The Sutra of the Compendium of Fathers and Sons: Discourse (27)

The Scenario When the Flood Disaster Arrives

Original text: Even when this world is destroyed, great black clouds arise, thirty-two layers deep, covering the entire three thousand great thousand worlds. They pour down torrential rain, with raindrops as large as elephants, raining day and night without cease. After such a period lasting fifty kalpas, the water accumulates and fills up to the Brahma heavens. Great King, where did this external water element come from?

Explanation: When the three thousand great thousand worlds are destroyed, black clouds thirty-two layers deep descend from the sky, covering the entire three thousand great thousand worlds. Then, rain falls with drops as large as elephants, pouring down ceaselessly day and night. After a full fifty kalpas, the water accumulates and fills the heavens of the desire realm, rising all the way to the heavens of the form realm. Great King, where did this external water element originate?

The external water element refers to the water element outside the body, such as the moisture and dampness contained in the cosmic void, mountains, rivers, and the earth. For example, when the three thousand great thousand worlds are about to be destroyed, a flood disaster occurs. Great black clouds arise in the sky, thirty-two layers deep—extremely dense and heavy, layered upon each other—signaling that heavy rain is imminent. These thirty-two-layered black clouds spread across the entire three thousand great thousand worlds. The three thousand great thousand worlds consist of a billion earths, a billion Mount Sumerus, ten billion heavens of the desire realm (six layers) and the first dhyana heaven, and countless celestial bodies—all covered by the black clouds. Then, elephant-sized raindrops fall, permeating the entire void of the three thousand great thousand worlds, submerging even the heavenly realms.

By that time, humans would have long ceased to exist. The earth would have already been destroyed, as the fire disaster would have annihilated humanity and the heavens of the desire realm. Within the desire realm, there would be no humans, no life—everything from the earth to the six layers of the desire realm heavens would be empty void. Even this void would be raining. The rain falls for fifty kalpas. Calculating by a minor kalpa (16.8 million years), fifty kalpas amount to 840 million years. The rainwater submerges the entire void, rising all the way to the first dhyana heaven and the second dhyana heaven. This is how the world is destroyed. All this vast amount of water belongs to the external water element. When the water arrives, it has no specific origin; then, when it recedes, where does it go? The destination of such an immense volume of water becomes problematic—wherever it goes, it submerges that place.