Formation (සම්භව)
The universe arises, realms and beings begin to form. Symbolizes the arising of conditions.
Kalpa (කල්පය) — World cycle
A kalpa is an unimaginably long period of time, divided into phases of arising, duration, decline, and destruction. It illustrates the vastness of saṃsāra and the impermanence of even cosmic structures.
Types of Kalpas
- Regular Kalpa (පකති කල්පය): The basic unit of immense time.
- Small Kalpa (අන්තර කල්පය): Shorter cycles linked to changes in human lifespans and morality.
- Great Kalpa (මහා කල්පය): Composed of four stages — formation, duration, destruction, and emptiness.
- Incalculable Kalpa (අසංඛෙය්ය කල්පය): Used to describe the vast time bodhisattvas spend cultivating perfections before Buddhahood.
Metaphors for Length
The Buddha used vivid analogies to show how vast a kalpa is:
- A mountain of solid rock brushed once every 100 years with a silk cloth would wear away before a kalpa ends.
- A city filled with sesame seeds, with one seed removed every 100 years, would be emptied before a kalpa ends.
Spiritual Significance
Kalpas remind practitioners of the immeasurable span of saṃsāra. Bodhisattvas cultivate virtues across countless kalpas before attaining Buddhahood. The teaching emphasizes urgency in practice, since liberation is rare even across infinite cycles.
Four Stages of a Great Kalpa
Duration (තිරස්ථායී)
The cosmos endures for vast ages. Beings live, evolve, and experience karmic cycles.
Destruction (සංහාරය)
Worlds collapse through fire, water, or wind. Symbolizes impermanence and cosmic renewal.
Emptiness (සුන්යතාව)
A period of void before the next formation. Symbolizes the silence between cycles.
Metaphor of Vastness: The Buddha compared a kalpa to a mountain of solid rock, one yojana wide and high.
If a person brushed it once every hundred years with a silk cloth, the mountain would wear away
before a single kalpa ended. This teaching shows how immeasurable and inconceivable the span of a kalpa truly is.
Metaphor of Vastness: Imagine a great city filled with sesame seeds.
If one seed were removed every hundred years, the city would be emptied
before a single kalpa came to an end. This image emphasizes the immeasurable
span of cosmic time and the urgency of liberation within saṃsāra.
Four destructions (සංහාරය හතර)
Fire destruction (අග්ගි සංහාරය)
Worlds consumed by fire, symbolizing impermanence and transformation.
Water destruction (ආප සංහාරය)
Worlds destroyed by floods, symbolizing cleansing and renewal.
Wind destruction (වයු සංහාරය)
Worlds swept away by storms, symbolizing impermanence and fragility.
Kamma destruction (කර්ම සංහාරය)
Moral decline leading to collapse of Dharma, symbolizing ethical causality.
Cycle of beings (සත්ත්ව චක්රය)
Beings rise and fall across realms: hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, devas, brahmas. Lifespans expand and contract with morality, showing the link between ethics and existence.
Symbolic meaning (සංකේතමය අර්ථය)
Cosmology is not astronomy but moral teaching. Worlds rise and fall, lifespans expand and contract, Dharma declines and renews. It is a cosmic mirror of impermanence and ethical causality.
Sources and Further Reading (මූලාශ්ර සහ වැඩිදුර කියවීම)
- Aggañña Sutta (DN 27) — Access to Insight
- Cakkavatti Sīhanāda Sutta (DN 26) — Access to Insight
- Kalpa — Encyclopedia of Buddhism
These sources provide canonical context and scholarly interpretation of Buddhist cosmology and world cycles.