Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Documentary; Hawaiian Gazette (1/11/1907); Wiki; Palikanon.com
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| Exaggerated curvature in NASA's CGI of our world as if seen from near-earth space |
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| MAP: Hawaiian Gazette (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, 1865-1918 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov) |
(Documentary) Inspired by the book Worlds Beyond the Poles, this documentary is a new look at our universe. We see the earth is flat, but we are told not to believe our eyes. Instead, we are shown CGIs (computer generated images) by NASA to confuse us. The book is nonfiction, based on observable facts. Might it explain the "stars" and "planets," and how we can get there? If true, it means there are many lands with (human) life.Worlds Beyond the Poles
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| Worlds Beyond the Poles |
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| The Northwest Passage is opening up in the warming world of Jambudvipa (AP). |
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| This is a modern, colorized 3D map of the Hawaiian Islands (USGS) |
Terra incognita is a strange place, Unknown Land. Where is it? It was once all around. Now it is Antarctica and beyond. How can there be a beyond if the world is a sphere, a ball, a globe? There can't.
Our world must be some other shape, contoured. Ancient Buddhist and other sacred texts certainly do not describe a ball traveling in midair while spinning at 1,000 MPH without sloshing its water. They describe a series of mountain rings and lands unexplored. The Buddha described them.
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| Chart of Buddhism's 31 Planes of Existence |
A Buddhist cosmogony is not lacking. It agrees in large part with that of other religions, if only being more detailed or inclusive. The Buddha disclosed the world as have 31 "planes." These are not singular worlds but worlds alongside similar worlds. They move up an order of magnitude, and in that next plane there are many worlds. There are, therefore, countless worlds extending out in all directions or in ten-thousandfold directions.
Discussion of this human plane should not be misunderstood, as has for so long been the case, as being limited to earth. There are many worlds within the human plane. They are similar in their cycles, going through things as we go through them. The world, this earth, this planet was described as rings of mountains around a central mountain call "Good Meru," Mt. Sumeru.
Buddhist cosmology
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| What is the shape of this world if the nearby sun leaves a hot spot on the ocean? |
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| What did Marilyn Monroe know about the Mercator [Inner-Ring] Projection Map? Not much. |
The world-mountain Sumeru is an immense, strangely shaped peak that arises in the center of the world, and around which the Sun and Moon revolve.
Its base rests in a vast ocean, and it is surrounded by several rings of lesser mountain ranges and oceans.
These three worlds are all located on, or around, Mt. Sumeru: the World of the Thirty-Three (Trāyastriṃśa devas) live on its peak; the The Four Great Space Kings (Cāturmahārājikakāyika devas) live on its slopes; the Titans (Asuras) live in the ocean at its base.
Mt. Sumeru and its surrounding oceans and mountains are the home not just of these beings but also vast assemblies of beings of popular mythology who only rarely intrude on the human world.
Earth
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| Stay in your world. We'll stay in ours (WQ). |
Manuṣya-loka is the world of humans and human-like beings who live on the surface of the earth. [Agartha in name of the inner or middle earth.]
The mountain-rings that gird Mt. Sumeru (not the Himalayas) are surrounded by a vast ocean or oceans, which fill most of the world. The ocean is in turn surrounded by a circular mountain wall called Chakra-vāḍa (Cakka-vāḷa) which marks the horizontal limit of the world.
In this ocean there are four "continents" or great land masses which are, relatively speaking, small "islands" (dvipas or lights) in it. Because of the immenseness of the ocean, they cannot be reached from each other by ordinary sailing vessels.
But in the past, when the "world rulers" (cakra-vartins) ruled, communication between the continents was possible by means of the treasure called the chakra-ratna (cakka-ratana), which seems to refer to a spaceship, "flying saucer," vimana), which a cakra-vartin and retinue can use to fly through the air between the lands/continents.
- Wheel Treasure (cakka-ratana): One of the seven treasures of a world ruler. When a world ruler is born into the world, this treasure appears from its home/storage (cakkadaha) traveling through the air/space (J.iv.232, but see Vepulla). It is the world ruler's chief symbol of office; on its appearance the ruler sprinkles it with water and asks it to travel to the various quarters of the world, winning/conquering them [into a kind of peacefully won empire, perhaps by intimidation of this craft's imposing might]. This it does, carrying with it through the air the world ruler and a fourfold army. Wherever the world ruler halts, all the chiefs of that quarter acclaim the world ruler as their overlord and declare their allegiance. Having thus traversed the four quarters of the earth, it returns to the world ruler's capital and remains fixed as an ornament on the open terrace in front of the world ruler's inner apartments/residence (D.ii.173f; M.iii.173ff). The Commentaries (e.g., DA.ii.617ff; MA.ii.942ff) contain lengthy descriptions of it: It is shaped like a wheel, its nave is of sapphire, the center of which shines like the orb of the moon, and around it is a band of silver. [That sounds like a flying saucer all right.] It has one thousand spokes, each ornamented with various decorations; its tyre is of bright coral; within every tenth spoke is a coral staff, hollow inside, which produces the sounds of the fivefold musical instruments when blown upon by the wind. On the staff is a white parasol [which definitely looks like a standard flying saucer in all depictions, ancient and modern], on either side of which are festoons of flowers. When the wheel moves, it appears like three wheels moving one within the other ["wheels within wheels," as the biblical reference goes]. When a world ruler dies or leaves the world, it disappears from the sight of humans for seven days; it gives warning of the ruler's impending death by slipping from its place some time before the event (D.iii.59f.; MA.ii.885). When a successor has lived righteously for seven days, it reappears (D.iii.64). It is the most precious and the most honored thing in the world (UdA.356).
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| Cakkaratana with anti-gravity propulsion |
The four "continents" or lands are:
1. Jambudvīpa (Jambudīpa) is located in the south and is the dwelling of ordinary human beings. It is said to be shaped "like a cart," or rather a blunt-nosed triangle with the point facing south. (This description echoes the shape of the southern coastline of India). It is 10,000 yojanas in extent (Vibhajyavāda tradition) or has a perimeter of 6,000 yojanas (Sarvāstivāda tradition) to which can be added the southern coast of only 3 1⁄2 yojanas' length. The continent takes its name from a giant Jambu tree (Syzygium cumini), 100 yojanas tall, which grows in the middle of the continent. Every continent has one of these giant trees. All Buddhas appear in Jambudvīpa. The people here are five to six feet tall and their length of life varies between 10 years and 10 to the power of 140 years (10140, Asankya Aayu, an "incalculable" period).
2. Pūrvavideha (Pubbavideha) is located in the east and
is shaped like a semicircle with the flat side pointing westward (i.e.,
towards Sumeru). It is 7,000 yojanas in extent (Vibhajyavāda tradition) and has a perimeter of 6,350 yojanas of which the flat side is 2,000
yojanas long (Sarvāstivāda tradition). Its tree is the acacia. The people here are about 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, and they live for 250 years.
3. Aparagodānīya (Aparagoyāna) is located in the west
and is shaped like a circle with a circumference of about 7,500 yojanas
(Sarvāstivāda tradition). The tree of this continent is a giant kadamba
tree. The human inhabitants of this continent do not live in houses but
sleep on the ground. They are about 24 feet (7.3 m) tall, and they live
for 500 years.
4. Uttarakuru
(Uttarakuru) is located in the north and is shaped like a square. It has a
perimeter of 8,000 yojanas, being 2,000 yojanas on each side. This
continent's tree is called a kalpavṛkṣa
(kapparukkha) or kalpa-tree, because it lasts for the entire
kalpa (an average lifespan, 1000 years here, rather than an aeon). The inhabitants of Uttarakuru have cities built in the air/space. They
are said to be extraordinarily wealthy, not needing to labor for a
living -- as their food grows by itself -- and having no private property.
They are about 48 feet (15 m) tall and live for 1,000 years, and they
are under the protection of the Sky King Vaiśravaṇa.
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