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How does buddha explain how the world came to be??
How does buddha explain how the world came to be??
Well in the religion I was raised in, Christianity I was tought that God Created the world. After studying Buddhism I never found out what buddha said about how the world came into existence. I want to know.
Well in the religion I was raised in, Christianity I was tought that God Created the world. After studying Buddhism I never found out what buddha said about how the world came into existence. I want to know.
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(The British among us will understand this joke... everyone else will be convinced I have gone quietly insane....!!)
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/1652/Creation.html
Sounds interesting but I think this quote from the tripitakka is more useful:
Once a man demanded that the Buddha tell him how the universe began. The Buddha said to him "You are like a man who has been shot with a poison arrow and who, when the doctor comes to remove it, says 'Wait! Before the arrow is removed I want to know the name of the man who shot it, what clan he comes from, which village he was born in. I want to know what type of wood his bow is made from, what feathers are on the end of the arrow, how long the arrows are, etc etc etc.' That man would die before all these questions could be answered. My job is to help you to remove the arrow of suffering from yourself" (Majjhima Nikaya Sutta No. 63).
bgn Is correct. The Buddha does not deal with such questions because such questions do not lead to the cessation of dukkha (unsatisfactoriness/stress/suffering). Here are a few more examples of the Buddha's teachings dealing with such topics:
"There are these four unconjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about them. Which four?
"The Buddha-range of the Buddhas [i.e., the range of powers a Buddha develops as a result of becoming a Buddha] is an unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.
"The jhana-range of a person in jhana [i.e., the range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana]...
"The [precise working out of the] results of kamma...
"Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the world is an unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.
"These are the four unconjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about them."
~ Acintita Sutta Anguttara Nikaya IV.77
"I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. Now at that time a large number of monks, after the meal, on returning from their alms round, had gathered at the meeting hall and were engaged in many kinds of bestial topics of conversation: conversation about kings, robbers, & ministers of state; armies, alarms, & battles; food & drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, & scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women & heroes; the gossip of the street & the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity, the creation of the world & of the sea; talk of whether things exist or not.
Then the Blessed One, emerging from his seclusion in the late afternoon, went to the meeting hall and, on arrival, sat down on a seat made ready. As he was sitting there, he addressed the monks: "For what topic of conversation are you gathered together here? In the midst of what topic of conversation have you been interrupted?"
"Just now, lord, after the meal, on returning from our alms round, we gathered at the meeting hall and got engaged in many kinds of bestial topics of conversation: conversation about kings, robbers, & ministers of state; armies, alarms, & battles; food & drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, & scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women & heroes; the gossip of the street & the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity, the creation of the world & of the sea; talk of whether things exist or not."
"It isn't right, monks, that sons of good families, on having gone forth out of faith from home to the homeless life, should get engaged in such topics of conversation, i.e., conversation about kings, robbers, & ministers of state... talk of whether things exist or not.
"There are these ten topics of [proper] conversation. Which ten? Talk on modesty, on contentment, on seclusion, on non-entanglement, on arousing persistence, on virtue, on concentration, on discernment, on release, and on the knowledge & vision of release. These are the ten topics of conversation. If you were to engage repeatedly in these ten topics of conversation, you would outshine even the sun & moon, so mighty, so powerful -- to say nothing of the wanderers of other sects."
~ Kathavatthu Sutta Anguttara Nikaya X.69
Our ancestors knew this truth but preachers want usa to follow their stories so that we shall go on giving them our love and money.
P.S. There is nothing quiet about Fede's madness, as, I am sure, Nick will attest.
:usflag: god bless america
i uderstood this part though!
Is that any clearer?
i agree i want to go to britian :ukflag: !!!! must be so cool :doh: !!! i could visit simon and become one of the crew :mullet: !! it woild be cool!
it gona be da best bus in da world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a bus that me and jon are going to buy a bus, and beef it up!!!!
shag carpets, bead curtains, take out all the seats, and put in some couches!!! mebee a disco ball, and som sub woofers!!! (massive speakers) :mullet:
NOW I GOTT TO GO YALL GO PARTY IN DA PARTY BUS(wich dosent existis)
:poke: :mullet:
People often ask, "Why are there human beings on earth?", "Where did the
ancestors of the human race come from?" or "How did the world come
about?" Questions such as these have plagued mankind since time
immemorial. The answers lie in the Buddhist scriptures and over the next
four issues, Venerable Shen-Kai shall deliberate on them.
The ancestors of the human race came from the Light-sound heaven (Abhasvara)
In the Abhidhamma Patika and other Buddhist scriptures, it was precisely
stated that the human race originated from the Light-sound heaven. Being
the most intellectual of all living things on this earth, the ancestors
of the human race could not possibly have been made from clay by some
divine gods; this is a myth. They could not have been evolved from apes;
this is a fallacy.
People often ask:
Where is the Light-sound heaven?
Why is it called the Light-sound heaven?
How did the human race come from the Light-sound heaven?
According to Buddhism, the various celestial levels of existence, in
ascending order, are divided into three worlds, namely:
(i) Field of Desires
(ii) Field of Forms
(iii) Field of Formless
The Light-sound heaven or Radiant Lustre is at the 3rd level of the
Heaven of the 2nd Dhyana or Jhana of the Field of Forms. The beings of
this heaven communicate not through sounds, but they emit pure radiant
lights from their mouths that represent what they wish to express and
the receiving party on seeing the lights is able to understand what they
mean. As lights represent sounds, hence this heaven is called the
Light-sound heaven. It is the most unique and wonderful level of the
three heavens of the 2nd Dhyana and is also called the "Heaven of
Radiant Lustre."
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol7no1a.htm
People often ask, "Why are there human beings on earth?", "Where did the
ancestors of the human race come from?" or "How did the world come
about?" Questions such as these have plagued mankind since time
immemorial. In the Abhidhamma Patika and other Buddhist scriptures, it
was precisely stated that the human race originated from the Light-sound
heaven.
In this Part 2 of The Earth People, Venerable Shen-Kai talks about the
first phase of the earth's formation and the arrival of the "earth people".
The evolving world goes through four stages, namely:
1. Formation
2. Existence
3. Destruction
4. Void or Emptiness
Each stage has a time span termed a "medium kalpa" [1]. Twenty "small
kalpas" make one "medium kalpa". The four stages, each termed a "medium
kalpa", make up a "great kalpa".
When the world reaches the final phase of the Stage of Destruction,
there will be great fires burning down hell, planet earth, other stars
and their cosmic worlds as well as the various heavens within the Field
of Desires. Prior reaching the heaven of the 1st Jhana of the Field of
Forms, the Devas, Bodhisattvas, Sages and those sentient beings who have
performed great virtuous deeds in the lower worlds will naturally be
saved. They have already been ascended to the Heaven of Radiant Lustre
where they will enjoy happiness and heavenly bliss.
Following the passing of twenty small kalpas in the Stage of Void or
Emptiness, the world will return to the beginning of a new Stage of
Formation. A big golden heavenly cloud will appear from the Heaven of
Radiant Lustre and heavy rain will fall to drench the burning worlds.
After the floodwater has receded, the various heavens below the heaven
of the 1st Jhana (or Dhyana) will reappear. The massive forces of
swirling on the remaining materials left over by the receding floodwater
will gradually solidify. This process is accompanied by the reappearance
of various planets in the sky - many are spherical in shape and others,
elliptical. This will, of course, include our earth and the orbiting
moon, as well as all the worlds below including the lowest level of
hell. As the extreme heat energies rotate and concentrate, many suns are
formed - this is what the astronomers called the stars, planets and
satellites. Within each galaxy system, the stars have their orbits
rotating around the sun, planets have their own orbits around the stars,
and satellites around the planets. The revolving stars, planets and
satellites coupled with their own rotations maintain motions, thus
creating day and night. Further, the process produces day, month, year
and the four seasons. However, it is to be noted that the time scales
are different between earth, the various worlds of existence in heavens
and other stellar systems.
For this period, a passage in the Chinese Old Text story "Qiong-Lin"
recorded similar description on the formation of the world. The text reads:
"When earth was first separated from heaven;
pure light air float to form the sky and the polluted air sink to form
the ground;
the sun, moon and five stars are called the seven-Polis;
the heaven, earth and humans are called the three-lords; and
the sun is the master of the "Yang" [2]
with the moon as the image of the "Yin" [3]
The above description is very close to what the Buddha said. Further,
records from Buddhist scriptures match very well with what astronomers
of today have found. It is in this manner that the world is returned to
the great natural phenomenon of the universe.
During the first phase of the formation of earth, the earth's crust
covering the ground was not fully solidified. The ground surface
appeared milky in colour. Looking from the celestial plane, the earth
shone brightly and afar. In the heaven of Radiant Lustre, many of those
celestial beings whose blissful life in the heaven was coming to an end
and who by disposition were more restless and impetuous, on seeing the
brightness, and out of curiosity, began to travel down to the earth.
They used their "clairvoyance feats" to fly down and reached different
continents of the earth. They saw fluid springing out from the ground
and they dipped their fingers in it. They tasted the fluid and found it
extremely tasty, sweet like honey. While the fluid was so tasty,
everyone craved for more. Those who had most, their bodies became rough
and heavier. They began to lose their light illusory physical forms and
their bodies slowly formed into the material body of bone and flesh. The
weight forced them to the ground and they lost their "clairvoyance
feats" and "natural heavenly clothes", and were unable to fly through
the skies to return to the celestial world. They began to lose many of
their intrinsic celestial qualities such as celestial colours, fragrant
scent, brightness, beauty, wisdom and their innate miraculous quality.
In particular, their "clairvoyance eyes" turned into human eyes; and
their "clairvoyance ears" became human ears. They became unable to
remember their past lives. They lost their special ability to read the
minds of others. They were unable to communicate by radiant light from
their mouths and they needed to depend on sounds from the movements of
their tongues. While without sufficient languages and vocabulary, they
needed sign language to assist them to fully communicate with each
other. They became ordinary human beings on earth. After running out of
the tasty fluid, they resorted to feed on thick weedy plants, then hard
crops from the wild. At that time, the life span of human being was long
and there was no disease or sickness. Later, they learned to plant crops
and vegetables. During the period of feeding from nature, those who were
greedy in feeding themselves acquired darker skin colours, ranging from
brown to black. Others who did not feed as much and those who arrived
later had lighter skin colour, ranging from fair to yellow. As time went
on, together with the influence by climatic conditions of different
regions (equatorial, temperate and cold regions), various skin coloured
races of people were formed.
Note:
[1] Kalpa:
1 small kalpa = 16.8 million years
20 small kalpas = 1 medium kalpa = 336 million years
80 small kalpas = 4 medium kalpas = 1 great kalpa = 1.344 billion years
[2] Yang:
Chinese philosophy; the masculine or positive principle in nature
[3] Yin:
Chinese philosophy; the feminine or negative principle in nature
The Abhidhamma Patika and other Buddhist scriptures have stated that the
human race originated from the Light-sound heaven. How do they become
the human race of today? What will happen to this earth eventually?
Venerable Shen-Kai answers these questions and more, in this concluding
serial of The Earth People. In addition we learn that the earth, as with
all phenomena in the universe, is subject to the four stages of
formation, existence, destruction and emptiness. There is no beginning
and no end, and the best way for us to live is to emulate the spirit and
virtuous deeds of the Bodhisattvas.
In the early days, small groups of people lived in scattered places;
each group used its own language for communication. The physical
separation between the groups and the lack of efficient means of
transportation resulted in the creation of hundreds and thousands of
different languages. These people were the ancestors of the many
different races in the world today.
The early inhabitants, after losing their “celestial clothing”, moved
around naked. While they played, their emotions on love and relationship
arose resulting in sexual desires. They began to feel shy and shameful.
At that time, grass and other plants were grown on earth and they used
leaves as clothes, partly to cover their naked bodies and partly to
protect themselves from the cold.
From the perspective of the other worlds, the earth’s light had turned
green, separating the seas and the land. The devas from other celestial
worlds dared not come anymore. The human beings on earth began to live
as husbands and wives. They raised children. They lived in caves and
later, they learned to build dwelling houses. With improved conditions,
the population grew. The six-sensory organs of the human being (eyes,
ears, nose, tongue, body and mind) began to differentiate and this
resulted in affliction and vexation. The innate bright and innocent
celestial nature disappeared, and in their places arose greed, anger,
ignorance….thereby formed the basis of Asura sentient beings. The Devas,
Human and Asura are beings of the three good realms. With the arising of
the evil deeds of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct… resulting in the
sentient beings in the three evil realms of animal, ghost and hell.
Together, these formed the transmigration process in the six realms of
existence. With this, all sentient beings have four modes of birth, namely,
i. Womb-born beings (jalabuja);
ii. Egg-born beings (andaja);
iii. Moisture-born beings (samsedaja);
iv. Gaseous form-born beings (opapatika).
and thousands and millions of different life forms.
These constitute the corresponding living spheres of the seas, land, sky
and motion.
The thinking of humanity and their lives changed from simple to complex
states. Some portions of the human race turned from the barbaric stage
to a civilised world. Some portions of primitive man that fed on raw
flesh and blood of birds and beasts gradually changed to civilisation.
The introduction of farming and trading is the beginning of agriculture
and commerce sectors. Some lived on making of farming tools, cooking
utensils and production of building materials, this was the beginning of
industry. In order to administer peace and justice arising from
arguments and fights caused by greed, anger, ignorance, killing,
stealing and sexual misconduct, virtuous and upright people were elected
to maintain law and order, and to manage the affairs of people in the
society. From these came education, social ethic and democratic
government. The advent of languages created written texts which led to
the flourishing of modern civilisation. The barbaric era ended.
Communities moved from small tribal groups into big societies, from
societies to countries, and from the competitive nature between
countries, and they further evolved through scientific progress into the
atomic age and the cosmic age.
When the human inhabitants first arrived on earth, the average life span
at that time was longer than 84,000 years. As the people distanced
themselves from good deeds and committed various evil deeds, the life
span shortened. For every 100 years, the average life span is reduced by
1 year. The human life span continued to shorten and when the life span
dropped down to an average of 10 years, disasters and calamities struck.
For those who were cultivating good deeds and had been staying away as
hermits, they survived. For those who had survived the disasters and
calamities, they realised their past mistakes and repented. Each began
to cultivate good deeds and promoted to the society to carry out good
deeds. With the effect of the communal good karma, the human life span
began to lengthen again. And when the age has reached 84,000 years, the
same decreasing process would repeat due to the arising of evil or
unwholesome deeds. One cycle of such an increasing-decreasing life span
is called a “small Kalpa”[1]. Twenty small kalpas make up a “medium
kalpa”. With this, the Stage of Formation is completed.
Next come the Stage of Existence. In this stage, the
increasing-decreasing life span of human beings also underwent twenty
small kalpas before it reaches the Stage of Destruction.
At the beginning of the Stage of Destruction, everything had developed
to the extremes. All the natural resources had been completely exhausted
and the earth severely damaged. The destruction process also went
through a period of twenty small kalpas. In the final days, the seas
dried up. Strong winds, big fires and heavy floods prevail. The Three
Disasters (The three major disasters for world destruction – fire, water
and wind) and Eight Difficulties (The eight conditions in which it is
difficult to encounter a Buddha or hear his Dharma: in the hells; as
hungry ghosts; as animals; in Uttarakuru (the northern continent where
all is pleasant); in the long-life heaven (where life is long and easy);
as deaf, blind and dumb; as worldly philosopher; in the intermediate
period between a Buddha and his successor.) all come upon the earth.
This is truly the “End of the World”.
When the earth is damaged, it enters into the Stage of Emptiness. This
emptiness stage also lasts for a long period of twenty small kalpas. At
the end of this period, big golden yellow clouds would appear and heavy
rain would pour down from the Light-sound heaven to put out the fires. A
new world is thereby created.
According to the above described process, the world has to go through
the four stages of Formation, Existence, Destruction and Emptiness which
are the four “medium kalpas”. One “Great Kalpa” needs to go through four
“medium kalpas” totaling eighty “small kalpas”.
In the Buddhist scriptures, the term “Three Great Kalpas” refers to the
Great Kalpas of the three periods of past, present and future.
In the previous world before our present earth world, the era was called
“Kalpa of Adornment”. During twenty small kalpas in the Stage of
Existence of the Adornment Kalpa, there were one thousand Buddhas in
existence to maintain the virtuous adornment of their world, hence its
unique naming. Today, the current era is called the “Kalpa of Virtue”.
In the twenty small kalpas of the Stage of Existence of this era, one
thousand Buddhas will also be born. The present Sakyamuni Buddha is the
fourth Buddha. When it comes to the fifth Buddha, his name will be
Maitreya Buddha. Today, he is commonly referred to as “Maitreya Buddha –
the Buddha to be”. He is presently not a Buddha and hence the name.
The next aeon is called the “Kalpa of Stars”. In this Kalpa of Stars,
within the twenty small kalpas of the Stage of Existence, there will
also be one thousand Buddhas.
When the earth of the “Kalpa of Stars” era is destroyed, a new earth
will be formed again. If the people of our present world wish to lead a
long and blissful life, it is really possible to fulfil this wish. All
that is needed is for the people to carry out good deeds, to cultivate
and emulate the aspiration of the Bodhisattvas, to contribute to the
beneficial deeds of Bodhisattvas, … and within the birth-death
transmigration in the six realms of existence to continually maintain
the human form lifetime after lifetime. When finally the “End of the
World” comes, their “nature-soul” will be saved and they will be born in
the Heaven of Light-sound where they will enjoy heavenly bliss.
The world may become damaged, but our “nature-soul” is non-ceasing. When
a new earth is formed, those beings will come down from the Heaven of
Light-sound, and due to the effect of the communal virtuous karma,
together a new world is created that will be a brighter, more stable,
peaceful and blissful Buddha World.
It is hoped that everyone will emulate the spirit and virtuous deeds of
the Bodhisattvas lifetime after lifetime, and never to regress from the
Bodhi path and enlightenment, but to continuously cultivate through the
aeon of “Three Great Kalpas”. While there are a thousand Buddhas born in
each Great Kalpa, if you could meet the Buddha in your lifetime and be
guided and blessed; then it is definitely possible to become a Buddha in
the next Great Kalpa after the “Kalpa of Stars” era. Therefore, Jen Chen
Buddhism advocates the development of a blissful world on this earth.
Such virtuous deeds shall bring about boundless blessings and longevity,
and in the coming “kalpa” eras, everyone will become a Buddha.
cheers,
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/
There is a link Venerable Master She-Kai in English with probably answer your question.
cheers,