kalpa \ 겁 by Hye-gang \ Barbara Rosemary \ Cats of Dust

찰나. 먼지 한 꺼풀. 선녀의 옷자락 한 결.
새겨지는 주름은 당신의 것.
나의 몫은 오직 흙에서 흙으로.

영원히 살리라ㅡ 모든 작은 것은 그런 힘이 있나니.
쌓이고 깎이리라― 방울. 한숨. 방울.

나찰. 모든 무한함- 약속과 맹세와 넘기지 않은 원 고 하나.
모든 두려움ㅡ 그러니 다시 흙에서 흙으로.

A moment. A dust cloud. A hem of a fairy's dress.
The wrinkles that are engraved are yours.
My portion is only from dust to dust.

Live forever - every little thing has that power.
It will pile up and be cut down - drop. Sigh. Drop.

Nachal. All infinity - one promise, one oath, one unfinished manuscript.
All fears - so again from dust to dust.

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The Kalpa - in Korean '겁 geop'

One kalpa (劫) is said to be the time it takes for a drop of water to make a hole in a large rock once every 1,000 years or for a rock to be worn away by the hem of a fairy's skirt that come down to earth once every 100 years.

The original expression '겁' is a phonetic transcription of the Sanskrit word kalpa - so in Buddhism, eternity means that this kalpa continues again and again, refering to an incalculable amount of time.

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Chalna \ 찰나

The word called *moment* in Korean is 찰나, which is originated from Buddhism.

It is a Korean phonetic transcription of the Sanskrit word 'Kshana'. You can read it like 'Chal-na’.

In everyday use, it means approximately 0.0013 seconds. It is based on the calculation method that appears in the Mahavaipaśravaśvara, one of the Buddhist treatises. It is considered to be 0.0013 seconds, which is 1/75 of a second.

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"Imagine a huge empty cube at the beginning of a kalpa, approximately 16 miles in each side. Once every 100 years, you insert a tiny mustard seed into the cube. According to the Buddha, the huge cube will be filled even before the kalpa ends." "What are Kalpas?" Lion's Roar