Buddhist cosmology
The temporal cosmology describes the timespan of the creation and dissolvement of alternate universes in different aeons.
The entire universe is said to be made up of five basic elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space.
Rebirth in the Kama-loka (desire realm) depends on a person's moral conduct and practice of giving.
The synthesis of this data into a single comprehensive system must have taken place early in the history of Buddhism, as the system described in the Pāli Vibhajyavāda tradition (represented by today's Theravādins) agrees, despite some minor inconsistencies of nomenclature, with the Sarvāstivāda tradition which is preserved by Mahāyāna Buddhists.
By contrast, the horizontal (sahasra) cosmology describes the grouping of these vertical worlds into sets of thousands, millions or billions.
There are four types of Formless Deva planes corresponding to the four types of arūpadhyānas: The Rūpadhātu (Sanskrit: रूपधातु; Pali: रूपलोक, romanized: rūpaloka; Tibetan: གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་, Wylie: gzugs kyi khams; Vietnamese: Giới Sắc; Chinese: 色界; Japanese: 色界, romanized: shiki-kai; Burmese: ရူပဗြဟ္မာဘုံ; Thai: รูปโลก / รูปธาตุ) or "Form realm" is, as the name implies, the first of the physical realms; its inhabitants all have a location and bodies of a sort, though those bodies are composed of a subtle substance which is of itself invisible to the inhabitants of the Kāmadhātu.
The Śuddhāvāsa (Sanskrit: शुद्धावास; Pali: सुद्धावास, romanized: suddhāvāsa; Tibetan: གནས་གཙང་མ་, Wylie: gnas gtsang ma; Vietnamese: Tịnh Cư Thiên; Chinese: 净居天/淨居天; Thai: สุทฺธาวาส) worlds, or "Pure Abodes", are distinct from the other worlds of the Rūpadhātu in that they do not house beings who have been born there through ordinary merit or meditative attainments, but only those Anāgāmins ("Non-returners"), the third level on the path of enlightenment, who are already on the path to Arhat-hood and who will attain enlightenment directly from the Śuddhāvāsa worlds without being reborn in a lower plane.
These Pure Abodes are accessible only to those who have destroyed the lower five fetters, consisting of self-view, sceptical doubt, clinging to rites and ceremonies, sense desires, and ill-will.
Those who take rebirth here are called "non-returners" because they do not return from that world, but attain final nibbana there without coming back.
The mental state of the devas of the Śubhakṛtsna worlds (Vietnamese: Tam Thiền; Chinese: 三禅三天; Devanagari: शुभकृत्स्न; Thai: ศุภกฤตฺสนาภูมิ) corresponds to the third dhyāna, and is characterized by a quiet joy (sukha).
The mental state of the devas of the Ābhāsvara आभास्वर worlds (Vietnamese: Nhị Thiền; Chinese: 二禅三天; Thai: อาภัสสราภูมิ/อาภาสวราธาตุ corresponds to the second dhyāna, and is characterized by delight (prīti) as well as joy (sukha); the Ābhāsvara devas are said to shout aloud in their joy, crying aho sukham!
The mental state of the devas of the Brahmā worlds (Vietnamese: Sơ Thiền; Chinese: 初禅三天; Thai: พรหมภูมิ) corresponds to the first dhyāna, and is characterized by observation (vitarka) and reflection (vicāra) as well as delight (prīti) and joy (sukha).
The beings born in the Kāmadhātu कामधातु (Pali: कामलोक, romanized: Kāmaloka; Tibetan: འདོད་པའི་ཁམས་, Wylie: 'dod pa'i khams; Vietnamese: Giới Dục; Chinese: 欲界; Japanese: Yoku-kai; Thai: กามภูมิ) differ in degree of happiness, but they are all, other than Anagamis, Arhats and Buddhas, under the domination of Māra and are bound by sensual desire, which causes them suffering.
The following four worlds are bounded planes, each 80,000 yojanas square, which float in the air above the top of Mount Sumeru.
These devas live in four heavens that float in the air, leaving them free from contact with the strife of the lower world.
Sumeru and its surrounding oceans and mountains are the home not just of these deities, but also vast assemblies of beings of popular mythology who only rarely intrude on the human world.
Below the layer of water is a "circle of wind", which is 16,000,000 yojanas in depth and also much broader in extent, supporting 1,000 different worlds upon it.
Naraka नरक or Niraya निरय (Tibetan: དམྱལ་བ་, Wylie: dmyal ba; Vietnamese: Địa Ngục hoặc Na-Lạc-Ca; Burmese: ငရဲ; Thai: นรก) is the name given to one of the worlds of greatest suffering, usually translated into English as "hell" or "purgatory".
A collection of one thousand systems are called a "thousandfold minor world-system" (Culanika Lokadhātu) or a small chiliocosm.
A collection of a million systems is a "thousandfold to the second power middling world-system" (Dvisahassi Majjhima Lokadhātu) or a medium dichiliocosm.
[citation needed] The largest grouping, which consists of a billion world-systems, is called (Trisahassi Mahasassi Lokadhātu), a great trichiliocosm or The Galaxy.
[citation needed] He does so by suffusing the trichiliocosm with his radiance, at which point the inhabitants of those world-system will perceive this light, and then proceeds to extend his voice and powers throughout that realm.
Then greed, theft and violence arise among them, and they establish social distinctions and government and elect a king to rule them, called Mahāsammata। महासम्मत, "the great appointed one".
They live under the rule of a universal monarch or "wheel-turning king" (Sanskrit: cakravartin चक्रवर्ति; Jpn: 転輪聖王 Tenrin Jō-ō; Chn: 轉輪聖王 Zhuǎnlún Shèngwáng; Thai: พระเจ้าจักรพรรดิ Phracêā cạkrphrrdi), who conquer[clarification needed].
The Cakkavatti-sīhanāda-sutta (DN.26) tells of a later dynasty of cakravartins, Daḷhanemi (Sanskrit: Dṛḍhanemi) and five of his descendants, who had a lifespan of over 80,000 years.
The seventh of this line of cakravartins broke with the traditions of his forefathers, refusing to abdicate his position at a certain age, pass the throne on to his son, and enter the life of a śramaṇa श्रमण.
Our present time is taken to be toward the end of the first antarakalpa of this Vivartasthāyikalpa, when the lifespan is less than 100 years, after the life of Śākyamuni शाक्यमुनिः Buddha (Pāli: Sakyamuni ), who lived to the age of 80.
The remainder of the antarakalpa is prophesied to be miserable: lifespans will continue to decrease, and all the evil tendencies of the past will reach their ultimate in destructiveness.
He will enter the life of a śramaṇa and will gain perfect enlightenment as a Buddha; and he will then be known by the name of Maitreya (मैत्रेयः, Pāli: Metteyya मेत्तेय्य).
This cessation of birth then proceeds in reverse order up the vertical cosmology, i.e., pretas then cease to be born, then animals, then humans, and so on up to the realms of the deities.
