Again above this is the numeration called sarvaniksepa, with the help of which one could take the
sands of ten Ganges rivers as a subject for calculation and measure them all.
.And again above this is the numeration called agrasara, with the help of which one could take the
sands of a hundred kotis of Ganges rivers as a subject of calcuỉation measure them all. [these sands of the
Gangeses would be too few for their respective numerations]
“And again above this is the highest numeration called uttaraparamamưajahpravesa, which is said to
penetrate the most subtle atoms. Except for a Tathagata, or a Bodhisattva who has reached the purest
essence of Enlightenment, or a Bodhisattva who has been initiated into all the Dharma, there is no being
who knows this numeration, except myselí or a Bodhisattva like me, who has arrived at his last existence,
but has not yet left home.”
§2. Counting the atoms in a yojana and the Earth’s mass
Arjuna said: “Young man, how must one proceed in the numeration which penetrates the dust of the most
subtle atoms?” [counting back this list of lengths an atom would measure between 1 and 1000 picometer,
in reality its diameter is 60 to 600 pm]
The Bodhisattva said: “Seven subtle atoms make a fìne particle\ seven fine particles make a small
particle’, seven small particles make a particle called vatayanaraja\ and seven particles of vatayanaraja
make a particle called sasarajcr, seven particles of sasaraja make a particle called edakaraja\ seven
particles of edakaraja make a particle of gorạịcr, seven particles of goraja make a liksarạịa', seven
liksaraja make a sarsapa; seven sarsapas make an adyava; seven adyavas make an anguli', twelve anguỉi
make a parvcr, two parva make a hastcr, four hastas make a dhanu', a thousand dhanu make a krosa of
the country of Magadha; four krosas make ĩtyọịana. [a yojana measures a day's march of a royal army in
distance, here covering about 108*10
A
12 atoms] And now who among you knows the mass of one
yojana, and how many of these subtle atoms it contains?”
Arjuna said: “I myself am even more astonished than others of lesser knowledge. Let the young prince
show us the mass of a yojana, and explain how many subtỉe particles are íồund in it.”
The Bodhisattva replied: “In the mass of ayọịana there are a complete niyuta of aksobhyas plus thirty
hundred thousand of niyutas of kotis plus sixty hundreds of kotis plus thirty-two kotis and fíve times a
hundred thousand and tweỉve thousand. [a 'mass' of 10003000000000000060320512000 atoms?] Such is
the calculation of subtle particles in the mass of a yojana.
By this procedure, there are here in the land of Jambu seven thousand yojanas; in the land of
Aparagodana, eight thousand yojanas; in the ỉand Purvavideha, nine thousand yojanas; in the land of
Uttarakuru, ten thousand yojanas. [Earth 34000 yojanas ~ mảss 3.4E32 atoms]
§3. Three thousand great thousandíold world in essence incalculable
