http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol7no2a.htm
Volume 7 no 2
Feature
THE EARTH PEOPLE - Part 2
The Arrival
People
often ask, "Why are there human beings on earth?", "Where did the
ancestors of the human race come from?" or "How did the world come
about?" Questions such as these have plagued mankind since time
immemorial. In the Abhidhamma Patika and other Buddhist scriptures,
it was precisely stated that the human race originated from the
Light-sound heaven.
In this Part 2 of The Earth People, Venerable Shen-Kai talks about
the first phase of the earth's formation and the arrival of the
"earth people".
The evolving world goes through
four stages, namely:
1. Formation
2. Existence
3. Destruction
4. Void or Emptiness
Each stage has a time span termed a "medium kalpa" [1]. Twenty
"small kalpas" make one "medium kalpa". The four stages, each
termed a "medium kalpa", make up a "great kalpa".
When the world reaches the final phase of the Stage of Destruction,
there will be great fires burning down hell, planet earth, other
stars and their cosmic worlds as well as the various heavens within
the Field of Desires. Prior reaching the heaven of the 1st Jhana of
the Field of Forms, the Devas, Bodhisattvas, Sages and those
sentient beings who have performed great virtuous deeds in the
lower worlds will naturally be saved. They have already been
ascended to the Heaven of Radiant Lustre where they will enjoy
happiness and heavenly bliss.
Following the passing of twenty small kalpas in the Stage of Void
or Emptiness, the world will return to the beginning of a new Stage
of Formation. A big golden heavenly cloud will appear from the
Heaven of Radiant Lustre and heavy rain will fall to drench the
burning worlds. After the floodwater has receded, the various
heavens below the heaven of the 1st Jhana (or Dhyana) will
reappear. The massive forces of swirling on the remaining materials
left over by the receding floodwater will gradually solidify. This
process is accompanied by the reappearance of various planets in
the sky - many are spherical in shape and others, elliptical. This
will, of course, include our earth and the orbiting moon, as well
as all the worlds below including the lowest level of hell. As the
extreme heat energies rotate and concentrate, many suns are formed
- this is what the astronomers called the stars, planets and
satellites. Within each galaxy system, the stars have their orbits
rotating around the sun, planets have their own orbits around the
stars, and satellites around the planets. The revolving stars,
planets and satellites coupled with their own rotations maintain
motions, thus creating day and night. Further, the process produces
day, month, year and the four seasons. However, it is to be noted
that the time scales are different between earth, the various
worlds of existence in heavens and other stellar systems.
For this period, a passage in the Chinese Old Text story
"Qiong-Lin" recorded similar description on the formation of the
world. The text reads:
"When earth was first separated from heaven;
pure light air float to form the sky and the polluted air sink to
form the ground;
the sun, moon and five stars are called the seven-Polis;
the heaven, earth and humans are called the three-lords; and
the sun is the master of the "Yang" [2]
with the moon as the image of the "Yin" [3]
The above description is very close to what the Buddha said.
Further, records from Buddhist scriptures match very well with what
astronomers of today have found. It is in this manner that the
world is returned to the great natural phenomenon of the
universe.
During the first phase of the formation of earth, the earth's crust
covering the ground was not fully solidified. The ground surface
appeared milky in colour. Looking from the celestial plane, the
earth shone brightly and afar. In the heaven of Radiant Lustre,
many of those celestial beings whose blissful life in the heaven
was coming to an end and who by disposition were more restless and
impetuous, on seeing the brightness, and out of curiosity, began to
travel down to the earth. They used their "clairvoyance feats" to
fly down and reached different continents of the earth. They saw
fluid springing out from the ground and they dipped their fingers
in it. They tasted the fluid and found it extremely tasty, sweet
like honey. While the fluid was so tasty, everyone craved for more.
Those who had most, their bodies became rough and heavier. They
began to lose their light illusory physical forms and their bodies
slowly formed into the material body of bone and flesh. The weight
forced them to the ground and they lost their "clairvoyance feats"
and "natural heavenly clothes", and were unable to fly through the
skies to return to the celestial world. They began to lose many of
their intrinsic celestial qualities such as celestial colours,
fragrant scent, brightness, beauty, wisdom and their innate
miraculous quality. In particular, their "clairvoyance eyes" turned
into human eyes; and their "clairvoyance ears" became human ears.
They became unable to remember their past lives. They lost their
special ability to read the minds of others. They were unable to
communicate by radiant light from their mouths and they needed to
depend on sounds from the movements of their tongues. While without
sufficient languages and vocabulary, they needed sign language to
assist them to fully communicate with each other. They became
ordinary human beings on earth. After running out of the tasty
fluid, they resorted to feed on thick weedy plants, then hard crops
from the wild. At that time, the life span of human being was long
and there was no disease or sickness. Later, they learned to plant
crops and vegetables. During the period of feeding from nature,
those who were greedy in feeding themselves acquired darker skin
colours, ranging from brown to black. Others who did not feed as
much and those who arrived later had lighter skin colour, ranging
from fair to yellow. As time went on, together with the influence
by climatic conditions of different regions (equatorial, temperate
and cold regions), various skin coloured races of people were
formed.
to be continued in the next
issue, Volume 7, Issue No. 3
Note:
[1] Kalpa:
1 small kalpa = 16.8 million years
20 small kalpas = 1 medium kalpa = 336 million years
80 small kalpas = 4 medium kalpas = 1 great kalpa = 1.344 billion
years
[2] Yang:
Chinese philosophy; the masculine or positive principle in
nature
[3] Yin:
Chinese philosophy; the feminine or negative principle in
nature
© Copyright 2002.Jen Chen Buddhism Centre
