The fewest of all
Of every class of living being, humans are the fewest - the only rung of the first ladder that is countable at all. The commentators even give the most there can be at once: the number that yields ninety-six halvings, 2^96 − 1, twenty-nine digits long.
The Prajñāpanā says humans are saṃkhyāta, countable, and puts them at the foot of the ladder of destinies. The commentaries on it and on the Jīvābhigama go further and fix the maximum for humans born of the womb by a cutting: the largest number that can be halved ninety-six times before it reaches one. That is 2^96 − 1, which the atlas prints in full and checks by arithmetic: 79,22,81,62,51,42,64,33,75,93,54,39,50,335.
Everything above that rung is beyond counting. Hell-beings are innumerably more than this number; gods innumerably more than hell-beings; siddhas infinitely more than gods; and the nigoda infinitely more again. The view draws the ninety-six doublings as a staircase because a staircase can be drawn, and leaves the rungs above it as words, because nothing else can.
Measurements and counts
| Class | saṃkhyāta - countable |
|---|---|
| Most at once | 79,22,81,62,51,42,64,33,75,93,54,39,50,335 |
| As a power | 2^96 − 1 |
| Digits | 29 |
| Next rung up | hell-beings - innumerably more |
| Source | the commentators on Prajñāpanā 3 and the Jīvābhigama |