Dear Yong Peng, Jon, and Mahipaliha,

Thank you very much for verifying that the translation of PTS is actually correct about the lifespan of Sakka (36.000.000 years).

Regarding to what Mahipaliha said that DPPN might have erred in writing "thirty six million years and sixty times one hundred thousand", I also think the same (after knowing the explanation from Yong Peng's clear description on the amount of years)....and it seems like nobody wants to comment on this, whether or not DPPN might have erred in doing so, I would have to take it as a 'yes' then.

Yong Peng and Jon,
Sorry, i don't join your talk about cosmology as I myself have a very limited knowledge about such thing.


Once again, thank you very much to all who have been willing to respond to this subject/topic message. Hopefully, you all would always do the same thing--keep responding to any subject that you know the answer--
I am really lucky to have found and been the member of this Paligroups, eventhough I am not active in answering/commenting any message. Hope, nobody minds....


With Metta,
Jo.

Jon Fernquest <bayinnaung@...> wrote: Dear Yong Peng;

Thanks for the explanation.
The expression of the number in the Pali
did seem rather confusing.

But you show us that it just follows the standard in Pali
for verbalizing and writing out numbers like people
do on checks at the bank.

36,000,000 human years also matches the
lifespan for devas in the Taavati.msa heaven
according to Steven Collins table of
Buddhist Cosmology (Nirvana and
other Buddhist Felicities, page 298).

Although the table says "maximum length of life" at the
top which raises the question of whether Sakka's lifespan as
well as that of the other devas is always fixed?

Also there is more than one cosmological text in
Theravadan Buddhist cosmology. I wonder if this hierarchy
with its lifespans is universal across all cosmologies?

[Note: In old Burmese texts too, numbers are verbalized, not written
with digits. People still use lakh for large amounts in Burma
like the value of houses. Perhaps "koti" also (koti = kuti in Burmese).]

With metta,
Jon Fernquest

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Ong Yong Peng" <pali.smith@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Jo and Jon,
>
> Jo:
>
> ko.ti (or crore): In India, a crore equals 10 million in English
> see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crore
>
> sa.t.thi ca vassa-sata-sahassaani tisso ca vassa-ko.tiyo
> sixty / and / year-hundred-thousands / three / and / year-crores
>
> [1]
> sa.t.thi vassa-sata-sahassaani = sixty hundred thousands of vassa
> i.e. 6,000,000 (6M) years
>
> [2]
> tisso vassa-ko.tiyo = three crores of vassa
> i.e. 30,000,000 (30M) years
>
> [1+2]
> 6M + 30M = 36M
> Hence, 36 million years.
>
> metta,
> Yong Peng.
>
>
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, dhamma_joti wrote:
>
> So if there is anyone from this group who would be willing to have a
> look at the Pali words/sentences and verify whether or not the English
> translation about Sakka's lifespan(36.000.000 years) is correct, and
> if possible with explanation on the Pali--how it can be 36.000.000
> years--.
>
> > > sakko sa.t.thi ca vassasatasahassaani tisso ca vassako.tiyo aayu.m
> > > khepetvaa cavi, a~n~no sakko nibbati.
>






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