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be respectful to elders in your family." Having heard their words, most humans and earth deities, experiencing agitation, become gentle-hearted towards each other, and having performed meritorious deeds such as loving-kindness, are reborn in the deva world. There, having eaten divine food, having performed the preparatory work of the wind, they regain meditation. Thus, even beings in hell, through an act that is not immediately effective, are reborn in the deva world. But those who are fixed in wrong view, because their karma is not exhausted, experience results in other world-systems, according to their karma. Therefore, in the case of karma that has become ineffective, there is no evil that should not be done, due to wrong view, since it is said that it is the power of the cycle of existence. Thus he said, "Views, monks, are the worst of faults." Because it was said, "There is no being who, while wandering in samsara, is without karma that is not immediately effective." "Through the power of karma that is not immediately effective, from the adoption of wrong view, having been purified through reliance on good people, we are patient that there may be an arising from existence. Thus, through the power of meditation regained in the deva world, all are reborn in the Brahma world. But after the cessation of rain, with the passage of a long time, a second sun appears. And when it has appeared, neither a distinction of night, nor a distinction of day is discerned. One sun rises, One sun sets. The world is like an unbroken heat of the sun. In the natural sun, there is a sun-deva, But in the sun that destroys the world-cycle, there is not. By the light of the natural sun, Clouds and smoke streaks move in the sky. By the light of the world-destroying sun, The sky becomes clear like a mirror, with smoke and clouds gone. Except for the Ganges, Yamuna, Sarabhu, Aciravati, and Mahi, These five great rivers, The water in the remaining five hundred minor rivers, etc., dries up. Then, after a long time, A third sun appears. When it appears, The five great rivers also dry up. Then, after a long time, A fourth sun appears. By its appearance, The seven great lakes, the sources of the great rivers in the Himalayas, Sihapatana, Hamsapatana, Mandakini, Kannamundaka, Rathakara Lake, Anotatta Lake, Chaddanta Lake, and Kunala Lake, dry up. Then, after a long time, A fifth sun appears. By its appearance, Gradually, the great ocean, Not even a finger-joint's worth of water remains. Then, after a long time, A sixth sun appears. When it appears, The entire world-system becomes one smoke, With the smoke of exhausted moisture. Likewise, even a hundred thousand million world-systems. Then, after a long time, A seventh sun appears. By its appearance, The entire world-system becomes one flame. Together with the hundred thousand million world-systems, The peaks of Mount Sineru, varying from a hundred yojanas, etc., Crumble and disappear into the sky. That flame rises up And seizes the realm of the Four Great Kings, Burning up golden and jeweled mansions there. Then it seizes the Tavatimsa heaven. In this way, it seizes up to the first jhana plane. There, burning up the three Brahma worlds, It strikes the Abhassara and stops. As long as even an atom of conditioned things remains, It does not go out. The end of all conditioned things. Like the flame of a lamp fueled by ghee or oil, it is extinguished, leaving not even ashes behind. Below, the sky merges with the sky above, creating a vast darkness. Thus, from the great cloud of cosmic destruction to the limit of the fiery expanse, this is called the period of dissolution, the first incalculable eon. Then, after a long time, the great cloud rises and first rains lightly. Gradually, it rains with streams the size of lotus stalks, pestles, palm trunks, filling all the hundred thousand million world-systems halfway and then disappearing. The wind arises below and horizontally, solidifying that water. It becomes round, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. Thus, from the extinguishing of the fiery expanse to the complete filling of the hundred thousand million world-systems by the great cloud, this is called the period of standing dissolution, the second incalculable eon. How can the wind solidify such a great mass of water? Because of the availability of space, that water, being pressed together, being solidified, being diminished, gradually descends downwards. As the water descends, the first Jhana realm first appears in the place of the Brahma world, with Brahma-pārisajja, Brahma-purohita, and Mahābrahmā residing there. Then, as the water descends, the four desire-realm heavens successively appear in the places of the four desire-realm heavens: Paranimmita-vasavattī, Nimmānarati, Tusita, and Yāma. Then, when the water has descended to the former earth's surface, strong winds arise. They make it breathless and stop it, like water standing in a bellows with the door closed. As the sweet water diminishes, it raises up a layer of earth on top, which is full of color and full of smell and taste, like a layer on top of rice porridge without water. And then, beings who were first born in the Ābhassara Brahma world, having passed away from there due to the exhaustion of their lifespan or the exhaustion of their merit, are reborn here. "Or due to the exhaustion of merit" indicates the limitation of the lifespan of the Brahmās. Having attained death through the exhaustion of karma, they are reborn. They are self-luminous beings, traversing the sky. As described in the Aggañña Sutta, having tasted that savory earth, overcome by craving, they begin to consume the aluppaka creeper. Then their self-luminosity disappears, and darkness arises; seeing the darkness, they are afraid. Then, dispelling their fear and generating a sense of courage, the full fifty-league sun appears. Seeing it, they are delighted and joyful, saying, "We have regained light!" "Having arisen, dispelling our fear and generating courage, let it be the sun!" Thus, they name it "Sun." Then, when the sun, having illuminated the day, sets, they are again afraid, saying, "Even that light we obtained has vanished!" They think, "Oh, if only we could obtain another light!" As if knowing their thoughts, the forty-nine-league moon appears. Seeing it, they are even more delighted and joyful, saying, "Having arisen as if knowing our desire, let it be the moon!" Thus, they name it "Moon." From then on, night and day are distinguished. And gradually, months, half-months, seasons, and years. On the very day the sun and moon appear, Mount Sineru, the world-circle, and the Himalayas also appear. And these appear, unprecedented and last, on the full-moon day of Phagguna. How? Just as when rice is cooking in a pot, bubbles arise with a single stir. Some places are high and heaped up, some low and sunken, some level and even. Just so, in the high and heaped-up places are mountains, in the low and sunken places are oceans, and in the level and even places are islands. Thus, when the human world is established, the two deva-worlds of the Four Great Kings and the Tāvatiṃsa arise later. These two deva-worlds are based on the earth. Thus, from the arising of the great cloud to the appearance of the sun and moon, this is called the third incalculable aeon, the aeon of expansion. Then, as those beings enjoyed the savory earth, some became beautiful, and some became ugly. There, the beautiful ones despised the ugly ones. Because of their arrogance and contempt, that savory earth disappeared. Then earth-scum appeared. In the same way, that too disappeared. Creeping vines appeared. In the same way, those too disappeared. Uncultivated rice appeared, without husk or chaff, pure, fragrant, with grains like rice. Then containers appeared for them. They would place the rice in the containers, and set them on stone hearths. A flame would rise up by itself and cook it. That cooked rice was like jasmine flowers. It didn't need soup or curry. Whatever flavor they wanted to enjoy, that very flavor it would have. As they consumed that coarse food, from then on, excrement and urine arose. Then, for the release of that, openings of the body appeared. The state of male appeared in the male, and the state of female appeared in the female. Thereupon, the woman gazed excessively at the man, and the man at the woman. Because of their excessive gazing, the heat of passion arose. Then they engaged in sexual intercourse. Because of engaging in that unrighteous act, being censured and harassed by the wise, they built houses to conceal that unrighteous act. Living in houses, gradually following the example of a certain lazy being, they made stores. From then on, husk and chaff surrounded the rice, and what was reaped did not grow again. Gathering together, they lamented, "Evil things indeed have appeared among beings. We were formerly made of mind." It should be expanded in the manner described in the Aggañña Sutta. Then they established boundaries. Then one being took another's share without permission. Having been reproached twice, on the third time, they struck him with clods and sticks. They gather, When theft, strife, lies, and punishment arise, And they think, "Let us choose one being, Who rightly punishes the punishable, Reproves the reprovable, Banishes the banishable, And we will give him a share of the rice." When beings thus resolved, In this very aeon, This Blessed One, as a Bodhisatta, Was then among those beings, More handsome, More pleasing to behold, More powerful, More intelligent, And able to restrain and promote. They approached him, Requested him, And chose him. Because he was chosen by the great multitude, He was known as Mahāsammata, Because he was lord of the fields, He was a Khattiya, Because he pleased others with righteousness and equity, He was a Rājā, He was known by these three names. For in the world, The place of wonder,