How Long Is An Eon?

A mustard seed is 1 mm in diameter. If a man was to take one seed out every 100 years from a pile of seeds seven miles in length, width and height, the world cycle has still not come to an end.
Science tells us the earth is at least 4 billion years old. The Universe is 14 billion years old.

Thus if you cannot go to eternal life in heaven, you will spend millions if not billions of years wandering as animals.
WHAT IS AT STAKE WHEN YOU END YOUR LIFE HERE IS ETERNAL LIFE OR ETERNAL WANDERING FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS AND YOU ARE PREOCCUPIED WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THIS WORLD, MAKING MONEY AND PRESERVING YOUR LIFE HERE. JESUS SAID YOU SHOULD NOT CARE FOR WHAT YOU SHALL EAT OR WEAR.
How many eons have there been?
According to the Buddha there have been innumerable eons and you have been wandering all these while. If 4 persons who live 100 years were to collect 100,000 world cycles day, there is still be more world cycles uncollected when they pass away.
4. ßMonk, a world cycle is very long and it is not easy to innumerate it as, `it's this amount of years' or `this amount of hundred years,' or `this amount of thousand years,' or `this amount of hundred thousand years'.û
5. ßVenerable sir, is it possible to give a comparison?û
6. The Blessed One said: ßPossible. Monk, there is a huge rock which is seven miles by the length, breath and the height. It is without a flaw, not perforated and of the same thickness everywhere. After the lapse of one hundred thousand years a man comes with a cashmere cloth and touches the rock once. By this method the rock diminishes and vanishes, but the world cycle does not come to an end.
7. ßMonk, so long is the world cycle. Many of these world cycles make a several world cycle and a collection of a hundred of the several world cycles make a several hundred world cycle and a collection of a thousand of the several world cycles make a several thousand world cycle and a collection of a hundred thousand of the several world cycles make a several hundred thousand world cycle.
8. ßWhat is the reason? Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.
ßMonks, it is suitable that you should turn away from all determinations, fade and be released from them.û
6. The Blessed One said: ßPossible. Monk, in a poor city there is a block of mustard seeds (1 mm in size) seven miles by the length, breath and the height bound together by the roots. After the lapse of one hundred years a man comes and takes out one of the seeds. By this method the mustard seeds diminish and vanish but the world cycle does not come to an end.
7. ßMonk, so long is the world cycle. Many of these world cycles make a several world cycle and a collection of a hundred of the several world cycles make a several hundred world cycle and a collection of a thousand of the several world cycles make a several thousand world cycle and a collection of a hundred thousand of the several world cycles make a several hundred thousand world cycle.
8. ßWhat is the reason? Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.
ßMonks, it is suitable that you should turn away from all determinations, fade and be released from them.û
4. ßMonks, a large number of world cycles have gone by, it is not easy to innumerate them as `it's this amount of world cycles,' or `this amount of hundred world cycles,' or `this amount of thousand world cycles,' or `this amount of hundred thousand world cycles'.û
5. ßVenerable sir, is it possible to give a comparison?û
6. The Blessed One said: ßPossible. Monks, there are four disciples who have life spans of hundred years and live the life span of hundred years. They recollect a hundred thousand world cycles per day. Even while they recollect the world cycle remains The four disciples who have life spans of hundred years and has lived the hundred years pass off at the end of the hundred years.
7. ßMonks, a large number of world cycles have gone by, it is not easy to innumerate them as `it's this amount of world cycles,' or `this amount of hundred world cycles,' or `this amount of thousand world cycles,' or `this amount of hundred thousand world cycles'.
8. ßWhat is the reason? Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.
ßMonks, it is suitable that you should turn away from all determinations, fade and be released from them.û
You Have Shed More Blood Than The Four Oceans:
UNLESS YOU ENJOY BEING BORN ENDLESSLY WITHOUT CHOICE AS PIGS, SHEEP AND CATTLE FOR OTHERS TO EAT BECAUSE THE KARMA THAT YOU ARE NOW HEAPING ON YOURSELF CONDEMNS YOU, THEN YOU SHOULD MAKE EFFORT NOW ABOVE ALL ELSE TO STEM THE FLOW OF YOUR KARMA BY SPEAKING THE TRUTH, BY NOT PERSECUTING OTHERS WITH STRESS, RESTLESSNESS AND DISTRACTION BY THE WAY YOU SPEAK WITH STYLE.
CAN ALL THE FASTIDIOUS METICULOUS DEVOTION TO HEALTH FOOD, PROGRAMS OF EXERCISE, MEDICINE, KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINE, SCIENCE, OR ARTS DELIVER YOU FROM FREEDOM FROM HAVING YOUR HEADS CUT OFF AS BEASTS?
CAN RIGHTEOUS CONDUCT (NOT KILLING, STEALING, DRINKING, NOT LUSTING, TELLING LIES, GOSSIPING & IDLE CHATTER), CONCENTRATION OF MIND (PASSIVE CALM CESSATION OF ALL THINKING AND EMOTIONS) AND WISDOM DELIVER YOU TO HEAVEN AND FREEDOM FROM SUFFERING?
9. ßIndeed monks, the blood you have shed on account of the neck being severed from the body in this long journey in existences running from one existence to another, is more than the water in the four great oceans.
10. ßMonks, you have long experienced the severing of the neck from the body and the shedding of blood when you were born as cattle, that blood is more than the water in the four great oceans.
11. ßMonks, you have long experienced the severing of the neck from the body and the shedding of blood when you were born as buffaloes, that blood is more than the water in the four great oceans.
12. ßMonks, you have long experienced the severing of the neck from the body and the shedding of blood when you were born as sheep, that blood is more than the water in the four great oceans.
13. ßMonks, ... re ... born as goats ... re ...
14. ßMonks, ... re ... born as deer... re ...
15. ßMonks, ... re ... born as fowl ... re ...
16. ßMonks, ... re ... born as pigs..... re ...
17. ßMonks, you have long experienced the severing of the neck from the body and the shedding of blood when you were taken as robbers who destroy villages, that blood is more than the water in the four great oceans ...
18. ßMonks, you have long experienced the severing of the neck from the body and the shedding of blood when you were taken as robbers who wait in ambush, that blood is more than the water in the four great oceans ...
19. ßMonks, you have long experienced the severing of the neck from the body and the shedding of blood when you were taken as robbers who went to other wives that blood is more than the water in the four great oceans ...
20. ßWhat is the reason? Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out, of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.
ßMonks, it is suitable that you should turn away from all determinations, fade and be released from them.û

Why People Are So Recalcitrant:
If it is true as the Buddha said you have been wandering for innumerable eons each of which lasts even billions of years, the tears that you have shed wandering from existence to existence is greater than the water in the four oceans, a being who has not been a father or mother or sibling to you in the past is hard to find then it is no surprise at all that beings, even those who call themselves wise and good are recalcitrant, have turned a deaf or condescending ear to what I say and are far more foolish for their own good that escapes their own realization.
What is another eternity of wandering and weeping if you have wandered in suffering for so many eons in the past? Many even those who call themselves good and wise will not be denied. Like insects attracted to the fire to be burnt, many are foolish, driven by their emotions that they cannot resist to the fire to be burnt again and again for an eternity.
IF IT IS SO EASY TO CURE DELUSION AND ILL WILL, LONG AGO PEOPLE WOULD HAVE PUT AN END TO EXISTENCE ESPECIALLY IN THE LOWER REALMS WHICH ARE IN TRUTH UNIFORMLY PAINFUL BUT THEY FAKE THEY ARE ENJOYING THEMSELVES AND WHATEVER PLEASURES OF EXISTENCE ARE SCANT COMPENSATION FOR THE TOILS & TORMENTS BOTH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL OF EXISTENCE IN THE LOWER REALMS THAT INCLUDE HUMAN.
PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD ARE FOOLISH AND DRIVEN BY ILL WILL, INCITED, BRAINWASHED & MAINTAINED TO BE SO MERCILESSLY AND RELENTLESSLY BY EVERYONE ELSE WHO SO WELL THEY THOROUGHLY BELIEVE THEIR DELUSIONS (EG STRETCHING OF SYLLABLES, CHANGING OF SPEED AND LOUDNESS ARE MEANINGFUL, CHARMING AND BENEFICIAL WHEN THEY ARE MEANINGLESS, HARMFUL AND ENDS IN MADNESS) AS TRUE EVEN AFTER IT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO THEM BY ME. IT MAY MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE FOR ME TO PREACH TO A WALL THAN TO PEOPLE EVEN LIKE BILL GATES OR THE POPE, SUCH IS THE IMPENETRIBILITY OF THEIR SELF BELIEFS.
4. ßMonks, the heap of bones, the skeletons of a single person running from one existence to the other throughout a world cycle would be like the Vepulla rock if there was someone to collect them and if the collection was not destroyed.
5. ßWhat is the reason? Monks, without an end is the train of existence, a beginning cannot be pointed out of beings enveloped in ignorance and bound by craving, running from one existence to another.
ßMonks, it is suitable that you should turn away from all determinations, fade and be released from them.û
6. The Teacher further said:
ßThe Great Sages sayThe collection of bones of a single person,Throughout a world cycle, was as big asThe huge Vepulla rock.Vepulla, is north of the Gijjha peaks,In the cavity of MagadhaWhen the four noble truths are seenWith right wisdom as unpleasantness,The arising of unpleasantness,The ending of unpleasantness,And the noble eightfold path for the ending of unpleasantnessHe limits his births to seven times the mostAnd ending all unpleasantness cuts all bonds.
Style can never add to but it can negate & subtract meaning:
Style can never add greater meaning to what is said but it can subtract and negate the meaning of what is said.
Style or the stretching of syllables, changing of speed and loudness cannot add any meaning to the substance of what is said but style can subtract and even negate the meaning of what is said. For instance, something said can only be sarcastic because of the style with which it is said with the pretentious stretching of syllables, changes in speed and loudness that indicate to those who are discerning that the person does not mean what he says, he means the opposite of what he said.
Seeing Danger In The Slightest Flaw:
IT WAS THE BUDDHA WHO SAID YOU MUST SEE DANGER IN THE SLIGHTEST FLAW. DAILY RECURRING STRESS, RESTLESSNESS AND INABILITY TO CONCENTRATE ARE NEVER BLAMELESS BUT REFLECT BLAMEWORTHY SELF CONDUCT AND CONDITION THE PERSON WHO REGULARLY EXPERIENCE THEM EVER MORE INTENSELY TO THEM THAT WILL END IN TRAGEDY. WHETHER YOU KEEP YOUR PRESENT BEING AFTER YOU DIE OR YOU LOSE IT TO WANDER ON IN ETERNAL HABITATIONS IN FRUITLESS VEXATIONS WILL DEPEND ON HOW WISE YOU ARE TO SEE DANGER IN THE SLIGHTEST FLAW AND MAKE DEDICATED EFFORT EG TO STOP STRETCHING SYLLABLES, CHANGING SPEED AND LOUDNESS.
The Buddha taught that you must see danger in the slightest flaw and ordinary people are kidding themselves if they think they heed the Buddha’s warning because they see no danger but instead think with society’s including false gurus’ connivance they are meritorious in exhibiting conduct that are actually blatant flaws such as smiling, laughing, joking, giving excuses & saying things they don’t mean to please or impress others.
Compared to existence as humans, formed existence in heaven is incomparably superior. Compared to formed existence in heaven, formless virtually eternal existence as brahmas is even more blissful, compared to formless existence, the total extinction of existence in nirvana that is beyond all conjecture is even higher according to the Buddha.
Because beings here only know the taste of existence here, they have not tasted the incomparably superior modes of higher existences, they are attached to their lives and think their conduct will lead them to safety when they are headed to suffering that may be as vast as an ocean and as long as another eternity.
Until you are free of all emotions, you are not safe. This is a world where everyone is trying to provoke you. Even if you are right, if you are provoked, you have been sucked in and in danger of future suffering. Even your loved ones are trying to provoke you to become emotional by smiling (that provokes you to return the smile with emotional acknowledgement), say things that intentionally or unintentionally incite you to be angry or dislike and once you become emotional, your mind is disturbed and conditioned to disturbance.
When I calmly point out to you how you are stretching syllables, changing speed and loudness and you become angry, you may be right that I am provoking you or you may be wrong, you have mad perception and easily, irrationally aroused dislike or anger that can be provoked by any criticism, that will not tolerate criticism except by those you fear. For example if Dr M criticized you, you will smile as if you appreciate not because you appreciate his criticism but because you are afraid of him and respect him but you will brook no criticism even if it is objective and unemotional from me because you have mad perception of what is matter of fact is provocative that you do not realize will end in future total insanity, uncontrollable violence.
The process of death:
When someone's heart stops pumping blood around their body, the tissues and cells are deprived of oxygen and rapidly begin to die.
But different cells die at different rates. So, for example, brain cells die within three to seven minutes, while skin cells can be taken from a dead body for up to 24 hours after death and still grow normally in a laboratory culture.
But contrary to folklore, this doesn't mean that hair and nails continue to grow after death, although shrinkage of the skin can make it seem this way.
Rate of decomposition
From this point on, nature is very efficient at breaking down human corpses. Decomposition is well under way by the time burial or cremation occurs. However, the exact rate of decomposition depends to some extent on environmental conditions.
Decomposition in the air is twice as fast as when the body is under water and four times as fast as underground. Corpses are preserved longer when buried deeper, as long as the ground isn't waterlogged.
The intestines are packed with millions of micro-organisms that don't die with the person. These organisms start to break down the dead cells of the intestines, while some, especially bacteria called clostridia and coliforms, start to invade other parts of the body.
At the same time the body undergoes its own intrinsic breakdown under the action of enzymes and other chemicals which have been released by the dead cells. The pancreas, for example, is usually packed with digestive enzymes, and so rapidly digests itself.
Green substances and gas
The decomposing tissues release green substances and gas, which make the skin green/blue and blistered, starting on the abdomen. The front of the body swells, the tongue may protrude, and fluid from the lungs oozes out of the mouth and nostrils.
This unpleasant sight is added to by a terrible smell as gases such as hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg smell), methane and traces of mercaptans are released. This stage is reached in temperate countries after about four to six days, much faster in the tropics and slower in cold or dry conditions.
A corpse left above ground is then rapidly broken down by insects and animals, including bluebottles and carrion fly maggots, followed by beetles, ants and wasps.
In the tropics, a corpse can become a moving mass of maggots within 24 hours.
If there are no animals to destroy the body, hair, nails and teeth become detached within a few weeks, and after a month or so the tissues become liquefied and the main body cavities burst open.
Burial in a coffin slows the process
The whole process is generally slower in a coffin, and the body may remain identifiable for many months. Some tissues, such as tendons and ligaments, are more resistant to decomposition, while the uterus and prostate glands may last several months.
But within a year all that is usually left is the skeleton and teeth, with traces of the tissues on them - it takes 40 to 50 years for the bones to become dry and brittle in a coffin. In soil of neutral acidity, bones may last for hundreds of years, while acid peaty soil gradually dissolves the bones.