གླིང་བཞི། | Glossary of Terms
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གླིང་བཞི་པ།
- གླིང་བཞི།
- gling bzhi
- gling bzhi pa
- caturdvīpa
- caturdvipaka
- dvīpacatur
- cāturdvīpa
- Note: this data is still being sorted
- Term
- Place
According to traditional Buddhist cosmology, our universe consists of a central mountain, known as Mount Meru or Sumeru, surrounded by four island continents (dvīpa), one in each of the four cardinal directions. The Abhidharmakośa explains that each of these island continents has a specific shape and is flanked by two smaller subcontinents of similar shape. To the south of Mount Meru is Jambudvīpa, corresponding either to the Indian subcontinent itself or to the known world. It is triangular in shape, and at its center is the place where the buddhas attain awakening. The humans who inhabit Jambudvīpa have a lifespan of one hundred years. To the east is Videha, a semicircular continent inhabited by humans who have a lifespan of two hundred fifty years and are twice as tall as the humans who inhabit Jambudvīpa. To the north is Uttarakuru, a square continent whose inhabitants have a lifespan of a thousand years. To the west is Godānīya, circular in shape, where the lifespan is five hundred years.
- four continents
- གླིང་བཞི།
- gling bzhi
- caturdvīpa
- four continents
- གླིང་བཞི།
- gling bzhi
- caturdvīpa
- four continents
- གླིང་བཞི།
- gling bzhi
- dvīpacatur
- four continents
- གླིང་བཞི་པ།
- gling bzhi pa
- caturdvipaka
- four continents
- གླིང་བཞི།
- gling bzhi
- caturdvīpa
According to Abhidharma cosmology, each world system has four continents surrounding a central Mount Meru: to the east, Videha (lus ’phags po, “superior body”); to the south, our continent of Jambudvīpa (’dzam bu gling, “Rose Apple Continent”); to the west, Aparagodānīya (ba glang spyod “Rich in Cattle”); and to the north, Uttarakuru (sgra mi snyan, “Unpleasant Sound”).
- four continents
- གླིང་བཞི།
- gling bzhi
- caturdvīpa
According to traditional Indian cosmology, our own Sahā world system is said to comprise four continents, namely, Pūrvavideha in the east, Jambudvīpa in the south, Aparagodānīya in the west, and Uttarakuru in the north.