Reply To: The Big Bang May Have Never Happened?

#51799
Lal
Keymaster

Yes. It is a good topic for “insight meditation.”

1. A maha kappa consists of four asaṅkhyeyya kappas” or ‘incalculable periods.” That will help your point, “Of course 1 kappa is utterly long and suffering in the apaya for billions of years would be insane,” to sink into the mind.

2. We can visualize it as follows: Suppose the following offer is made: You can have the most luxurious vacation possible for nine months, but you will be subjected to unimaginable suffering for almost three months. 

  • That is the equivalent of a sentient-being spending three “asaṅkhyeyya kappas” without suffering and almost one “asaṅkhyeyya kappa” in the apayas. That is because the time spent in all “good realms” (averaged over many maha kappas) is insignificant compared to the time spent in the apayas. See #8 of “Cuti and Marana – Related to Bhava and Jāti.”
  • The other problem is that the cycle keeps repeating. It does not end until a magga phala is attained.

3. If one spends some time contemplating this, one would be incentivized to make the best effort to attain a magga phala!

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