Trichiliocosm

Trichiliocosm (Tib. stong gsum). Following ancient Indian cosmology, the Buddhist Abhidharma literature explains that there is an infinite number of worlds. Each world has at its center a Mount Meru surrounded by seven oceans and seven rings of golden mountains separating them. Outside are the four continents and eight subcontinents (two out at sea, left and right of each of the continents). We humans live on the southern continent called “Jambudvipa”. This entire world is then surrounded by the outer iron mountains. One thousand of such worlds constitute a thousandfold world system. A thousand of these makes up a second-order thousandfold world system. Then, when multiplied a thousand times further, this makes a third-order world system or 'trichiliocosm', a universe of a billion worlds.