Gaṅgānadīvālukā

Gaṅgānadīvālukā [alt. -vālikā] (T. gang gA’i klung gi bye ma; C. Henghesha; J. Gōgasha; K. Hanghasa 恒河沙). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “sands of the Ganges.” This term refers to the sands of the Ganges river, and is commonly used in Buddhist texts as a metaphor for an infinitely large number.

For example, the term is used in the following expressions:

• "as many as the grains of sand of the Ganges" (gaṅgā-nadī-vālukopama; T. གང་གཱའི་ཀླུང་གི་བྱེ་མ་སྙེད་)
• "Buddhas equal in number to these grains of sand of the Ganges" (gaṃgā-nadī-vālikā-samāna-buddha (iyat ...-); T. གང་གཱའི་ཀླུང་གི་བྱེ་མ་འདི་སྙེད་དང་མཉམ་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་)
• “for world systems as numerous as the sands of the Ganges” (Gaṅgānadīvālukāsamā lokadhātavaḥ)
• “eons as numerous as the sands of the Ganges” (Gaṅgānadīvālukāsamān kalpān).

Further reading

• Ganges, Wikipedia
• གང་གཱའི་ཀླུང་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary