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Each of these seasons contained exactly six months. 2. The Three-fold Classification. — Hsiian Tsang informs us that the most common division of the year was into three seasons, winter, spring, and summer, or, better, the cold, the rainy, and the hot seasons. 3. The Four-fold Classification. — This was the classification of the months upon which most theoretical emphasis was laid. It corresponds to our own division of the year into spring, summer, autumn, and winter, each season containing three months. 4. The Five-fold Classification. — The Vinaya, or Canon Law, treats this classification as the most orthodox. It consists of (1) a winter season of four months, (2) a spring of four months, (3) a rainy season of one month, (4) a last season of only one night and day, and (5) a summer season of five months. (5) The Six-fold Classification. — This division, of which COSMIC SYNTHESIS 45 quite frequent mention is made, consists of six seasons, each one containing two months. Their names are : — 1. Vasanta, Spring. 2. Grisma, or later Spring. 3. Varsa, Summer, or the rainy season. 4. iSarat, or Autumn. 5. Hemanta, or Winter. 6. Sisira, or later Winter. The Yugas, Smaller, Middle, and Larger Kalpas. In later times Buddhism tended to accept the secular chronology of the various countries which it overran as regards the smaller periods of time, but the larger units continued to be an integral part of Buddhist philosophy. These are : — The Yugas. — According to Buddhism the average duration of a man's life, far from being constant, is constantly fluctuating, as is his stature also, since it varies between the average height of one foot and a half and an average life of ten years, until his stature is overwhelming, and his life approximates 80,000 years, and then as gradually dwindles to its original proportions and duration. The periods of increase, or Utkarsa, and decrease, or Apakarsa, are both divided into four sub-periods, known as Yugas,1 and are called : 1. Krta yuga, the age of perfection, when man lives an asamkhya, and all are blissful. 2. Treta yuga, when the size, duration of life, and happiness of beings is diminished. 3. Dvapara yuga, when all these features are but half of that of the Krta yuga. 4. Kali yuga, or the age of degeneration and quarrelling. Life begins with a Krta yuga, and then degenerates to a Kali yuga, then starts with a second Kali yuga before going up the scale again. According to some accounts the longest 1 M.Vy. 527, A.K. 12-12o ; for Ceylon M.B. 7. 46 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY period of human life is an Asamkhya. Very frequently, however, it is epitomized by the figure 80 or 84,000, the usual Buddhist manner in speaking of large numbers. Small Kalpa.1 — The whole of the eight yugas taken together forms a small or antara kalpa. This small kalpa, then, is equivalent to the period which it takes for man's life to increase and decrease to the maximum, the rate of such increase being computed at one year in every hundred. It is not, however, necessary for such an increase and decrease to take place in an antara kalpa, for, as we shall see later, there are certain epochs when for a whole antara kalpa there is no sentient existence at all. It is merely a fixed period of time. Middle Kalpas. — These smaller kalpas are further grouped together in sets of twenty, the whole of which period is called a Middle or Asamkhya kalpa. These middle kalpas are, again, of four kinds, which succeed one another in the following order : — 1. Vivarta kalpa, or the middle kalpa of formation, during which the world comes into existence, and its first inhabitants are spontaneously and automatically born. 2. Vivarta-siddha kalpa, or the middle kalpa of the con tinued formation, or the prime of the world. 3. Samvarta kalpa, or the middle kalpa of destruction, during which the world gradually degenerates, and is finally destroyed. 4. Samvarta-siddha kalpa, or the kalpa of the continuance of destruction, during which the world is non existent and all is void. A Samvarta-siddha-kalpa is followed by another Vivarta kalpa, and so on eternally. It should be noted that the destruction of the world does not mean the destruction of the universe, since, as we shall later have occasion to observe, Buddhism postulates the existence of an infinite number of inhabited worlds. 1 For the Kalpas F.T. 30-2a. F.Ch. 26 and 6a. A.K. 12-12 ff. COSMIC SYNTHESIS 47 Great Kalpa. — The entire cycle of the four middle kalpas is called a Mahakalpa or great kalpa, which is the largest unit of calculation. Each such great kalpa is the cyclic period of a world, during which time the whole drama of creation and destruction is played. The great kalpas consist of four middle kalpas, and as each middle kalpa consists of twenty small kalpas, a great kalpa contains eighty small kalpas. The following chart may serve as an aid in memorizing this list :— (a) Great Kalpa. (6) Middle Kalpa. (c) Small Kalpa. Other Chronological Cycles. In addition to this more or less mathematical computation of time, Buddhism makes frequent mention of various other cycles, mostly with a more religious significance. Of cosmological reference are the three Great Calamities,1 cycles of destruction of the world through fire, water, and wind ; the three Smaller Calamities,2 cycles of evil which occur whenever the duration of human life reaches its lowest ebb. Again, kalpas are grouped into (a) those in which Buddhas do and (6) do not appear. Again, inside of each kalpa there are only certain epochs 3 when Buddhas, Pratyeka Buddhas, and 1 A.K. 12-16a; N.A. 32-20; D.A. HOa. 8 A.K. 12-146 ; N.A. 32-186. 3 A.K. 12-8a ; N.A. 32-9a. 48 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Cakravartins may be born. Finally, in connexion with the duration of the doctrine of each Buddha there is a cycle of the three-fold law,1 viz. : (1) the period of the True Law, the Buddha doctrine in its purity, lasting for five hundred years after the death of the founder ; (2) the period of the Image Law, when men lose the spirit and cling to the letter of the law, lasting for a thousand years ; (3) the period of the Decay of the Law, during which the doctrine becomes corrupt and defiled, lasting, according to some, one thousand years, according to others ten thousand. 2. COSMIC GEOGRAPHY World Systems. The interaction of the atoms and elements brings about the formation of the universe. In common with other Indian philosophies, Buddhism taught that the universe consists of an infinite number of worlds, all more or less on the same plan as our own, with the same number of mountain ranges, continents, oceans, etc., together with the other features of Buddhist cosmography, including the hells in the interior of, and the heavens above, each world. The number of these worlds is really incalculable. Their number runs into infinitude, and they are scattered through all the six directions of space.2 These worlds are grouped in various kinds of chiliocosms. A small chiliocosm consists of a thousand cakravalas or worlds, and is encompassed by a gigantic wall. A middle chiliocosm consists of a thousand small chiliocosms, with a similar wall. A large chiliocosm consists of a thousand middle chiliocosms, and is likewise furnished with an encompassing wall. A small chiliocosm contains 1,000, a middle chiliocosm contains 1,000,000, and a large chiliocosm 1,000,000,000 worlds.3 The Abhidharma Kosa informs us 1 F.Ch. 3)-4a. 2 M.B. 2. [M.B. = Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism.} 3 M.B. 8; A.K. ll-15a; N.A. 31-20a ; F.A. 32-7a ; D.A. 92a ; A.V.P. l-5a. COSMIC GEOGRAPHY 49 that the distance between two worlds is 1,203,450 yojanas. Our own chiliocosm is known as the Saha world, which means either the place of suffering or the capital of a chiliocosm, and is that to which i§akyamuni limited the revelation of himself. Classification of the World Systems. The infinity of space and the countless number of worlds which it contains, being admitted, the next task is to discover how Buddhism sets about classifying them.