CHART ONE

This map shows the Bha-mandala planetary system as viewed from
above. Bhi-mandala is like a lotus, and its seven islands (dvipas) resem-
ble its whorl. In the middle of the central island, Jambiadvipa, stands
Mount Sumeru, a mountain of solid gold. Jambidvipa is surrounded by
an ocean of salt water, which is surrounded by the next island, Plak-
sadvipa. Each island is thus surrounded by an ocean and then another is-
land.

The outermost island, Puskaradvipa, is divided in two by a great
mountain named Manasottara. The sun orbits on top of this mountain
and thus encircles Mount Sumeru. On Manasottara Mountain, in the four
directions, are the residential quarters of four prominent demigods.

Beyond the outermost ocean and a land made of gold stands Lokaloka
Mountain, which is extremely high and which blocks the sunlight so that
Aloka-varsa, the land beyond it, is dark and uninhabited.

This map is not drawn to scale. In reality, the innermost island, Jam-
biidvipa, is 800,000 miles wide. Each ocean is as broad as the island it
surrounds, and each succeeding island is twice as broad as the one before
it. The total diameter of the universe is four billion miles. Thus if the en-
tire map were drawn to the same scale as Jambidvipa, the distance from
the center of the map to its outermost edge would have to be almost half a
mile.
