瑜伽師地論略纂 1.95

1.95

There are nine kinds of kalpas: First, the number of days, months, and years. The *Fahua lun* states: Days, nights, months, seasons, and years—reckoning by these—are the various kalpas spoken of in the *Lotus Sūtra*. The "Bodhisattvabhūmi" also says that kalpas are of two kinds: the first is the number of days, months, and years, and the second is the asaṃkhyeya. Second, the kalpa of increase and decrease: namely, the kalpas of the three minor disasters of famine, pestilence, and swords, which are called intermediate kalpas. Third, twenty kalpas making one kalpa: namely, the kalpa of the Brahmapāriṣadya devas. Fourth, forty kalpas making one kalpa: namely, the kalpa of the Brahmapurohita devas. Fifth, sixty kalpas making one kalpa: namely, the kalpa of the Mahābrahmā devas. The *Kośa* does not have this, only stating that the lifespan of Mahābrahmā is one and a half kalpas, taking forty kalpas as one kalpa. Sixth, eighty kalpas making one kalpa: namely, the kalpa of the fire disaster. Seventh, seven fires making one kalpa: namely, the kalpa of the water disaster. Eighth, seven waters making one kalpa: namely, the kalpa of the wind disaster. Ninth, three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. According to the twenty-fourth fascicle of the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra*, the "Asaṃkhyeya Chapter", there are one hundred and twenty numbers, the one-hundred-and-twentieth being named the asaṃkhyeya number. From water, fire, and wind up to the incalculable is called "incalculable" (asaṃkhyeya). According to the older *Saṃgraha*, thirty-three asaṃkhyeya kalpas are spoken of: the second kalpa is one small kalpa, because it constitutes twenty-one kalpas; the third kalpa is one medium kalpa, because it constitutes nine; the first kalpa is one great kalpa, because it constitutes three. Although there is this text, it cannot be relied upon, for one does not know how they accumulate to form an asaṃkhyeya. The *Yingluo jing* says that a city forty li [in size] is filled with mustard seeds, and one is removed every hundred years; when the mustard seeds are exhausted, that is called one kalpa. Some say a city of eighty li, a hundred li, or eight hundred li; or they speak of a rock of forty li, eighty li, a hundred li, or eight hundred li, which a Śuddhāvāsa deva wipes once every three years with a celestial robe weighing three zhu; when the mustard seeds or the rock are exhausted, that is called one kalpa. These vary according to the capacities [of beings] and cannot yet be reconciled. The twelfth fascicle of the *Kośa* cites the *Vimukti-sūtra* as stating sixty numbers, but there are only fifty-two, the other eight having been lost. Taking the fifty-second number as asaṃkhyeya, it still accumulates numbers by tens, unlike the *Avataṃsaka*, which from ten thousand onward doubles and redoubles them—meaning ten thousand ten-thousands is called a koṭi, and so forth, up to asaṃkhyeya, its count being exceedingly vast. This is the Mahāyāna doctrine, so the *Kośa* cannot be taken as authoritative proof; it is detailed in a separate chapter. As for Mahābrahmā, he is born as soon as the receptacle world first forms and dies only when it finally disintegrates; therefore his lifespan is sixty kalpas, unlike in other schools. Now, assuming that during the two kalpas of water and wind the periods of formation and disintegration are shorter, Mahābrahmā's lifespan of one kalpa is fixed in time. Because the cultivation and rebirth of the three grades of the three heavens differ, their kalpa numbers are accordingly distinct.