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([[bskal pa]], Skt. [[Kalpa]]).
#redirect [[Dharmas]]
 
Aeon ([[bskal pa]])
*A period of cosmic or cyclical time (Skt. [[kalpa]]) comprising fourteen secondary cycles (Skt. [[manvantara]]), each of which lasts 306,720,000 years. Each secondary cycle is said to contain seventy-one “great ages” (Skt. [[mahāyuga]]), and each of these is further subdivided into four ages (Skt. [[caturyuga]]) which are of decreasing duration, and known respectively as the Perfect Age ([[Krtayuga]]), the Third Age ([[Tretāyuga]]), the Second Age ([[Dvāparayuga]]), and the Black or Degenerate Age ([[Kaliyuga]]). Since these four ages represent a gradual decline in meritorious activities, special meditative practices and spiritual antidotes are associated with each in turn. Specifically, the Perfect Age is most suited to the practice of the Kriyātantra; the Third Age to that of the Caryātantra; the Second Age to that of the Yogatantra; and the Black or Degenerate Age to that of the Unsurpassed Yogatantra. For a general discussion of Buddhist cosmology, see R. Kloetzli, Buddhist Cosmology, and A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, pp. 320-1. For the relationship between the four ages and spiritual practice, see NSTB, p. 268. [[GD]] (from the Glossary to [[Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings]])
 
*1) World-age, period, cosmic cycle. 2) Cosmic period. 3) There are small aeons, intermediate aeons and big aeons. An intermediate aeon consists of two small aeons, and a big aeon consists of 80 intermediate aeons. 4) Aeon of Strife ([[rtsod dus]]) [RY]<br>
 
*Aeon,– [[bskal pa]], Skt. [[kalpa]], world age, cosmic cycle. A [[great kalpa]] corresponds to a cycle of formation and destruction of a universe, and is divided into [[eighty intermediate kalpas]]. An [[intermediate kalpa]] is composed of one [[small kalpa]] during which lifespan etc. increases and one small kalpa during which it decreases. [AJP] from The Great Image ISBN 1-59030-069-6
 
[[Category: Key Terms]]

Latest revision as of 14:11, 25 January 2006

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