法苑珠林 1.25

1.25

According to the new Vibhāṣā-śāstra: Kalpas are of three kinds: first, intermediate kalpas; second, kalpas of formation and destruction; third, mahākalpas. Intermediate kalpas are again of three kinds: first, kalpas of decrease; second, kalpas of increase; third, kalpas of increase and decrease. A decrease is when the human lifespan decreases from an immeasurable number of years down to ten years. An increase is when the human lifespan increases from ten years up to eighty thousand years. An increase and decrease is when the human lifespan increases from ten years up to eighty thousand years, and again decreases from eighty thousand years down to ten years. Here, one decrease, one increase, and eighteen increases-and-decreases—together these twenty intermediate kalpas are when the world forms. For twenty intermediate kalpas, having formed, it abides; these together are called the kalpa of formation. It undergoes twenty intermediate kalpas of the world's destruction. For twenty intermediate kalpas, having been destroyed, it remains empty; these together are called the kalpa of destruction. Altogether, eighty intermediate kalpas are together called a mahākalpa. Among the twenty intermediate kalpas during which it abides after having formed: the first is solely a decrease; the last is solely an increase; and the eighteen in between are both increases and decreases. Therefore the Abhidharmasamuccaya says: It is by these numbers of kalpas that the lifespans of the gods of the form and formless realms are revealed.