Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is respectfully quoted from “Myriad Worlds” by Jamgön Kongtrul:

Distinctive Features of Our Own World-System, Endurance

This section has two parts: (1) identification of Endurance, and (2) a supplementary explanation.

[I.C.1]
Identification of Endurance

Inside the great outer rim, within seas of scented waters,
Four jewelled lotuses support
A tiered arrangement of twenty-five world-systems;
The thirteenth is known as Endurance. 

Within the great outer rim of that [arrangement of one] Flower-Filled World are the indescribable oceans of fragrant waters [descending from] the body of Great Glacial Lake, as numerous as the particles in all the buddha realms. In the center of these oceans are seas of scented waters filled with beautiful anthers on which rest four immense jewelled lotuses. A tiered arrangement of twenty-five world-systems is supported by these [lotuses]. In the spaces between each [of these world-systems] are infinite tiers of world-systems, which define their boundaries. The thirteenth of these [twenty-five world-systems] is our own third-order thousand world-system, known as Endurance.
The Sanskrit term for Endurance is sahā, which denotes possession, forbearance, or capacity. All sentient beings who have taken birth in this realm endure emotions and sufferings. In other words, beings possess these [afflictions] in great measure. “Endurance” also signifies the forbearance of hardship. The bodhisattvas of this realm patiently endure [hardship] with exceptional courage and excel in bravery. Thus, this realm is known as Endurance.

[I.C.2]

The supplementary Explanation

This third-order thousand world-system
Is completely encircled by realms–Covered, Surpassing, Stainless, Variously Emerged, etc.–
Equal in number to the particles of this thirteenth world-system.
[Endurance] is spherical, has a four-vajra demarcation. It is supported by a multicolored configuration of wind and rests on a network of lotuses.

This third-order thousand world-system of Endurance alone is encircled by buddha realms equal in number to the particles of this thirteenth world-system. To the east is Covered; to the south, Surpassing; to the west, Stainless; and the north, Variously Emerged. In the intermediate directions are Benefitting, Variously Appeared, Complete Joy, and Activator. Above and below are found Resounding Melody, Not Great, and others. Endurance is spherical and has a four-vajra boundary demarcation. It is supported by a multicolored configuration of wind and rests on a network of lotuses.

Illuminator, the teacher in this [world-system],
Appears throughout the Unsurpassed realms of the pure domains.

The enlightened teacher in our third-order thousand world-system [Endurance] is an emanation of the enjoyment dimension awakening, the great Illuminator. This is a single form whose vast emanations appear throughout all the Unsurpassed realms in the pure domains and teach the Dharma in the midst of all the powerful [bodhisattvas]. The Centrist scholar Dharmamitra explains:

This form, differentiated [from others] by vows, the power of cultivation [of merit and pristine wisdom], and intention, has attained complete enlightenment in one Unsurpassed domain alone. Therefore, myriad forms of the enjoyment dimension of awakening that dwell in all the [other] Unsurpassed realms are solely his apparition manifesting in a vast [display].

This four-continent [world-system] called Destructible
Is surrounded by ten other four-continent [world-systems].

Our four-continent world-system, which is situated in the center of Endurance, is known as Destructible. It is said that even this [world-system] alone is surrounded by ten other satellite four-continent world-systems. Beginning from the East, these are, respectively, Well Protected, Joyful, Unbearable, Excellent Essence, Befriended, Fine Land, Lion inhabited, Well Formed. Above is Bearing Wealth, and below, Radiant Light.

It is taught that these [world-systems] are formed and destroyed together;
This is the experiential domain solely of the lords of the tenth stage of awakening.

The view most widely shared by Buddhist systems is that [the worlds within] any single third-order thousand world-system are formed together and destroyed [together]. Another view states that all the realms of the emanations of a single supreme manifest domain of awakening (such as oceans of realms that are located in the Flower-Filled World) are formed and destroyed together. The magnitude of this latter view is unfathomable to proclaimers and others; it remains the domain of experience solely of the lord [bodhisattvas] of the tenth stage [of awakening].

The following is respectfully quoted from “The Treasury of Knowledge: Myriad Worlds” by Jamgön Kongtrul:

In Sanskrit: Yāna-sarva-mukhebhyah samucchaya-pravacamratna-kośa-sudeśika-śastram sarvajñeya-spharana-nāma

The Encompassment of All Knowledge: A treasury of precious teachings compiled from all the approaches of the systems for spiritual development, a treatise that effectively transmits the three trainings

Namah śrimām-sad-guru-pādāya

[Embodiment] of complete purity and ethics, you stand firm like the golden foundation.
Your beauty reflects your countless contemplations, like the distinct features of the mountains and continents.
Like the sun and moon, your brilliant wisdom illuminates all phenomena.
Supreme sage and achiever of all goals, I revere you.

With the heart of a great hero who protects beings for as long as they exist,
You suffused the universe with your excellent conduct.
Though father to the victorious ones, you manifest as the victorious ones’ son.
Lion of Speech grant me flawless intelligence.
You nuture the seed–the potential or nature of beings–by imparting instructions that mature and liberate them.
You cause others to purify incidental defilements through the twofold path,
And bestow the fruition, the four dimensions of awakening distinguished by great bliss.
To you, my mentor, and to the masters of the lineages, I bow.

Although I lack the intellectual capacity to compile knowledge correctly,
I shall compose a short, clear comprehensive work
In order to ensure that those with insufficient knowledge or interest to understand the texts
Will not lose their opportunity on this isle of treasures.

***

This treatise [The Infinite Ocean of Knowledge] as a whole has [ten] divisions, equal in number to the ten perfections:
The realms that appear during the age of illumination;
Buddha, the Teacher; the doctrine, both scriptural and experiential;
Is the continuation and spread in the Land of Jambu;
Maintaining ethical conduct; learning; reflection; meditation.
Through successively engaging in these, progression through the paths; and realization of the ultimate result.

***

There are general and specific causes and conditions that initiate [the creation of realms]:
For as long as infinite space and sentient beings exist, , sentient beings continue without end.
Those who guided and enlightened guides
Manifest through inconceivable interconnections.
When the characters and dispositions of those to be guided are activated,
[The compassion of] the guides [arises], and the configurations of the realms and the dimensions of awakening appear;
The miraculous methods of guiding others manifest beyond all bounds.
The sphere of reality never changes into something else;
Yet blessings, vows, actions, and natural laws
Cause oceans of realms to appear.
The realm Unsurpassed is free from incidental defilement
And transcends the experience of the three realms: it is indivisible pristine wisdom.
In this self-manifesting, spontaneously appearing [realm,]
Richly Adorned,
Dwells Illuminator, Great Glacial Lake of Wisdom;
A billion realms in his every pore.
Their locations, shapes, sizes, durations, and arrangements are inconceivable.
Within the central minute particle in the palm of his hand lies the Oceanic World-System
That itself contains many world-systems, in the center of which
Lies the realm called Flower-Filled World.
Furthermore, [between the wind] and the Unsurpassed lie one billion four-continent world-systems,
A great third-order thousand [world-system].
Multiplying that by factors of one billion
[Yeilds] Infinite Links, Continuums, Oceans,
And Flower-Filled World.
Each rests on an ocean and [is encircled by] and outer rim.
This is the sphere of influence of one supreme manifest dimension of awakening.
Inside the great outer rim, in a sea of scented water,
Four jewelled lotuses support
A tiered arrangement of twenty-five world-systems;
The thirteenth is known as Endurance. This third-order thousand world-system
Is completely encircled by realms–Covered, Surpassing, Stainless, Variously Emerged, etc.–
Equal in number to the particles of this thirteenth world-system.
[Endurance] is spherical, has a four-vajra demarcation,
And rests on a multicolored configuration of wind and a network of lotuses.
Illuminator, the teacher in this [world-system],
Appears throughout the Unsurpassed realms of the pure domains.
This four-continent [world-system] called Destructible
Is surrounded by ten other four-continent [world-systems].
It is taught that these [world-systems] are formed and destroyed together;
This is the experiential domain solely of the lords of the tenth stage of awakening.

***

In our own world-system, four [ages] occur: formation, abiding, destruction, and vacuity.
Of the two, environment and inhabitants, [a description of] the environment and inhabitants, [a description of] the environmental world [is presented first]:
After the age of vacuity had elapsed at the end of the previous age,
Winds arose from the ten directions, creating a configuration in the shape of a cross;
Rain fell from a cloud, and amidst a mass of water,
A thousand lotuses were seen; thus the Fortunate Age was proclaimed.
The churning of water by wind produce a golden disc,
Upon which rain fell; [this became] the great ocean.
The churning by wind developed the [ocean’s] elements–superior, medium, and base;
These elements formed Mount Meru, the seven mountain ranges, the four continents and the outer rim.
The mountains and continents all extend eighty thousand [leagues] down into the ocean.
Mount Meru rises eighty thousand [leagues] above the ocean.
The four sides of Mount Meru are composed of crystal, blue beryl, ruby, and gold.
The sky [on each side] reflects these colors.
From sea level to half its height are four terraces.
Beyond it are seven golden mountain ranges, Yoke and the others.
The spaces between are filled with seas of enjoyment, which have eight qualities.
The four continents and eight islands
Are semi-circular, trapezoidal, round, and square.
There are numerous unspecified little islands.
The outer rim consists of a mountain range composed of iron;
A salt-water ocean fills the area as far as this range.
North from the center of the Exalted Land, beyond nine black mountains,
Stand the Snowy Mountains, and the north of these the Fragrant [Mountains].
Between these two mountain ranges lies Cool Lake; from its four sides
Four cascades flow in four directions toward the ocean.
A jambu tree adorns the lake’s shore,
And so this continent is known as the land beautified by the jambu tree.
The names of Majestic Body and the others indicate their distinguishing features.
Tail-Fan Island is inhabited by cannibal demons, and the others, by humans.
The hells and the world of the starving spirits are located below the earth.
Animals, the inhabitants of the depths, dwell in the great ocean.
Demi-gods [live] in the crevices of Mount Meru from the water’s edge down.
The Four Groups of the Great Kings reside mainly on the terraces of Mount Meru.
Beings may also dwell in various unspecified secondary abodes.

Above Mount Meru is the heaven of the Thirty-three
In which is found the Victorious Residence, the city called Lovely,
Parks, playing fields, the All-gathering tree, the fine stone slab,
The Assembly Hall of the Excellent Law, as well as the dwelling of the yaksas.
Above, Conflict Free, Joyful, Enjoying Creations, and [Mastery Over] Others’ [Creations]
Rest on riches like cloud formations in the sky.
There are sixteen heavens in the form realm, beginning with Group of the Pure;
Above them all is Lesser Unsurpassed.
The lord bodhisattvas reside above that, according to the Five Treatises on the Stages.
[The heavens] double in size and grow increasingly magnificent.
One third-order thousand world-system is fathomed by the vision of the proclaimers and solitary sages,
Who assert that it is composed of indivisible particles of matter.
The four absorptions of the formless realm and the other realms arise sequentially; [the beings within them]
Diffuse from higher to lower, down to the hells.
Moreover, the four levels of absorption of the formless realm
Are only distinctions in contemplation; they have no form or location.
The form realm: In the fourth level of meditative concentration, [there are] five pure domains and three heavens of ordinary beings.
Three [heavens] are located within each of the lower three levels of meditative concentration.
The desire realm comprises thirty-six types of beings:
Six groups of gods, [humans of the] four continents,
[Inhabitants of the] eight islands, animals and starving
[Beings in the] eight hot hells, and the eight cold hells.
The twenty existences, ten happy and ten miserable,
May also be classified as twenty-eight.
Within the happy existences–the form realm and the rest–
Lifespans and possessions decrease the lower level.
In the miserable existences, suffering increases the lower the level.
The four [levels] of absorption, the four levels of meditative concentration, and the desire realm
Comprise nine levels. In terms of type, there are six [classes of] beings.
A classification of five–human, divine, and three miserable existences–
May be made in terms of paths and courses.
All these beings may be categorized according to the four modes of birth,
Or into pure, corrupt, and indeterminate groups.
During the time of abiding, most beings, except for animals,
Experience consequences that are predetermined.
In our world, humans have a wide variety of lifespans,
wealth, and physical size.
Lifespan decreases from incalculable to ten,
And then increases to eighty thousand, and so on.
During a decline, a rise, and eighteen intermediate cycles,
There are fluctuations. The three continents are places where [consequences] are experienced;
Jambu Land, the most distinguished, is the place of action.
Beings in this world came down from the heaven of Clear Light.
The nourishment derived from meditative concentration and other [pristine] qualities gradually deteriorated due to craving.
The sun and moon provided light, and King Honored by Multitudes appeared.
Then, such distinctions as the four eras and four classes arose.
Wheel-monarchs, who [possess wheels of] gold, silver, copper, and iron,
Appear in this world only when the lifespan is no less than eighty thousand years.
Some say that they reign totally over the third-order thousand world-system.
There are many variations in food, hunger and thirst, color of clothing, night and day, etc.
Beings in lower [realms] do not see those in higher.
At the time of destruction, the miserable realms, beginning with the hell realms, empty.
Gods and humans attain meditative concentration and are born in the form realm.
As the realms empty of inhabitants, the [beings of] the lower realms move higher.
The heavens of the first meditative concentration and below are destroyed by fire.
Space alone remains, a vacuity containing nothing at all.
Again formation occurs, and again abiding, and finally destruction by fire.
After seven such [sequences], a deluge at the end of the eight
Destroys the second meditative concentration and below.
Seven destructions by fire alternating with one by water occur seven times.
Ending with another seven by fire.
Finally, intense wind destroys the third meditative concentration and below.
Because those three contemplations have imperfections [they are destroyed];
The fourth, being free of imperfection, is not destroyed by the elements.
Altogether, sixty-four great cycles of destruction occur.
Each of the ages of formation, abiding, destruction and vacuity
Lasts for twenty intermediate ages; together, these [four] constitute one cosmic age.
Such statements as that in a single age seven fires,
One flood, and one wind arise, destroying the third level of meditative concentration and below,
Reflect different points of view of different systems.
The pure realms and the Seat of Enlightenment, etc., are not destroyed,
Since they are not the result of the origin [of suffering].