Vivartakalpa
The Vivartakalpa begins with the arising of the primordial wind, which begins the process of
building up the structures of the universe that had been destroyed at the end of the last mahākalpa.
As the extent of the destruction can vary, the nature of this evolution can vary as well, but it always takes the form of beings
from a higher world being born into a lower world.
The example of a Mahābrahmā being the rebirth of a deceased Ābhāsvara deva is just one instance of this, which continues throughout the Vivartakalpa
until all the worlds are filled from the Brahmaloka down to Naraka.
During the Vivartakalpa
the first humans appear;
they are not like present-day humans, but are
beings shining in their own light, capable of moving through the air without mechanical aid, living for a very long time, and not requiring sustenance;
they are more like a type of lower deity than present-day humans are.
Over time, they acquire a taste for physical nutriment, and as they consume it, their bodies become heavier and more like human bodies; they lose their ability to shine, and begin to acquire differences in their appearance, and their length of life decreases.
They differentiate into two sexes and begin to become sexually active.
Then greed, theft and violence arise among them, and they establish social distinctions and government and elect a king to rule them, called
Mahāsammata, "the great appointed one".
Some of them begin to hunt and eat the flesh of animals, which have by now come into existence.
VIVARTASTHĀYIKALPA
First antarakalpa
The Vivartasthāyikalpa begins when the first being is born into Naraka, thus filling the entire universe with beings.
During the first antarakalpa of this eon, human lives are declining from a vast but unspecified number of years (but at least several tens of thousands of years) toward the modern lifespan of less than 100 years.
At the beginning of the antarakalpa, people are still generally happy.
They live under the rule of a universal monarch or "wheel-turning king" (cakravartin), who conquer.
The Mahāsudassana-sutta tells of the life of a cakravartin king, Mahāsudassana (Sanskrit: Mahāsudar¶ana) who lived for
336,000 years.
The Cakkavatti-sīhanāda-sutta tells of a later dynasty of cakravartins, Daḷhanemi (Sanskrit: Dṛḍhanemi) and five of his descendants, who had a lifespan of over
80,000 years.
The seventh of this line of cakravartins broke with the traditions of his forefathers,
refusing to abdicate his position at a certain age, pass the throne on to his son, and enter the life of a ¶ramaṇa.
As a result of his subsequent misrule,
poverty increased;
as a result of poverty,
theft began;
as a result of theft,
capital punishment was instituted;
and as a result of this
contempt for life,
murders and other crimes became rampant.
The human lifespan now quickly decreased from 80,000 to
100 years, apparently decreasing by
about half with each generation (this is perhaps not to be taken literally), while with each generation other crimes and evils increased: lying, greed, hatred, sexual misconduct, disrespect for elders.
During this period, according to the Mahāpadāna-sutta (DN.14) three of the four Buddhas of this antarakalpa lived:
- Krakucchanda Buddha (Pāli: Kakusandha), at the time when the lifespan was 40,000 years;
- Kanakamuni Buddha (Pāli: Konāgamana) when the lifespan was 30,000 years;
- Kā¶yapa Buddha (Pāli: Kassapa) when the lifespan was 20,000 years.
Our present time is taken to be toward
the end of the first antarakalpa of this Vivartasthāyikalpa, when the lifespan is less than 100 years, after the life of ¦ākyamuni Buddha (Pāli: Sakyamuni), who lived to the age of
80.
The remainder of the antarakalpa is prophesied to be
miserable:
lifespans will continue to decrease, and all the evil tendencies of the past will reach their ultimate in destructiveness.
People will live no longer than
ten years, and will marry at
five;
foods will be poor and tasteless;
no form of morality will be acknowledged.
The most contemptuous and hateful people will become the rulers.
Incest will be rampant.
Hatred between people, even members of the same family, will grow until people think of each other as hunters do of their prey.
Eventually a great war will ensue, in which the most hostile and aggressive will arm themselves and go out to kill each other.
The less aggressive will hide in forests and other secret places while the war rages.
This war marks the end of the first antarakalpa.
Second antarakalpa
At the end of the war,
the survivors will emerge from their hiding places and repent their evil habits.
As they begin to do good,
their lifespan increases, and the health and welfare of the human race will also increase with it.
After a long time, the descendants of those with a 10-year lifespan
will live for 80,000 years, and at that time there will be a cakravartin king named Saṅkha.
During his reign, the current bodhisattva in the Tuṣita heaven will descend and be reborn under the name of Ajita.
He will enter the life of a ¶ramaṇa and will gain perfect enlightenment as a Buddha;
and he will then be known by the name of
Maitreya (Pāli: Metteyya).
After Maitreya's time, the world will again worsen, and the lifespan will gradually decrease from
80,000 years to 10 years again, each antarakalpa being separated from the next by
devastating war, with peaks of high civilization and morality in the middle.
After the
19th antarakalpa, the lifespan will increase to 80,000 and then not decrease, because the Vivartasthāyikalpa will have come to an end.
SAṃVARTAKALPA
The Saṃvartakalpa begins when
beings cease to be born in Naraka.
This cessation of birth then
proceeds in reverse order up the vertical cosmology, i.e., pretas then cease to be born, then animals, then humans, and so on up to the realms of the deities.
When these worlds as far as the Brahmaloka are
devoid of inhabitants,
a great fire consumes the entire physical structure of the world.
It burns all the worlds below the Ābhāsvara worlds.
When they are destroyed, the Saṃvartasthāyikalpa begins.
SAṃVARTASTHĀYIKALPA
There is nothing to say about the Saṃvartasthāyikalpa, since
nothing happens in it below the Ābhāsvara worlds.
It ends when
the primordial wind begins to blow and build the structure of the worlds up again.
OTHER DESTRUCTIONS
The destruction by fire is the normal type of destruction that occurs at the end of the Saṃvartakalpa.
But
every eighth mahākalpa, after
seven destructions by fire, there is
a destruction by water.
This is more devastating, as it eliminates not just the
Brahma worlds but also the Ābhāsvara worlds.
Every sixty-fourth mahākalpa, after
56 destructions by fire and 7 destructions by water, there is a
destruction by wind.
This is the most devastating of all, as it also destroys the ¦ubhakṛtsna worlds.
The higher worlds are never destroyed.