensions (pratisamvids, vii. 37b): [and even if he does not possess them,] he can [through his pranidhijnana, vii. 37a] remember the teachings of the ancient Buddhas. He is no longer deprived of pity, for he manifests his
522 supernormal power with a view to being of service to beings. He can
no longer say that beings are "unconvertible" in the period in which he
lives, for, in this period--the period of decrease of life--beings can
523
detach themselves from Kamadhatu by the worldly path. Why then
does he not teach the Law?
By reason of his previous habit [of solitude], he finds pleasure in,
and aspires to absence of turmoil; he does not have the courage to apply himself to making others understand the profound Dharnia: he would have to make disciples; he would have to conduct the multitude who follow the current against the current, and this is a difficult thing. Now he fears being distracted from his absorption and of entering into
524 contact (samsarga, vi. 6a) with humans.
Purvakathd
***
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? 484
Chapter Three
95-96. The Cakravartin Kings do not appear when lifespan is under eighty thousand years in length; they have a wheel of gpld, a wheel of silver, a wheel of cooper, and a wheel of iron; in inverse order, he reigns over one, two, three, or four continents; but never two at once, like the Buddhas; they triumph through spontaneous default, personal influence, fighting, or the sword,
525
1. The Cakravartin Kings appear from the period when the lifespan of humans is infinite to the period when their lifespan is eighty thousand years in length; not when life is shorter, for then the world is no longer a suitable receptacle for their glorious prosperity.
They are called Cakravartins, because their nature is to reign (rdjyam
526
cakrena vartayitum).
527
2. There are four types of Cakravartin Kings, Suvarncakravartin,
Rupyacakravartin, Tamracakravartin, and Aya&akravartin, accordingly as their wheel (cakra) is of gold, silver, copper, or iron: the first is the best, the second is almost best, the third is mediocre, and the fourth is inferior. The Cakravartin whose wheel is iron reigns over one continent, the Cakravartin whose wheel is copper reigns over two continents, and soon.
528
This is the doctrine of the Prajnapti. A Sutra, in fact, speaks only
of a Cakravartin King having a wheel of gold, by reason of his greater
importance, "When, to a king of royal and consecrated race--who, even
in the days of his youth, on the fifteenth day, having washed his head,
having undertaken the obligations of youth, ascends accompanied by
this ministers to the terrace of his palace--there appears in the east the
jewel of a wheel having a thousand rays, a wheel having a rim, having a
hub, complete in all ways, beautiful, not made by the hand of an artisan,
529 530 all in gold --this king is a Cakravartin King. "
3. Two Cakravartins, the same as two Buddhas, do not appear at the same time. The Sutra says, "It is impossible in the present, or in the future, for two Tathagatas, Arhats, perfect Buddhas to appear in the world without one preceding and the other following. It is impossible. It is the rule that there is only one. And this holds for the Cakravartins as
531 for the Tathagatas. "
but always without doing evil
Here a question is raised. What is the meaning of the expression "in
? the world? " Does this mean "in a great Trisahasra universe" (iii. 74), or
532 "in all the universes? "
According to one opinion, the Buddhas do not appear elsewhere
533
[that is: in two great universes at once] because the coexistence of two
Buddhas would create an obstacle to the power of the Blessed Ones. A single Blessed One applies himself wheresoever: where a Blessed One does not apply himself to the converting of beings, other Blessed Ones do not apply themselves either. Further, we read in the Sutra, " 'Sariputra, if someone comes and asks you if there now exists someone,
534
a Bhiksu or a Brahmin, who is equal to the ascetic Gautama with
regard to Samyaksambodhi, what would you answer him? '
"'If someone were to interrogate me thus, Oh Venerable One, I would answer him that there does not exist now anyone, Bhiksu or
Brahmin, who is the equal of the Blessed One. And why would I respond in this manner? Because I have heard and understood of the Blessed One, that it is impossible, both in the present and in the future, for two Blessed Ones, Arhats, perfea Buddhas to appear in the world without
535 one preceding and the other following/"
Objection: How then are we to understand what the Blessed One
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said in the Brahmastitra, * "I exercise my power even over a great
Trisahasra universe? "
This text should not be taken literally: it means that without making
an effort (without making a special act of attention), the Buddha sees as
far as this limit. When he desires it, his seeing goes wherever he wills it
537 without limit.
According to other schools, the Buddhas appear at the same time, but in many universes. Here are their arguments. One sees that many persons apply themselves at the same time to the preparations [for Bodhi]. Certainly, it is not proper that many Buddhas should appear at the same time in the same spot (=in the same universe); but, on the other hand, nothing prevents many Buddhas from appearing at the
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same time: thus they appear in different universes. The universes are
infinite in number, so even if the Blessed One lives an entire kalpa, he cannot go about in the infinity of the universe as he does here; all the more so if he only lives a human lifetime.
What is this activity of the Blessed One?
He wills that a person's faculty (faith, etc. )--by reason of such a
The World 485
? 486 Chapter Three
person, of such a place and of such conditions of time, due to the disappearance of such a defect and to the realization of such a cause, and in such a manner--if not arisen should arise, and if not perfected should be perfected
Objection:But we have quoted the Sutra, "It is impossible for two Tathagatas to appear in the world without one preceding and the other following. "
Answer: There is reason to examine if this text refers to one
universe--a universe with its four continents, a great Trisahasra
universe--or to all universes. Let us observe that the rule which
concerns the appearance of the Cakravartin Kings is formulated in the
same terms as those that concern the appearance of the Tathagatas.
Would you deny that Cakravartin Kings could appear at the same time?
If you do not deny this, why not also admit that the Buddhas, which are
the foundation of merit, appear at the same time in different
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universes? What is wrong with numerous Buddhas appearing in
numerous universes? Innumerable beings would thus obtain both temporal well-being and supreme happiness.
