y not and Tripelgemstudent:
The four phases of a “world cycle” (formation phase, existing phase, destruction phase, remaining in that destroyed phase) are each 20 antakkappas.
The Buddha did not give the extent of 20 antakkappas in terms of billions of years.
– In the Agganna Sutta, he just stated that it is a “very long time.”
– When asked to give a simile he gave the following simile (in a different sutta): “Consider a granite mountain that is 7 yojanas in all 3 dimensions (a cube). If one were to sweep over the mountain with a cloth once every 100 years, the time to wear out the mountain is that time.”
I did an estimate of that time in one of the early posts. That may have where I got the 20 billion number. I just checked on Google and see that the lifetime of the Sun is 10-12 billion years. But that is not necessarily the lifetime of Earth, which could be longer. It may have taken a long time for the Sun to initiate the fusion process in the core.
So, I think the 20 billion number is good enough to get an idea. Of course, we do not know the correct value.
– It is good enough just to get an idea that it is a “very long time.”
I think this discussion has gone far enough.
If there is a critical issue to address here, please send me an email with a BRIEF description.
– If such a critical issue is there, I will post it and address it.