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भगवती सूत्र शः १ उ: २
Q. 99. Bhante! How many types have been stated to be the durations in the life-cycles of those assigned in the past (of infernal beings, etc.)?
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A. 99.
Gautama! The durations in the life-cycles have been stated to be of four types. They are: the duration of the infernal beings, that of the non-human beings, that of the human beings and that of the celestial beings65.
Q. 100. Bhante! How many are the durations in the lifecycles of the infernal beings?
A. 100. Gautama! They are said to be three, viz., till the time of total replacement, till the time of total non-replacement and till the time of replacement of all save one66.
Q. 101. And, Bhante, how many in the case of the nonhuman beings... ?
A. 101. Gautama! Two, which are, till total non-replacement, and till replacement of all save one.
102. Those of the human beings and celestial beings are similar to those of the infernal beings.
Q. 103. Bhante! Of the three durations of the infernals, viz., till total replacement, till total non-replacement and till the replacement of all save one, which one/ones exceed(s), fall(s) short, is (are) the same, or has (have) some speciality ?
A. 103. Gautama! Shortest is the duration of total nonreplacement; innumerable times more is the duration of total replacement of all save one; innumerable times more (than the second) is the duration of total replacement67.
104. In case of non-human beings, shorter is the duration of total non-replacement, but innumerable times more is the mixed duration (i.e., duration till total replacement of all save one).
