Wonderful Metaphors in the Pure Land School
淨土宗妙喻
Metaphor 21: A Mustard Seed Kalpa
A “Mustard Seed Kalpa” depicts a really long time. There is a huge warehouse, 40 kilometers in length, width and height, brimming with mustard seeds. Once every century, a single mustard seed is taken out of this warehouse. When the entire warehouse is empty of mustard seeds, this kalpa is not yet finished. The Rock Kalpa and the Mustard Seed Kalpa are considered short kalpas. There are also medium length and extremely long kalpas. Now we have an idea how amazingly long a kalpa is.
21. 芥子劫喻
「芥子劫」就是有一座大城,同樣是長四十公里、寬四十公里、高四十公里,這座大城裏面滿滿的都是芥子,每一百年拿出一粒,一直到大城的芥子通通都拿完了,這個劫還沒有完。可知劫的時間是多麼漫長。而且,劫還有「小劫」,有「中劫」,有「大劫」,這只不過是「小劫」,還不是「大劫」。
Namo Amituofo!
