Tonight we continue to talk about “The Essential Explanation On The Amitabha Sutra.” Last week we talked about, “illumining the lands of the ten directions everywhere without obstruction. For this reason he is called Amitabha.”
I will talk about another section of the scripture text,
...
“Since Amitabha became a Buddha, ten kalpas have passed.”
This “ten kalpas”, maybe it is ten years?
If we say one kalpa is considered one hundred years, it is only one thousand years.
Actually if it is said this way, why is Amitabha Buddha said to have “immeasurable lifespan”?
Because His lifespan is indeed very, very long, seemingly immeasurable. It is not truly with no beginning or end, but rather that his lifespan is very long, seemingly immeasurable.
What we call a great kalpa can be calculated like this. Like the “formation” of planet earth and the universe, then after they were formed there is a period of time which is “existence”, then things break down, “disintegration” and then it becomes “emptiness”. Formation, existence, disintegration, and emptiness, this is considered one kalpa.
Many scientists researching the lifespan of Earth have discovered orogenesis, like mountains becoming the ocean, ocean becoming mountains again. This cycle has repeated seven times, which is why seashells are sometimes found on mountain tops, and volcanoes may exist at the bottom of the sea.
Each time Earth goes through one cycle of Formation, Existence, Disintegration, and Emptiness this is one small kalpa. Eighty small kalpas are called one great kalpa. So Amitabha Buddha has been a Buddha for ten great kalpas. Let’s all think, this lifespan is indeed incredibly long. It is hard to imagine there is such a long lifespan. Therefore, Amitabha Buddha has immeasurable light and also immeasurable lifespan.
It is also said that:
“within light there is lifespan, and within lifespan there is light.”
So is the speed of light faster, or the speed of sound?
Everyone knows that light is faster, because we see lightning first, and only after a while do we hear the thunder. From a scientific perspective, the time it takes for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth takes a certain amount of time. We call this a “light-year.”
This is what is meant by
“within light there is lifespan, and within lifespan there is light.”
Such immeasurable light and lifespan seem to exceed the limits of human imagination. Many things are very difficult to imagine. Like light travelling, Amitabha Buddha’s light, travelling within the universe, naturally it also carries lifespan. Because when light travels it must have speed. Since it has speed, it must have time, when it has time, it must have lifespan.
Amitabha Buddha is at another very far, very far Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss planet. For us to go to Amitabha Buddha from here, one must travel through a few hundred million years of space and time. Using the phenomena of the universe, we can then understand and know through it immeasurable light and immeasurable lifespan.
Om Mani Padme Hum