Kalpa (aeon)

Kalpa (Sanskrit: कल्प kalpa) is a Sanskrit word meaning a relatively long period of time (by human calculation) in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.

This article is about the reckoning of time. For a discipline of Vedic literature, see Kalpa (Vedanga). For other uses, see Kalpa.

In the Pali language of early Buddhism, the word takes the form kappa, and is mentioned in the assumed oldest scripture of Buddhism, the Sutta Nipata. This speaks of "Kappâtita: one who has gone beyond time, an Arahant".[1] This part of the Buddhist manuscripts dates back to the middle part of the last millennium BCE.

Generally speaking, a kalpa is the period of time between the creation and recreation of a world or universe.[2] The definition of a kalpa equaling 4.32 billion years is found in the Puranas—specifically Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana.[3]

Buddhism

In one explanation, there are four different lengths of kalpas. A regular kalpa is approximately 16 million years long (16,798,000 years[4]), and a small kalpa is 1000 regular kalpas, or about 16.8 billion years. Further, a medium kalpa is roughly 336 billion years, the equivalent of 20 small kalpas. A great kalpa is 4 medium kalpas, or around 1.344 trillion years.

The Buddha did not give the exact length of the maha-kalpa in terms of years. However, he gave several astounding analogies to understand it.

  1. Imagine a huge empty cube at the beginning of a kalpa, approximately 16 miles in each side. Once every 100 years, you insert a tiny mustard seed into the cube. According to the Buddha, the huge cube will be filled even before the kalpa ends.[5]
  2. Imagine a gigantic rocky mountain at the beginning of kalpa, approximately 16 x 16 x 16 miles (dwarfing Mount Everest). You take a small piece of silk and wipe the mountain once every 100 years. According to the Buddha, the mountain will be completely depleted even before the kalpa ends.[5]

In one instance, when some monks wanted to know how many kalpas had elapsed so far, Buddha gave the below analogy:

  1. If you count the total number of sand particles at the depths of the Ganges river, from where it begins to where it ends at the sea, even that number will be less than the number of passed kalpas.[6]

Another definition of Kalpa is the world where Buddhas are born. There are generally 2 types of kalpa, Suñña-Kalpa and Asuñña-kalpa. The Suñña-Kalpa is the world where no Buddha is born. Asuñña-Kalpa is the world where at least one Buddha is born. There are 5 types of Asuñña-Kalpa:[7]

  1. Sāra-Kalpa - The world where one Buddha is born.
  2. Maṇḍa-Kalpa - The world where two Buddhas are born.
  3. Vara-Kalpa - The world where three Buddhas are born.
  4. Sāramaṇḍa-Kalpa - The world where four Buddhas are born.
  5. Bhadda-Kalpa - The world where five Buddhas are born.

The current kalpa is Bhadda kalpa where Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, Kassapa, and Gautama Buddhas are born and Metteya Buddha will be born.

Hinduism

In Hinduism (cf. Hindu time cycles), a kalpa is equal to 4.32 billion years, a "day of Brahma" or one thousand mahayugas,[3] measuring the duration of the world. Each kalpa is divided into 14 manvantara periods, each lasting 71 Yuga Cycles (306,720,000 years). Preceding the first and following each manvantara period is a juncture (sandhya) equal to the length of a Satya Yuga (1,728,000) years.[8] A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (dissolution) of equal length, which together constitute a day and night of Brahma. A "month of Brahma" is supposed to contain thirty such days (including nights), or 259.2 billion years. According to the Mahabharata, 12 months of Brahma (=360 days) constitute his year, and 100 such years the life cycle of the universe. Fifty years of Brahma are supposed to have elapsed, and we are now in the Shveta-Varaha Kalpa or the fifty-first. At the end of a kalpa, the world is annihilated.

Cycles greater than Kalpa

In Hinduism, a Kalpa is indicative for creation and dissolution of a universe. However, there are a few cycles of time mentioned in Hinduism, which consists of several iterations of such "Kalpa"-s. First one of them is referred as "One Month of Brahma", which consists of 30 Kalpas and successive dissolution phases. Each Kalpa in the series are distinctly identified by different names. Current "Kalpa" is referred to as "Sveta-Varaha", next one will be "Neel-Lohita". Combining 12 such "Months of Brahma", one year of Brahma is formed. 100 such years of "Brahma" is called as a "Maha-Kalpa". Length of a Maha-Kalpa is 311.04 trillion years. 8000 such "Maha-Kalpa"-s form one "Yuga of Brahma", whose length is 2.4 Quintillion years. There are other greater cycles whose lengths are 22.3 Sextillion years, 670 Sextillion years and 201 Septillion years respectively.[9]

Other periods of time
See also: Hindu units of time, Manvantara, and Yuga Cycle

The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahmā, and one day of Brahmā consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Tretā-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvāpara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years. In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the termination of the yuga the Supreme Lord Himself appears as the Kalki avatāra, vanquishes the demons, saves His devotees, and commences another Satya-yuga. Then the process is set rolling again. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahmā, and the same number comprise one night. Brahmā lives one hundred of such "years" and then dies. These "hundred years" total 311 trillion 40 billion (311,040,000,000,000) earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahmā seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash. In the Causal Ocean there are innumerable Brahmās rising and disappearing like bubbles. Brahmā and his creation are all part of the material universe, and therefore they are in constant flux.

A Kalpa Day = 4.32 Billion Earth Years

One day of Brahma = One Thousand Mahayugas 14 Manvantaras + 15 Sandhikalas = 71 Yuga Cycles (Satya, Dvapara, Treta & Kali Yugas) with Sandhikala

Two such Kalpa = Day and Night of Brahma

A month of Brahma = 30 days of Brahma (Day and Night) = 60 Kalpa

1 Day of Brahma = 2 Kalpa's = 4.32 X 2 Billion Years = 8.64 Billion Years

30 Days of Brahma = 30 X 8.64 Billion Years = 259.2 Billion Years

1 Years of Brahma = 360 Brahma Days = 8.64 Billion Years X 360 = 3110.4 Billion Earth Years

100 Years of Brahma = 311, 000.4 Billion Years

— Brihat Swasthani BrataKatha, Shreehari Brata Katha

Names

In Buddhism, the previous kalpa was the Vyuhakalpa (Glorious aeon), the present kalpa is called the Bhadrakalpa (Auspicious aeon), and the next kalpa will be the Nakshatrakalpa (Constellation aeon).[10]

In Hinduism, the Matsya Purana (290.3-12) lists the names of 30 kalpas, as follows:[11]

  1. Śveta (current)
  2. Nīlalohita
  3. Vāmadeva
  4. Rathantara
  5. Raurava
  6. Deva
  7. Vṛhat
  8. Kandarpa
  9. Sadya
  10. Iśāna
  11. Tamah
  12. Sārasvata
  13. Udāna
  14. Gāruda
  15. Kaurma
  16. Nārasiṁha
  17. Samāna
  18. Āgneya
  19. Soma
  20. Mānava
  21. Tatpumān
  22. Vaikuṇṭha
  23. Lakṣmī
  24. Sāvitrī
  25. Aghora
  26. Varāha
  27. Vairaja
  28. Gaurī
  29. Māheśvara
  30. Pitṛ

The Vayu Purana in chapter 21 gives yet another list of 28 kalpas. It also lists five more kalpas in the next chapter.

Influence on the Elder Scrolls series

The concept of kalpas was an inspiration for the kalpas of the universe of the Elder Scrolls series of action role-playing open world fantasy video games. In The Elder Scrolls, kalpas represent each life cycle of the mortal realm of Mundus.[12]

City at the End of Time

In City at the End of Time, a science fiction novel by Greg Bear, Kalpa is a fortress city built on Earth by descendants of humans in the last period of the Universe to protect themselves from the Chaos that is devouring it.

See also

References
  1. Sn 373
  2. "Chapter 36: The Buddhas in the three periods of time". Buddhism in a Nutshell Archives. Hong Kong: Buddhistdoor International. Retrieved 2014-12-21.
  3. Johnson, W.J. (2009). A Dictionary of Hinduism. Oxford University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-19-861025-0.
  4. Epstein, Ronald B.(2002). Buddhist Text Translation Society's Buddhism A to Z p. 204. Buddhist Text Translation Society. ISBN 0-88139-353-3, ISBN 978-0-88139-353-8.
  5. "What are Kalpas?". Lion's Roar. December 14, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  6. Epstein, Ronald (2003). Buddhism A to Z. Burlingame, California, United States.: The Buddhist Text Translation Society. ISBN 0-88139-353-3.
  7. The Commentary of Buddhavamsa
  8. Cremo, M.A., 1999. Puranic time and the archaeological record. In T. Murray (ed.), Time and Archaeology 38–48. London: Routledge. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/379479
  9. Bharatbarsha – A Living Legend
  10. Buswell Jr., RE; Lopez Jr., DS (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (1st ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-691-15786-3.
  11. Vasu, S.C. & others (1972). The Matsya Puranam, Part II, Delhi: Oriental Publishers, p.366
  12. Paarthurnax's dialogue in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
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