In Kumārajīva's Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra, the word "kalpa" is rendered as 劫數/jié-shǔ/kosshu.
One dictionary of Literary Chinese that I consulted online listed 劫數/jié-shǔ as meaning "predestined fate", but when I looked up the characters individually, I found that 劫/jié on its own is used as a character for "kalpa".
It's Middle Chinese pronunciation, kɨɐp̚, illustrates the similar sound that the character had to "kalpa" at the time that it was first rendered in Chinese. The word 劫/jié, on its own, however, also has two more semantic meanings:
1. take by force, coerce
2. disaster
Was this character selected purely for its phonological similarities to the word kalpa (kapla -> kɨɐp̚), or does its meaning have some significance in denoting the meaning of the word "kalpa" as it was understood at Kumārajīva's time? Does using 劫/jié as a word for "kalpa" relate to the notion in kalpa-cosmology that every world system ends in a kalpa of destruction/disaster?
Kalpa/Aeon/劫/jié/kotu
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Caoimhghín
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Kalpa/Aeon/劫/jié/kotu
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:
These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?
The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?
The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
Re: Kalpa/Aeon/劫/jié/kotu
From the /hanyu dacidian/ 漢語大詞典:
「劫數」
原為佛教語。 指極漫長的時間。 後亦指厄運， 災難， 大限。
So, 「劫數」 has its meaning derived from Buddhism which is "a very long time/aeon (circle)". It also refers to "fate, accident, great calamity"
For individual words, the 「劫」entry records:
4. 佛教名詞。 梵文kalpa的音譯， “劫波”(或“劫簸”)的略稱。 意為極久遠的時節。 古 印度 傳說世界經歷若干萬年毀滅一次， 重新再開始， 這樣一個周期叫做一“劫”。 “劫”的時間長短， 佛經有各種不同的說法。 一“劫”包括“成”、“住”、“壞”、“空”四個時期， 叫做“四劫”。 到“壞劫”時， 有水、火、風三災出現， 世界歸於毀滅。 後人借指天災人禍。
「劫」is a quick/short for 「劫波」, a "transliteration" of [kalpa]
Their ancient pronunciations are /kab/ 劫 and /pwa/ /paːl/ 波
So we have /kab pwa/ or /kab paːl/ 「劫波」which sounds similar enough to represent [kalpa].
I think the using of 「數」in 「劫數」is deliberate and very skilful as in Chinese, it means "number, to number, to measure" and also means "quick, urgent".
Although an aeon is very long, it can still be numbered, its length can be measured and it will ultimately cease (it is ceasing) (that is the fate, the accident, the calamity awaiting us). In comparison with the eternal, the unborn, the unbound, it apparently is "quick", fleeting, ephemeral. There is the sense of being urgent to realize the unborn, unbound. The days are numbered!
「劫數」
原為佛教語。 指極漫長的時間。 後亦指厄運， 災難， 大限。
So, 「劫數」 has its meaning derived from Buddhism which is "a very long time/aeon (circle)". It also refers to "fate, accident, great calamity"
For individual words, the 「劫」entry records:
4. 佛教名詞。 梵文kalpa的音譯， “劫波”(或“劫簸”)的略稱。 意為極久遠的時節。 古 印度 傳說世界經歷若干萬年毀滅一次， 重新再開始， 這樣一個周期叫做一“劫”。 “劫”的時間長短， 佛經有各種不同的說法。 一“劫”包括“成”、“住”、“壞”、“空”四個時期， 叫做“四劫”。 到“壞劫”時， 有水、火、風三災出現， 世界歸於毀滅。 後人借指天災人禍。
「劫」is a quick/short for 「劫波」, a "transliteration" of [kalpa]
Their ancient pronunciations are /kab/ 劫 and /pwa/ /paːl/ 波
So we have /kab pwa/ or /kab paːl/ 「劫波」which sounds similar enough to represent [kalpa].
I think the using of 「數」in 「劫數」is deliberate and very skilful as in Chinese, it means "number, to number, to measure" and also means "quick, urgent".
Although an aeon is very long, it can still be numbered, its length can be measured and it will ultimately cease (it is ceasing) (that is the fate, the accident, the calamity awaiting us). In comparison with the eternal, the unborn, the unbound, it apparently is "quick", fleeting, ephemeral. There is the sense of being urgent to realize the unborn, unbound. The days are numbered!