The Origin of the Universe According to Kalachakra

Introduction

The other day, His Holiness mentioned that from the Big Bang derive the potentials for the elements, and from those potentials come the derivative elements. Although his reference was to the Buddhist abhidharma presentation of cosmology, I thought that this would be a good point to develop further for my brief discussion of Kalachakra cosmology.

The Kalachakra teachings present the topic of cosmology is the context of its three-part structure of parallel outer, inner and alternative Kalachakras, or Cycles of Time. The outer one deals with the cycles that the external world passes through, such as the motion of the planets and the calendar, while inner Kalachakra concerns the cycles that the body undergoes, such as the life cycle and the passage of the breath during each day. These two cycles occur due to karmic forces and describe samsara, uncontrollably recurring rebirth in the universe of outer Kalachakra with a body of inner Kalachakra. Such rebirth is completely fraught with problems and suffering. Alternative Kalachakra presents the tantric practices that purify us from experiencing these outer and inner cycles and outline the way to attain enlightenment to be best able to benefit all beings.

In order to get rid of being under the influence of the outer and inner cycles, we need to know their structure and their causes. As in Buddha’s teachings of the four noble truths, we need to recognize the true sufferings and their true causes in order to attain a true stopping of them through the true pathway minds that will bring about such a stopping forever. With this purpose in mind, this evening I shall merely discuss the true suffering experienced from uncontrollably taking rebirth over and again in a universe of outer Kalachakra.

Top