In Buddhism

Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)

Source: Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra

Trisāhasramahāsāhasra (त्रिसाहस्रमहासाहस्र) is short for Trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu and refers to the trichiliomegachiliocosm type of lokadhatu (world-system).

According to chapter 50, “the trisāhasramahāsāhasra including a billion universes of four continents. The trisāhasramahāsāhasras are distributed in the ten directions of space: east, south, west, north, north-east, north-west, south east, south west, nadir and zenith, and they are, in each of these ten directions, as numerous as the sands of one or several Ganges. The majority also constitute Buddha-fields (buddhakṣetra) where a Tathāgata ‘resides, lives, exists and teaches the Dharma for the welfare and benefit of many beings’’. These Tathāgatas, whose number is incalculable if not infinite, are the Buddhas of the present: they were preceded by and will be followed in time by innumerable Buddhas of the past and the future”.

Source: De Gruyter: A Buddhist Ritual Manual on Agriculture

Trisāhasramahāsāhasra (त्रिसाहस्रमहासाहस्र) refers to the “triple thousand great thousand (universe—lokadhātu)”, according to the Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja, an ancient Buddhist ritual manual on agriculture from the 5th-century (or earlier), containing various instructions for the Sangha to provide agriculture-related services to laypeople including rain-making, weather control and crop protection.—Accordingly, [after the Bhagavān reached the lotus-lake near Aḍakavatī], “[...] He summoned the Nāgas even two and three [times]. snapped his fingers the sound could be heard in the Triple Thousand Great Thousand Universe (trisāhasramahāsāhasra). [But] the life of these beings was obstructed because of some previous deed. Therefore the great Nāgas did not hear this sound and did not recollect the Bhagavān”.

context information

Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary

Trisāhasramahāsāhasra (त्रिसाहस्रमहासाहस्र).—(tri-sāhasra-mahāsāhasra), adj. m. or (°rā) f., or in composition, with lokadhātu (which in [Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit] is both m. and f., in Pali app. only f.; compare Pali sahassī, see [Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit] tri-sā- hasrī, also ti-, mahā-, which according to Childers are synonyms in Pali; no numeral mahāsahasra seems recorded in [Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit] and it is not clear what precise meaning, if any, attaches to mahāsāhasra; in Mahāvyutpatti 7999 ff. and (Ārya-)Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa 343.16 ff. mahā- [compound] with other numbers means ten times the number), (world system) consisting of a ‘triple thousand great thousand’ (worlds): °ra-lokadhātu, [compound], Lalitavistara 319.3; 377.4; Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra 8.6, 9; 86.4; masc. forms, °ro, °raṃ (acc.), etc., Mahāvyutpatti 226; 3044; Lalitavistara 276.19; 393.18; 405.2; 410.12, 22; Mahāvastu i.40.6; ii.300.16 (mss.); 301.2, 8 (mss.); 349.3 (mss.; prec. by fem. adj.); Divyāvadāna 68.23; 139.3; 158.6; 266.14; 367.21; Avadāna-śataka i.5.10; 11.8 etc.; Samādhirājasūtra 8.9; 19.6; Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā 2.11; fem. forms, Mahāvastu i.214.12 = ii.17.11 °rāyāṃ °dhātūyāṃ (loc.); ii.281.16; 301.12; 314.10; Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra 87.6 °rāyāṃ °dhātau; Śikṣāsamuccaya 138.10 id.; see also trisahasra, and items here adjoining.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Trisāhasramahāsāhasra (त्रिसाहस्रमहासाहस्र):—[=tri-sāhasra-mahā-sāhasra] [from tri-sāhasra > tri] m. (with or without loka-dhātu) Name of a world, [Lalita-vistara xix, xxi]

[Sanskrit to German]

Trisahasramahasahasra in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Mahasahasra, Sahasra, Trisahasra.

Starts with: Trisahasramahasahasralokadhatu.

Full-text: Trisahasramahasahasrika, Sahasra, Trisahasra, Mahasahasra, Sahasracudika, Sahasra Cosmology, Trisahasramahasahasralokadhatu, Lokadhatu, Paryapanna.

Relevant text

Search found 2 books and stories containing Trisahasramahasahasra, Trisāhasramahāsāhasra, Trisahasra-mahasahasra, Trisāhasra-mahāsāhasra, Trisahasramaha-sahasra, Trisāhasramahā-sāhasra; (plurals include: Trisahasramahasahasras, Trisāhasramahāsāhasras, mahasahasras, mahāsāhasras, sahasras, sāhasras). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön)

Buddhas of the present: Preliminary note (2) < [Part 7 - Seeing, hearing and understanding all the Buddhas of the present]

Bodhisattva quality 5: the five superknowledges (pañcābhijña) < [Chapter X - The Qualities of the Bodhisattvas]

Part 3 - Mastering the four great elements < [Chapter XLIX - The Four Conditions]

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The Tattvasangraha [with commentary] (by Ganganatha Jha)

Verse 2671-2673 < [Chapter 24b - Arguments against the reliability of the Veda (the Revealed Word)]

Introduction to second volume

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