Scale of Time in the Lotus Sutra

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Queequeg
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Scale of Time in the Lotus Sutra

Post by Queequeg »

My math is rusty, but this is a stab at quantifying some of the periods of time described in the Lotus Sutra.

Note, superscript code is apparently disabled on the forum, so the little numbers should be read as superscript.

If:
Kalpa = 16,798,000 years = 1.6798(107)
Koti = 10,000,000 = 108
Nayuta = 100,000,000,000 = 1011
Immeasurable = ∞
Limitless = ∞
Incalculable = ∞
Myriads = ∞

Chapter 7 – Parinirvana of Mahābhijnājnānābhibhū Tathagata

“Suppose there were a man who ground the earth of the entire great manifold cosmos into powdered ink”

X = powdered ink particles of the earth of the entire great manifold cosmos

"passes through a thousand worlds to the east, where he let fall a single particle of ink, the size of a speck of dust. After passing through another thousand worlds, he let fall another particle; and he continued in this way until he had completely used all the ink.”

X x 1000 = 103X

“O monks! Suppose that all the worlds this man passed through, whether letting fall a particle or not, were all ground into dust,

103X x X = 103X2

and one speck of this dust were equal to one kalpa.

103X2 x 1.6798(107) = 1.6798 1010X2

“The time since the parinirvāṇa of this buddha surpasses this number by immeasurable, limitless, incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of kalpas”

1.6798(1010)X2 x ∞ x ∞ x ∞ x 100,000 x ∞ 108 = 1.6798(1023)∞4X2

time since the parinirvāṇa of this buddha > 1.6798(1023)∞4X2 years

Chapter 16 – The Buddha’s First Enlightenment

“Suppose there were a man who ground five hundreds of thousands myriads of koṭis of nayutas of incalculable great manifold cosmos into particles.

500,000 x ∞ x 108 x 1011 x ∞ X = 5(105)(108)(1011)∞2X = 5(1024)∞2X

While passing through five hundred thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of incalculable lands to the east, he dropped just a single particle; and in this way he continued to drop the particles as he went toward the east, until they were all gone.

5(1024)∞2 x 5(1024)∞2X = 2.5(1049)∞4X

“O sons of a virtuous family! I will now explain it clearly to you. Suppose all these worlds, whether or not a particle was left in them, were reduced to particles,

2.5(1049)∞4X x X = 2.5(1049)∞4X2

and each particle represented a kalpa.

2.5(1049)∞4X2 x 1.6798(107) = 4.1995(1056)∞4X2

The period of time since I became a buddha would exceed this by hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of incalculable kalpas.

4.1995(1056)∞4X2 x 100,000 x ∞ x ∞ x ∞ x ∞ = 4.1995(1061)∞8X2

period of time since Shakyamuni became a buddha > 4.1995(1061)∞8X2 years

Wrap your head around that.

And so, that's why Shakyamuni remarks in the second chapter:

“O Śāriputra! To put it briefly, the buddhas have attained this immeasurable, limitless, and unprecedented Dharma. Enough, O Śāriputra, I will speak no further. Why is this? Because the Dharma that the buddhas have attained is foremost, unique, and difficult to understand. No one but the buddhas can completely know the real aspects of all dharmas..."

The Buddha explains in Chapter 17:

“O Ajita! Those sentient beings who hear about the great length of the Buddha’s lifespan, and can awaken even a single thought of willing acceptance, will all obtain immeasurable merit."
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Queequeg
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Re: Scale of Time in the Lotus Sutra

Post by Queequeg »

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."

-Oliver Wendell Holmes
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
Son of Buddha
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Re: Scale of Time in the Lotus Sutra

Post by Son of Buddha »

good stuff.
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