Wonderful Metaphors in the Pure Land School
淨土宗妙喻
Metaphor 39: Five Hundred Zillion Specks of Dust Kalpas
Gone astray from the path to the Land of Bliss, we are trapped in the Saha World. How long have we been wandering around aimlessly?
If we don’t aspire to be reborn in the Pure Land in this life,
And miss the chance for rebirth there, no remorse can save us from samsara.
The above four lines come from different verses. That’s why they don’t rhyme properly. They are, however, complementary in meaning. Here is an explanation of them.
“Gone astray from the path to the Land of Bliss” - We have yet to arrive in the Land of Bliss. That means we are still trapped in endless reincarnations in the six realms of the Saha World”. Hence, the question that follows:
“How long have we been wandering aimlessly?”
As far as their original modes of being are concerned, Shakyamuni and Amitabha Buddha attained perfect enlightenment a very long time ago. Since then, by virtue of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching of Amitabha’s deliverance, countless sentient
beings have been liberated from the six realms and attained Buddhahood in the Land of Bliss.
In the Lotus Sutra, there is an incredible metaphor, known as the “five zillion specks of dust kalpas”, depicting the unimaginably long time since Amitabha’s attainment of Buddhahood. In other words, we have been drifting in the Saha World even though the Buddha attained enlightenment a very long time ago. How long exactly is five zillion specks of dust kalpas? Inconceivably long! Let us see what the Lotus Sutra says about it.
“Imagine there are five hundred thousand million kotis of nayutas (i.e. zillion) of Asamkhyeya (innumerable) numbers of worlds. When they are all ground into fine specks of dust, is it possible for anyone to know their exact number? Impossible!
Imagine there was a man who picked up one speck of dust from the ground earth made from five hundred thousand million kotis of nayutas of Asamkhyeya worlds, and carried it until he had passed fifty hundred thousand zillion worlds and were then to deposit that speck of dust there; and if he were to continue on further in that way, until the entire amount of ground earth in all those worlds was used up.
Can you figure out exactly how many worlds in the cosmos that this man has passed through during such a voyage? It’s mind-boggling!
Now, imagine further that all the worlds so traveled are also crumbled into dust. If every speck of the dust is regarded as one kalpa, the total number of kalpas would be uncountable and is simply named the “five zillion specks of dust kalpas”.
(to be continued tomorrow)
39. 五百塵點劫
未歸極樂尚閻浮，漂泊紅塵更幾秋？
不向此生生淨土，投胎一錯悔時難。
這四句偈子，前兩句跟後兩句是不同首，所以無法押韻。雖然沒有押韻， 我覺得意義可以互相啟發，所以把它們結合在一起。
「未歸極樂尚閻浮」：還沒有到極樂世界，肯定是在娑婆六道裏面，娑婆是永 無窮盡的輪迴，所以說： 「漂泊紅塵更幾秋」。
就本地來講，釋迦牟尼佛成佛以來，已經很久了，阿彌陀佛成佛以來，也 已經很久了。受著阿彌陀佛的接引往生極樂世界、受著釋迦牟尼佛的度化而 遠離六道成佛的眾生，不曉得有多少。
《法華經》有一段很驚人、很難以想像的譬喻，來間接顯明阿彌陀佛成佛以 來的長久，這就是「五百塵點劫」。也就是說，阿彌陀佛的成佛，是五百塵點劫 以來已經成佛了，而我們五百塵點劫以來，還漂泊在這紅塵之中。那麼，五百 塵點劫到底有多長呢？難以想像！《法華經》怎麼說明呢？
「有五百千萬億那由他阿僧祇」的世界，這樣多的世界，已經是無法形容了， 那麼，把這麼多的世界磨為微塵，我們算算看，這些微塵有多少？無法計 算！這些微塵，每經過一個五百千萬億那由他阿僧祇世界，就放一粒微塵， 再經過一個五百千萬億那由他阿僧祇世界，又放一粒微塵，直到這些微塵都 放完了，你看這些世界有多少？想像起來會讓人暈眩。
好，把這些世界又通通都磨為微塵，一粒微塵算是一劫，這些劫就沒辦法形 容了，這叫「五百塵點劫」。
Namo Amituofo!
