I remember reading something where a king asks a Bhikkhu who is believed to be an Arahant about yakkas and why we can’t see their corpses if they really exist in this world. He said something along the lines of there are yakka corpses in this world but they are in the form of animals or something like that. I think yakkas, supannas, and nagas corpses take the form of dinosaurs fossils and other animal corpses when they die.
I don’t really think actual dinosaurs coexisted with humans whose lifespans were like 20,000 or higher unless dinosaurs only existed in regions outside the Middle Country where Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, Arahants, and Wheel Turning Monarchs arise. Even then I don’t see any mention of a Wheel Turning Monarch meeting any dinosaurs when they travel around the world with their special power. It’s mentioned in the suttas that lions are the king of the beasts or jungle, not dinosaurs. I also don’t see any mention of dinosaurs in the Jatakas.
No dinosaurs mentioned in the early suttas at least, unless you want to count that one time the Buddha mentioned a being which is super large, many yojana long, longer than the radius of earth inside the ocean.
Anyway, for human period, I think even taking into account the long lifespan period, it wouldn’t go so far back to 64 million years ago when a meteor caused massive extinction.
And there’s no need to place dinosaurs under any other realm other than animals.
Dinosaurs were not mentioned in our Buddhist texts which is sort of understandable. I have met someone who recalled being one in a past life a long time ago. Like godzilla they said.
This is one of the topics that will get you into trouble in this forum as the CT does not know what to do with scientific knowlege that points to omissions in the texts. Dinosaurs are however a very real and contemplatable object.
Dinosaurs are subject to aging, sickness and death.
The fossil records of the planet show that there was no pre civilisation like our current one ever on earth that left a trace. That human birth is very rare indeed. That we are very fortunate to meet the teaching of the Buddha and should take advantage of it while we can.
There was a time not so long ago when there was no Buddha, Dhamma or Sangha in the world and that time far outweighs the time of the Sasana. Quite scary really.
Having said that the evolution of life on earth is fascinating and worth exploring to get a real good idea of how rare human life is. Whenever I can, I go to Museums and look at dinosaur exhibits. The time scale is just humbling to me as a simple human. Museums as temples of science give a wonderful perspective on Buddhist thought and need for wise reflection on anything you read about Buddhism. But aging, sickness and death are always with us in any age.
Dinosaurs are not mentioned just as the internet and airplanes arent mentioned. most likely because it wouldnt be understandable or even useful to the people of the Buddha’s time.
I believe humans and dinosaurs actually did coexist. When humans lived to 100,000 years old or so they were giant. In Lord Metteyya’s time the lifespan will be 80,000 years and it is said that Mahakassapa’s robe will fit in the palm of his hand. I’d imagine the animals of his time would be as large as dinosaurs, so it’d make sense the animals that lived around Lord Kassapa’s time when the lifespan was 20,000 years also had large animals the size of dinosaurs.
I believe scientists conclude that the reason gigantism existed in certain times in the ancient past is simply because of greater oxygen in the atmosphere allowing for larger (and longer lived) beings. Megalodon was massive and lived well over 100 years. much longer than modern sharks.
Ok, it’s not just one time, but see AN8.19, AN8.20, Ud5.5 There are beings 500 yojana long. If we take 1 yojana to be 20 km, then it’s 10,000 km long, the average radius of the Earth is approximately ****6,371 kilometers.
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**It’s not unrealistic, the perimeter of earth is about 40,000 km, so a being 500 yojana long covers a quarter of the Earth’s perimeter. Given the largeness of the Pacific Ocean (30–32% of the planet’s total surface area), it can still fit.
You can google EBT if you want, this question seems like a trap question and EBT is exactly what this forum doesn’t want to promote, so I cannot explain it here.
So you admit that this EBT nonsense is not appropriate here as it violates the terms of service (once again). So why would you explain something by writing, “no dinosaurs mentioned in the early suttas at least…”?
How is it a trap if you wrote it?
Now please answer the question. Which suttas are the early ones and which suttas are the late ones?
I read the early suttas, I didn’t read some of the KN books yet. So I can only accurately represent what I know. You can find out which is early by one of the books available out there. I haven’t even read it yet.
Admins @robertK@bksubhuti , can we agree that this question is out of the topic for this thread?