How Big is the Ocean? (Animal Talk)

Scientists calculate how big the ocean is

Using measurements from satellites, researchers determine its volume and depth. Octopus mystery solved - Dire ocean fish warning - Deep sea creatures - Dive the Marianas Trench

While fascinating, some topics of conversation are not helpful for gaining enlightenment. And without enlightenment, there is no final liberation from suffering. What sort of talk is not helpful? "Animal talk" not dealing with the Dharma, including speculative talk of the sea.

ANIMAL TALK
Animal talk is worldly discussion of rulers, robbers, ministers (politics); armies, calamities, and battles; food and drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, and scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women and heroes; the gossip of the street and the well; tales of the dead; philosophical discussions of the past and future (what the Sub-commentary explains as 'tales of diversity'), the creation of the world and of the sea, and talk of whether things exist or not."

The Sub-commentary also notes that to discuss any of these topics in a way that fosters an understanding of the Dharma — for example, discussing the impermanence of worldly power or how the size of the ocean relates to rebirth — may be considered edifying.

SAMSARA
So here's an attempt to relate the size of the sea to Samsara — the "continued wandering on" of beings through births, deaths, rebirths, and redeaths ad nauseum. It is said in the Grouped Discourses (Samyutta Nikaya, Anatamagga-samyutta, S ii 178; CDB i 651) that the beginnings of Samsara are unimaginable. That is, how long we have wandered incessantly undergoing rebirth (past lives) in various planes, both blissful and horrific, with no end in sight in future lives, is unimaginable.

To illustrate this the Buddha once asked, "Which is greater, the tears you have shed while wandering through rebirths...or the water in the four great oceans?" (In the same way he also asks, "Which is greater, the blood you have shed in your long journey in Samsara, or the water in the four great oceans?")

While in the ancient city of Savatthi, the Buddha said: "It is not possible to construe a beginning to this wandering on. No first point is evident or a time before when beings were not hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving in this long cyclical journey. What do you think: Which is greater, the tears you have shed while wandering and running on — crying about being joined with what is displeasing and weeping over being separated from what is pleasing — or the water in the four great oceans?"

"As we understand the Dharma taught to us by the Blessed One, greater are the tears we have shed wandering on...not the water in the four great oceans."

"Excellent, disciples, excellent! It is excellent that you have understood the Dharma taught by me in this way. Indeed, the tears you have shed while wandering along are greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a mother. The tears you have shed over the death of a mother...crying and weeping...greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"Long have you (repeatedly) experienced the death of a father... brother... sister... son... daughter... loss with regard to relatives... wealth... disease. The tears you have shed over loss with regard to [these] while wandering along — crying and weeping — are greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"Now why is that? A first beginning to this wandering cannot be construed. A beginning point is not evident, nor a time before when beings were not hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving running and wandering on. Long have you thus experienced suffering [mental], experienced pain [physical], experienced loss, swelling up the cemeteries — it is enough to become disenchanted with all compounded things, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released." (See also: SN 15.13).

More on the Sea of Samsara

• SN 15.3: Assu Sutta — Tears
  "Which is greater, the tears you have shed while transmigrating and wandering this long, long time... or the water in the four great oceans?"
• SN 15.9: Danda Sutta — The Stick
  We bounce from one birth to the next, as a thrown stick bounces along the ground.
• SN 15.11: Duggata Sutta — Fallen on Hard Times
  When you encounter an unfortunate person, remember: you've been there, too.
• SN 15.12: Sukhita Sutta — Happy
  When you encounter a fortunate person, remember: you've been there, too.
• SN 15.13: Timsa Sutta — Thirty
  Which is greater, the blood you have shed in your long journey in samsara, or the water in the four great oceans?
• SN 15.14-19: Mata Sutta — Mother
  It's hard to meet someone who has not been, at some time in the distant past, your mother, father, son, daughter, sister, or brother.