Commentary on the Buddha and His Sons Sutra (30)

The Process of the Water Realm Drying Up

Original text: When this world is about to be destroyed, two suns appear. After the two suns appear, small rivers and springs all dry up. When three suns appear, the four rivers flowing from the Lake Anavatapta also dry up. When four suns appear, the water of the great sea decreases by one yojana, or two or three, gradually decreasing to ten yojanas, or twenty yojanas, successively drying up to eighty yojanas, with some water remaining. The depth is that of a tala tree, or up to the chest, or like a cow's footprint, until there is only a little water, as much as the surface of a finger. At that time, the water in the great sea is completely dry, without any remaining.

Explanation: When the Saha World is about to be destroyed, two suns appear. In summer, one sun is unbearable; how much more so with two suns. When the two suns appear, those small rivers and springs are all dried up; when three suns appear, the four great rivers flowing from the Lake Anavatapta also dry up. When four suns appear, the water of the four great seas decreases by one yojana (a yojana is an Indian unit of measurement, equivalent to one yojana, which is forty li). The great sea water refers to the four great seas below our earth, not on our earth; the Lake Anavatapta is also not on earth, both being immeasurably larger than our earth.

The seawater on earth has long been gone, and the water of the four great seas continues to decrease, decreasing by two yojanas, three yojanas. Decreasing to ten yojanas, twenty yojanas, eighty yojanas in amount, finally only a little water remains, with a depth of only the height of a tree; then decreasing further, the depth reaches only to the chest of a human body; then decreasing further to water like that in a cow's footprint, and finally only enough to cover the surface of a finger when the palm is laid flat. The water of the four great seas, immeasurably larger than our earth, is dried by the sun to only as much as in a cow's footprint, and then to water so little it just covers the surface of a finger, and finally it all dries up, and the earth becomes completely dry without any moisture.