[lbo-talk] this explains a lot

J cogprole2 at earthlink.net
Fri May 19 09:34:11 PDT 2006


'In Jain tradition, the first teacher, Rishabh, lived in the third period of Avasarpini, during which half of the world cycle things are getting worse. Since evil had appeared, a Tirthankara was needed to help people cope with life. In the fourth period, evil proliferated so much that twenty-three more Tirthankaras came into the world to teach people how to defeat evil and achieve moksh. The present time, part of the fifth period, is 'wholly evil.' Now, men live less than 125 years, and the sixth epoch will be even worse. 'A man's life span will be only sixteen to twenty years and his height will be reduced to that of a dwarf. . . . But then the slow upward movement of the first half of the upward cycle, Utsarpini, will begin. There will be steady improvement until, in the first era, man's needs will be fulfilled by wish fullfilling trees, his height will be six miles, and evil will be unknown.' However, eventually things will degenerate, with Avasarpini followed by Usarpini in a neverending cycle.'

~J



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