Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Father and Son Compendium: Part 9

Original Text: Great King, when this earth realm is about to be destroyed, it is either consumed by fire, swept away by water, or scattered by wind. Like burning ghee, its flames blaze fiercely until nothing remains, not even ashes, and it becomes invisible. If swept away by water, it is like salt thrown into water, vanishing instantly. If scattered by the fierce Vairambha wind, at that moment, the entire trichiliocosm completely disintegrates, utterly destroyed without a trace.

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, when the earth realm is about to be destroyed, it is either consumed by a great fire, submerged by a great flood, or scattered by a great wind. When the earth realm is consumed by fire, it is like lighting a ghee lamp: the flames blaze fiercely until the ghee is entirely consumed, leaving not even ashes visible. When the earth realm is submerged by a great flood, it is like salt thrown into water, which dissolves and disappears in an instant. When the earth realm is destroyed by the fierce Vairambha wind, the entire trichiliocosm immediately disintegrates completely, leaving nothing behind whatsoever.

How is the earth realm destroyed when it is about to perish? The first is destruction by fire. When the fire calamity arrives, it burns up to the First Dhyana Heaven of the Form Realm; everything below the First Dhyana Heaven is annihilated. The six heavens of the Desire Realm and their celestial palaces vanish, Mount Sumeru disappears, the four continents cease to exist, and the Earth is no more. When the world is about to perish, once the great fire ignites, the Earth burns away. How does the Earth vanish? First, two suns appear, then three, four, five, six suns, and finally seven suns emerge, burning everything below the First Dhyana Heaven to destruction. When two suns appear, all life on Earth vanishes without a trace—let alone when seven suns emerge. With just one sun, we struggle to endure the summer heat; how could any life survive with two suns? When seven suns appear, the waters of the four great oceans dry up, the Earth catches fire directly, and burns to nothing. The fire ascends to the heavens, Mount Sumeru is consumed, the entire six heavens of the Desire Realm are burned away, the First Dhyana Heaven is also destroyed, and all gold, silver, jewels—even the seven treasures, which are harder than gold and jewels—are likewise incinerated.

The second calamity is the water disaster. After everything below the First Dhyana Heaven has been burned away, torrential rain falls from the heavens. Each raindrop is as large as an elephant, and it pours continuously for seven days and seven nights. The waters rise up to the Second Dhyana Heaven of the Form Realm. The six heavens of the Desire Realm vanish, the First Dhyana Heaven is gone, and the waters further rise to the Second Dhyana Heaven, submerging it entirely. Such is the severity of the water calamity that even the beings of the heavens below the Second Dhyana cannot escape it.

The third calamity is the wind disaster. When the great wind blows, it sweeps up to the Third Dhyana Heaven of the Form Realm, utterly destroying it. If the Earth had not already been consumed by fire, it could be instantly scattered by this great wind. The six heavens of the Desire Realm are all blown apart, leaving no trace. No matter if they are composed of the seven treasures or a hundred treasures, all are scattered. Nothing, no matter how solid, can endure or remain intact—such is the power of this wind. Only one thing cannot be burned by fire, submerged by water, or scattered by wind: the Tathagatagarbha.

After the three calamities pass, only the heavens above the Fourth Dhyana remain. The Fourth Dhyana Heaven has four levels, plus the Four Formless Heavens and the heavens of the Formless Realm. These celestial realms are beyond the reach of the calamities. This is because beings in the Fourth Dhyana and above dwell in the purity of relinquishing mental formations; their minds abide in a state of stillness, free from thoughts, and thus they are untouched by disasters. The meditative state of the Third Dhyana still involves subtle respiration, and respiration is wind. Therefore, it can still attract the wind calamity, which can reach the Third Dhyana Heaven and destroy it. After the entire trichiliocosm is completely scattered and destroyed, it becomes utterly silent and void, ruined beyond even a speck of dust, leaving nothing whatsoever. Thus, it is said that the world is truly illusory.