法苑珠林 8.9

8.9

述曰。今據賢劫一代分為四時。一成二住三壞四空。就此四中。成劫已住。壞空未至。今在住劫。故有千佛出現。大約而言。三佛已往。今是第四釋尊遺法。此四時中各分二十小劫。總為八十小劫。始為一大水火風劫。名為賢劫也。就住中二十別小劫內。依立世阿毘曇論云。十一劫是未來。八劫是過去。今釋迦佛當第九劫內成佛。

The exposition states: Now, relying on the single era of the Bhadrakalpa, it is divided into four periods: first, formation; second, duration; third, destruction; and fourth, emptiness. Among these four, the kalpa of formation has already stayed, and destruction and emptiness have not yet arrived. We are presently in the kalpa of duration, and therefore a thousand Buddhas appear. Broadly speaking, three Buddhas have already passed, and now is the fourth, the bequeathed Dharma of the World-Honoured Śākya. Within these four periods, each is divided into twenty antarakalpas, making eighty antarakalpas in total, which together constitute one great kalpa of water, fire, and wind, named the Bhadrakalpa. Among the twenty distinct antarakalpas in the period of duration, according to the Lokasthitābhidharma-śāstra, eleven kalpas belong to the future, and eight kalpas belong to the past. Now Śākyamuni Buddha attained Buddhahood within the ninth kalpa.