---Dear Lennart and Robert,
I asked my good friend in Dhamma (Sujin Boriharnwanaket) a similar
speculative question last week ,in bangkok, and she said she has no
interest in such things as it isn't relevant to insight. Nevertheless, I think
some people can lose confidence in the teachings if some of these
matters are not explained.

Robert Didham: Two quick questions for Robert, though: what are the
textual sources for
this cyclic big-bang cosmology (apart from modern physics of course)?
______________

In the Aganna sutta of the Digha Nikaya:
"There comes a time, Vasettha, when, sooner or later, after the lapse of
a long, long period, this world passed away. And when this happens,
beings have mostly been reborn in the World of Radiance; and there
they dwell, made of mind, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, traversing
the air, continuing in glory; and thus they remain for a long, long period
of time. There comes also a time, Vasettha, when sooner or later this
world begins to re-evolve. When this happens, beings who had
deceased from the World of Radiance, usually come to life as humans.

__________________
Robert: and
your reference to Lord Buddha raises the question of where the other
Buddhas
fit into this picture.
________________


In the Mahapadana-sutta (Digha Nikaya), for example ,the Buddha tells
about six previous Buddhas and recounts the major life events of the
Buddha Vipassin..
The fact that all these past Buddhas have pali names seems to
support the commentaries claim that Pali is the original language of all
successive world systems.
____________
Lennart: In case of this "universe" i could

> follow, as many powerful devas achieved their state because of the

punna

> gathered at Lord Buddha's time. But how could Pali continue to be the
> muulabhaasaa in other aeons thereafter ?

_____
I think for us who are born in a time when the Darwinian worldview is
dominant it seems strange that one language should always be the
one that is original. But it is perhaps no stranger that in each aeon
humans should arise (according to evolutionary theory humans are
simply an amazing accident ). Apparently pali is THE natural
language.
But of course this is just my speculation - whether there is truth in it is
another matter.
Robert

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