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which trembles at the Tathāgata's conception and so forth. The authority-field extends to a hundred thousand million world-systems, where the power of these protective chants operates: the Ratana Sutta, the Khandha Paritta, the Dhajagga Paritta, the Āṭānāṭiya Paritta, and the Mora Paritta. The range-field is endless and immeasurable, which is said as "as far as he might wish," wherever the Tathāgata wishes, that he knows. Thus, among these three Buddha-fields, one authority-field is destroyed. When that is destroyed, the birth-field is also destroyed. When it is destroyed, it is destroyed all at once; when it is established, it is established all at once. Its destruction and establishment should be understood thus. 405. Indeed, at the time when an eon is destroyed by fire, first, the great cloud that destroys the eon rains down a great rain over a hundred thousand million world-systems. People, joyful and delighted, bring out all seeds and sow them. But when the crops have grown only enough to be grazed by cattle, the cloud, braying like a donkey, does not rain even a single drop; then the rain becomes completely cut off. It is with reference to this that the Blessed One said: "There comes a time, monks, when for many For many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years, many hundreds of thousands of years, the god does not rain, it is said. (AN 7.66) Beings living on rain, having died, are reborn in the Brahma-world, and deities living on flowers and fruits. When such a long period has passed, here and there water diminishes, then gradually fish and turtles too, having died, are reborn in the Brahma-world, even hell-beings. There, hell-beings, some say, perish at the appearance of the seventh sun. Without jhana, there is no rebirth in the Brahma-world. And some of these are afflicted by famine, some are incapable of attaining jhana. How are they reborn there? By means of jhana attained in the deva-world. For then, "After a hundred thousand years, the world will end," the sense-sphere deities called Lokabyūhā, with unbound heads, dishevelled hair, weeping faces, wiping away tears with their hands, clad in red garments, having assumed extremely ugly appearances, wandering on the path of humans, thus announce: "Sirs, after a hundred thousand years from now, there will be the destruction of the world. This world will be destroyed. Even the great ocean will dry up. And this great earth and Sineru, the king of mountains, will burn up and be destroyed. Up to the Brahma-world, the destruction of the world will extend. Sirs, cultivate loving-kindness, sirs, cultivate compassion, appreciative joy, equanimity. Attend to your mother, attend to your father, be respectful to elders in the family." Having heard their words, mostly humans and earth-deities, filled with spiritual urgency, having become soft-hearted towards each other, having performed merits like loving-kindness, are reborn in the deva-world. There, having eaten divine nectar-food, having performed preliminary work on the air-kasina, they attain jhana. But others, by karma to be experienced in subsequent existences, are reborn in the deva-world. For there is no being wandering in samsara who is devoid of karma to be experienced in subsequent existences. They too, there, in the same way, attain jhana. shine. Thus, in the divine realm, all beings, having attained absorption, are reborn in the Brahma realms. But after the cessation of rain, after a long period of time, a second sun appears. This was also said by the Blessed One: "There comes a time, monks," as elaborated in the Satta Sūriya Sutta (A.N. 7.66). When it appears, there is no distinction of night, no distinction of day. One sun rises, one sets. The world is like an unbroken sun's heat. And just as in the normal sun there is a sun-deity, so there is none in the sun that destroys the eon. When the normal sun is present, clouds and smoke-plumes move in the sky. When the eon-destroying sun is present, the sky is clear like a mirror, free from smoke and clouds. Except for the five great rivers, water in the other small rivers and so on dries up. After an even longer period of time, a third sun appears. Due to its appearance, even the great rivers dry up. After an even longer period of time, a fourth sun appears. Due to its appearance, in the Himalayas, the sources of the great rivers— "Lion's Leap, Swan's Fall, Ear-Mound, Chariot-Maker's Lake, Anotatta Lake, Chaddanta Lake, Kuṇāla Lake"— these seven great lakes dry up. After an even longer period of time, a fifth sun appears. Due to its appearance, gradually, not even a finger-joint's worth of water remains in the great ocean. After an even longer period of time, a sixth sun appears. Due to its appearance, the entire cosmos becomes one smoke. Its moisture consumed by smoke. And just as this is so, so too are hundreds of thousands of crores of cosmoses. After an even longer period of time, a seventh sun appears. Due to its appearance, the entire cosmos becomes one blaze, along with hundreds of thousands of crores of cosmoses. Even the peaks of Sineru, of a hundred leagues and so on, crumble and vanish into the sky itself. That flame, having arisen, seizes the Cātumahārājika heavens. There, having burned the golden mansions, jewel mansions, and gem mansions, it seizes the Tāvatiṃsa realm. By this same method, it seizes up to the first jhana realm. There, having burned all three Brahma realms, it strikes and stands in the Ābhassara realm. As long as even a tiny trace of conditioned existence remains, it does not extinguish. But with the complete destruction of all conditioned things, like a flame burning ghee and oil, it extinguishes without leaving even ashes. The lower space and the upper space become one great darkness. 406. Then, after a long period, a great cloud arises and first rains very finely. Gradually, raining with streams the size of lotus stalks, pestles, and palm trunks, it fills all the burned places in hundreds of thousands of crores of world-systems and then disappears. That water, winds arising from below and sideways, make dense and round, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. "How does it make such a great mass of water dense?" If you ask, "By providing openings." For it gives an opening here and there. That, being thus compressed by the wind, made dense, and diminished, gradually descends downwards. As the water descends, Brahma realms appear in the place of the Brahma realms, and divine realms appear above in the place of the four sense-sphere divine realms. But when it has descended to the place of the former earth, strong winds arise. They, making it breathless, obstruct it like water held in a bellows with a closed opening. The sweet water, as it diminishes, causes a flavorful earth to arise on top. It is endowed with color, and endowed with fragrance and taste, like a film on top of a waterless rice-porridge. And then, beings who were reborn earliest in the Ābhassara Brahma realm, due to the exhaustion of their life-span or the exhaustion of their merit, pass away from there and are reborn here. They are self-luminous and move through the air. They, in the manner stated in the Aggañña Sutta (Dī. Ni. 3.119), that flavorful earth... Having tasted the essence, Overcome by craving, They set about to consume A more substantial food. Then for them, Their self-radiance disappears, Darkness arises. Seeing the darkness, They are afraid. Then for them, Dispelling fear, Generating courage, A full fifty yojanas wide, The sun's orb appears. Seeing it, "We have regained light!" Becoming joyful and delighted, They say, "For us who were afraid, Dispelling fear, Generating courage, It has arisen. Therefore, 'Let it be the Sun!'" And so they name it 'Sun'. Then when the sun, Having made light for the day, Set, "The light we had gained, That too is lost to us!" Again they were afraid. It occurred to them: "How good it would be If we could gain another light!" As if knowing their thought, A forty-nine yojana wide, The moon's orb appears. Seeing it, Even more so, Becoming joyful and delighted, They say, "As if knowing our desire, It has arisen. Therefore, 'Let it be the Moon!'" And so they name it 'Moon'. Thus, with the moon and sun having appeared, Constellations and star-forms appear. From then on, Nights and days became discernible, And in succession, Months, half-months, seasons, and years. And on the very day the moon and sun appeared, Mount Sineru, the Cakkavāḷa mountains, And the Himavanta mountains appeared. And these indeed, Neither before nor after, Appeared on the very full moon day of Phagguṇa. How? Just as when millet rice is cooking, All at once, Bubbles rise up. Some places become heaped up, Some become sunken, Some become level. In the same way, In the heaped-up places, mountains arose, In the sunken places, oceans, In the level places, continents. Then for those beings, As they consumed the earth-essence, Gradually, Some became beautiful, Some became ugly. There, the beautiful ones Looked down upon the ugly ones. Due to their arrogance, That earth-essence also disappeared. Earth-scum appeared. Then for them, In the same way, That too disappeared. It withers. Creeping plants appear. In the same way, they too disappear. Uncultivated rice appears, without husk or chaff, pure, fragrant, fruitful grains. Then, for them, vessels arise. They place the rice in the vessels, and put them on a stone slab; a flame of fire rises by itself and cooks it. That rice is like jasmine flowers, and there is no need for sauce or curry with it. Whatever taste they wish to eat, that taste it becomes. As they consumed that coarse food, from then on, urine and feces arose. Then, for the expulsion of that, orifices appeared for them; for a man, manhood, and for a woman, womanhood, appeared. Thereupon, the woman gazed at the man, and the man at the woman, excessively. Due to their excessive gazing, lustful passion arose.