經律異相 1.85

1.85

劫初時人壽四萬歲。後轉減促止於百年。漸復不全乃至十歲（雜心同小劫經抄云十二餘歲）女生五月皆已行嫁。十歲之時謂三小劫。一刀兵。二飢餓（出長阿含經云穀貴）三疾病。刀兵劫者。人多貪麁行十惡法。若行一善眾共𧨘笑。推以為愚爭共陵滅。相斆作惡無一善人。五穀不生美味消滅。繒絹劫貝自然而盡。但食稊稗織草為衣。七寶沈沒沙石充遍。地生荊棘枝葉大小皆是刀劍拱木倒壞。地盡溝坑涌波崩岸。江河稍廣平地漸減。刀兵一起經七日中。手執草木瓦石悉成刀劍。更相劫奪懍懍恐懼但欲相殺。猶如獵師遇見群鹿。中有智者遠藏山谷無人之處。食果飲水以盡十年（長阿含云自在七日更出人間）相殺盡者生地獄中。名刀兵劫。

At the beginning of the kalpa, human life spanned forty thousand years; later it gradually decreased until it ceased at one hundred years; and gradually it diminished further until it reached ten years (the Za xin tong xiaojie jing chao says twelve-plus years), when females were married off at five months of age. At the time of ten years, they are called the three minor kalpas: first, the sword and weapon; second, famine (the Dīrghāgama calls it dearness of grain); third, pestilence. In the kalpa of swords and weapons, people are mostly greedy and crude, practicing the ten unwholesome deeds. If someone performs a single good deed, all mock them together, deeming them fools and vying to bully and destroy them. They imitate one another in doing evil, and there is not a single wholesome person. The five grains do not grow, and delicious flavors vanish. Silk, gauze, and karpāsa cotton naturally disappear. They only eat tares and wild grass, and weave grass for clothing. The seven treasures sink away, and sand and stones fill the land. The earth sprouts thistles and thorns; branches and leaves, large and small, are all swords; tall trees topple and break; the ground is entirely gullies and pits; surging waves collapse the riverbanks; rivers gradually widen and flat ground gradually diminishes. Once swords and weapons arise, it lasts for seven days. What they hold in their hands—grass, wood, tiles, and stones—all turn into swords and knives. They plunder one another, trembling with fear and desiring only to kill each other, just like a hunter coming across a herd of deer. Among them, the wise hide far away in mountain valleys uninhabited by people, eating fruit and drinking water to survive the ten years (the Dīrghāgama says they freely emerge back into the human realm after seven days). Those who are completely killed off are born in hell. This is called the kalpa of swords and weapons.