Four continents: Difference between revisions

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#[[Purvavideha]] in the East, which is semi-circular and white in colour;
#[[Purvavideha]] in the East, which is semi-circular and white in colour;
#[[Jambudvipa]] in the South, which is trapezoidal and blue (this is the continent we human beings live in);
#[[Jambudvipa]] in the South, which is trapezoidal and blue (this is the continent we human beings live in);
#[[Aparagodaniya]] (Skt. ''Aparagodānīya;'' Tib. བ་ལང་སྤྱོད་, ''Balangchö''; Wyl. ''ba lang spyod''; Eng. 'Enjoyer of Cattle') in the West, which is circular and ruby red; and
#[[Aparagodaniya]] in the West, which is circular and ruby red; and
#[[Uttarakuru]] (Skt.; Tib. སྒྲ་མི་སྙན་,  ''Draminyen''; Wyl. ''sgra mi snyan''; Eng. 'Unpleasant Sound') in the North, which is square and green.
#[[Uttarakuru]] in the North, which is square and green.


Each of the four continents is flanked by two subcontinents (Skt. ''kṣudradvīpāni''; Tib. གླིང་ཕྲན་, ling tren; Wyl. ''gling phran'') of the same shape (see [[eight subcontinents]]).
Each of the four continents is flanked by two subcontinents (Skt. ''kṣudradvīpāni''; Tib. གླིང་ཕྲན་, ling tren; Wyl. ''gling phran'') of the same shape (see [[eight subcontinents]]).

Latest revision as of 10:54, 9 September 2023

An illustration of our world system

Four continents (Tib. གླིང་བཞི་, ling shyi, Wyl. gling bzhi) — the four island-continents (Skt. dvīpa; Tib. གླིང་, Wyl. gling) which surround Mount Meru according to the cosmology of the Abhidharma. They are:

  1. Purvavideha in the East, which is semi-circular and white in colour;
  2. Jambudvipa in the South, which is trapezoidal and blue (this is the continent we human beings live in);
  3. Aparagodaniya in the West, which is circular and ruby red; and
  4. Uttarakuru in the North, which is square and green.

Each of the four continents is flanked by two subcontinents (Skt. kṣudradvīpāni; Tib. གླིང་ཕྲན་, ling tren; Wyl. gling phran) of the same shape (see eight subcontinents).

Apart from the Chamara subcontinent of Jambudvipa, which is inhabited by rakshasa demons, all the other island-continents are inhabited by human beings of different characteristics, life styles and life-spans. Each continent also has a specific attribute (see four attributes of the four continents).

Further Reading

  • Jamgön Kongtrul, Myriad Worlds (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1995), pages 110-113 & 138-140, ISBN 978-1559391887