薩缽多酥哩踰捺野經

Thus have I heard:

At one time the Buddha was dwelling at the Storied Pavilion Monastery by the Markata-hrada Pond, in the country of Vaisali. At that time the World-Honored One addressed the bhiksus:

"All of you now, listen well and carefully: 'All formations are impermanent; they are subject to the law of arising and ceasing; they are not firm, not real, not ultimate, cannot be relied upon, and cannot be delighted in.' You should know that you must diligently and energetically strive to seek liberation. O bhiksus, time cannot remain long; it changes in every single thought-moment.

"From now on, when the kalpa is about to end, the heavens will give no rain, and the human world will suffer drought; throughout the entire great earth, all trees, forests and thickets, the hundred kinds of grain and seedlings, and all flowers and fruits will be parched and withered, and none will come to fruition.

"O bhiksus, you should know that: 'All formations are impermanent; they are subject to the law of arising and ceasing; they are not firm, not real, not ultimate, cannot be relied upon, and cannot be delighted in.' You should exert your strength and energetically strive to seek liberation.

"O bhiksus, when the kalpa is about to be destroyed, two suns will appear and scorch the world, and the heat will grow greater day by day. Throughout the entire great earth, all the trees, forests and thickets, their roots, branches, twigs and leaves, will all be destroyed until nothing remains. O bhiksus, impermanence is like this; it cannot be preserved for long. Now then, you must exert your strength and energetically strive to seek liberation.

"Furthermore, O bhiksus, when the kalpa is about to be destroyed, three suns will appear and scorch the world, and the heat will be fiercer than before. Throughout the entire great earth, all the small rivers and streams and all the brooks and springs will be dried up, with not a drop of water remaining. Bhiksus, you should know that impermanence is like this—who can escape it? Therefore I now earnestly exhort you: quickly seek liberation.

"O bhiksus, when the kalpa is about to be destroyed, four suns will appear and scorch the world, and the heat will be fiercer than before. Throughout the entire great earth, there will not be a pond or lake that is not heated to the boiling point. The four great rivers—the Ganga River, the Sindhu River, the Sita River, and the Vaksu River—will all be dried up, with not a drop of water remaining. O bhiksus, you should know that impermanence is like this—who can escape it? You should each reflect upon this, harbor no more thoughts of indolence and arrogance, and quickly seek liberation.

"O bhiksus, when the kalpa is about to be destroyed, five suns will appear and scorch the world, and the heat will be fiercer than before. The waters of the great ocean upon the great earth will gradually recede—one hundred yojanas, two hundred yojanas, three hundred yojanas, up to one thousand yojanas. When the suns scorch fiercely, the whole sky scatters down destruction. Furthermore, the ocean waters will decrease to two thousand yojanas, three thousand yojanas, up to seven thousand yojanas; and having thus decreased, the other sources of water in the ocean will likewise be reduced to only seven thousand yojanas.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven thousand yojanas, will gradually decrease further to six thousand yojanas, five thousand yojanas, four thousand yojanas, until there remain only seven hundred yojanas.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven hundred yojanas, will gradually decrease further to six hundred yojanas, five hundred yojanas, four hundred yojanas, until there remain only seven yojanas.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven yojanas, will gradually decrease further to six yojanas, five yojanas, four yojanas, until there remain only seven yojanas.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven yojanas, will gradually decrease further to six yojanas, five yojanas, four yojanas, until there remain only seven krosas.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven krosas, will gradually decrease further to six krosas, five krosas, four krosas, until there remain only seven tala trees.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven tala trees, will gradually decrease further to six tala trees, five tala trees, four tala trees, until they equal the height of seven men standing.

"O bhiksus, thus the ocean waters, from seven men standing, will gradually decrease further to six men standing, five men standing, four men standing, until there remains one man standing; then to the neck of a man, to the hips of a man, to the navel of a man, to the waist of a man, to the knees, to the ankles of a man, until there remains but one toe—and then in an instant the great earth is parched and burned. At that time the world will have only the great earth, the mountains and rivers; apart from these, nothing whatever remains."

The Buddha said:

"O bhiksus, all formations are impermanent, subject to arising and ceasing, not abiding still, not real, not firm. With regard to them you should quickly seek liberation.

"O bhiksus, when the kalpa is about to be destroyed, six suns will appear, and the whole great earth will burn; the rocky mountains will melt and flow, and Mount Sumeru, king of mountains, will give off smoke—just as when bricks and tiles are fired and black smoke rises up, so it will be likewise. At that time the world cannot be looked upon. O bhiksus, impermanence, arising and ceasing, non-abiding—it is thus. You should redouble your diligence, cast away the mind of craving and attachment, and quickly seek liberation.

"O bhiksus, when the kalpa is about to be destroyed, seven suns will appear, and the heat will be fierce. Suddenly fire will blaze up fiercely, as though burning ten heaps of firewood, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand heaps of firewood, until the small-thousand world and the gods of the Six Desire Heavens all become a single mass of fire. Having scorched the desire realm, it then reaches the First Dhyana of the Brahma world, and the flames likewise blaze up of themselves, scorching the palaces one hundred yojanas high, or two hundred yojanas, three hundred yojanas, up to seven thousand yojanas of the receptacle-world.

Such palaces all become a single mass of fire, up to the Second Dhyana. The Brahma multitudes newly born there will see the flames blazing fiercely below, and in their hearts they will be utterly terrified and seek some way to escape the calamity of fire. Then those gods born earlier in the Second Dhyana will say to them:

"'You, through wholesome conditions from former lives, have been born into our palaces. Set your minds at ease and give rise to no fear. The fire of the earth-sphere below will not long from now extinguish of itself.'

"Having spoken thus, suddenly a great wind arose and blew out the smoke and fire, leaving no ashes or cinders at all. It was like a person who, in empty space, takes ghee and butter to kindle a torch, and when the torch has burned out there remain no black smoke and no ashes at all. After the flames had ceased, it was likewise just so."

The Buddha said:

"O bhiksus, the conditioned dharmas arise and cease, do not abide; they are deluded dharmas, not firm, not real, not ultimate, and cannot bring peace and joy. Depart far from craving and attachment, and quickly seek liberation. If there were no craving and attachment, then by what cause and condition would the great earth and the gods be destroyed and cease to exist?

"Furthermore, O bhiksus, as in a past kalpa there was a Buddha who appeared in the world named Sunetra Tathagata, who had immeasurable, boundless multitudes of sravakas, as well as Brahma gods and assemblies of non-Buddhist practitioners who had departed from desire and possessed spiritual powers. Sunetra Tathagata, for the sake of the sravakas, expounded the Dharma of pure and holy conduct, profound and ultimate in meaning.

At that time the bhiksus... attained all the precepts and Dharma complete and full, and cultivated according to their wish: some practiced the contemplation of the Four Immeasurables, severed the defilement and impurity of desire, and were born up in the Brahma Heaven. Some wished to be born in the Heaven of Mastery over Others' Creations, some wished to be born in the Heaven of Delight in Creations, wished to be born in the Tusita Heaven, wished to be born in the Yama Heaven, wished to be born in the Trayastrimsa Heaven, wished to be born in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, wished to be born into a Ksatriya house, wished to be born into a Brahmin house, wished to be born into the house of an elder or a layman.

"At that time Sunetra Tathagata thought thus: 'Now let me cause the assembly of sravakas of like practice and vow, of like birth, of like majestic power, to enter into the second meditative absorption of Maitreya.' Having thought thus, he then entered into the second meditative absorption of Maitreya. At that time there were immeasurable hundreds of thousands of sravakas, non-Buddhist practitioners, and others, who all cultivated this concentration and all attained birth in the Brahma Heaven above."

The Buddha said:

"O bhiksus, the Sunetra Tathagata of former times was in truth no other Buddha—it was my own body. Although those beings were born in the Second Dhyana and escaped the calamity of the fire below, they had not yet departed from the seeds of greed, hatred, and delusion, and therefore could not be liberated from birth, old age, sickness, and death.

"O bhiksus, the Tathagata is the Worthy One of Perfect Right Awakening, the teacher of gods and humans, who has departed far from greed, hatred, delusion, and all afflictions, and has been liberated from birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, and suffering; and again, for the multitudes of Brahma gods, sravakas, and others, he expounds the Dharma of pure conduct in accordance with their faculties. When all have heard it, some sever entirely both discriminated and innate desire and realize the fruit of Anagamin.

Some sever the discriminated and the three grades of the innate and realize the fruit of Sakridagamin. Some, though they have severed entirely the discriminated, have not yet severed the innate, and realize the fruit of Srotaapanna; they receive the karmic reward of gods and humans, and pass through seven more rebirths before becoming an Arhat."

The Buddha said:

"O bhiksus, such going forth, such holy conduct, such realized fruits—by these one is freed from the bounds of suffering and attains liberation. Now then, all of you, with the utmost of your minds and resolve, renounce craving and attachment, and aspire to the path of awakening."

At that time, when the World-Honored One had finished expounding this Dharma, the bhiksus, having heard the Buddha's teaching, were utterly delighted in their hearts, received it in faith, and reverently practiced it.

THE BUDDHA SPEAKS THE SUTRA

SAPTA-SURYODAYA