Saha world
sahaworld 娑婆世界 (Skt; Jpn shaba-sekai) )
This world, which is full of suffering. Often translated as the world of endurance. Saha means the earth; it derives from a root meaning "to bear" or "to endure." For this reason, in the Chinese versions of Buddhist scriptures, saha is rendered as endurance. In this context, the saha world indicates a world in which people must endure suffering. It is also defined as an impure land, a land defiled by earthly desires and illusion, in contrast with a pure land. The saha world describes the land where Shakyamuni Buddha makes his appearance and instructs living beings. In Buddhist scriptures, the saha world indicates either Jambudvipa, which is one of the four continents of ancient Indian cosmology, or the entire world containing all four continents. It also indicates the major world system, considered to be the realm of Shakyamuni's instruction. In some Buddhist scriptures, including the Lotus and Vimalakirti sutras, it is held that the saha world, this world full of distress and suffering, is in itself a pure land, the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. In the "Life Span" (sixteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni states, "Ever since then I have been constantly in this saha world, preaching the Law, teaching and converting," indicating that the place where the Buddha dwells, the Buddha land, is in fact the saha world.
The Saha world in Sanskrit is translated in the Chinese language as endurance or state of being compelled, denoting where all living beings conduct survival with no complaint about accumulations of the three poisons and all other miseries and vexations and no clue about the possibility of exit. Such is where all living beings continue to be subjected to horrendous pressures. The Earth is only a very small (dust particle) of the Great World System known as the Saha World over which the Sakyamuni Buddha presides. The Saha World can be thought of as a great galaxy with a billion suns, moons, Earth-like planets, etc.
