Decline of the Dharma
These Buddhist accounts of longue durée history and temporal cosmology always assumes a cyclical pattern of virtue and decline.
In this bleak period, violence and lawlessness prevail, and society becomes increasingly fragmented and chaotic and people take refuge in caves to escape the fighting.
As moral conduct improves, human lifespan begins to increase again, and the conditions for prosperity and peace are reestablished by a new wheel turning king called Sankha.
It states that the true Dharma (saddhamma) would have lasted longer (1000 years) if not for the admission of women into the monastic sangha as bhikkunis.
The passage states: "After seven hundred years have passed since my death, the True Dharma will be broken, decayed, and brought to ruin by sinful Mara.
[20] The Candragarbha Sutra (Ch: Yuezangfen 月藏分, "Moon Treasury Section") of the Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra is a key source for the doctrine of Dharma decline.
[21][22] This schema, which covers a span of 2,500 years was also very influential in East Asian Buddhism and it was widely quoted and relied upon by Chinese and Japanese authors.
"[30] However, as Nattier notes, this sutra was translated after the concept of the three ages was already adopted into Chinese Buddhism, so it cannot be the main source of the idea.
Jizang (549–622 CE), an author of the Chinese Madhyamaka school, writes in his commentary on the Lotus Sutra (Fahua yishu 法華義疏):Generally speaking, Dharma can be divided into four periods.
The first is a virtuous age, and the following ages progressively decline in terms of the five degenerations (kaṣāya): lifespans decrease, defilements increase, beings (physical and intellectual capacities of people decrease), times (wars and famines and other disasters increase), views (false beliefs proliferate).
The teaching of Dharma decline became quite influential in China during the Northern Dynasties period and its influence continued well into the Sui and Tang era (618-907).
[33] The idea that China had entered the era of Dharma decline soon became a key teaching for several forms of early Chinese Buddhism, such as for the now defunct Three Stages school.
[46][47] Another early conservative figure was Daoxuan (596-667), who held that the best response to the era of decline was closely following the Vinaya.
[48] The idea of Dharma decline or mofa also led the monk Jingwan (540–639) to begin the project of carving numerous sutras on rock.
Pure land Buddhist authors held that they had entered the degenerate age, which means that the "path of sages" which relies on discipline and meditation, was no longer effective.
[57] Saichō also criticized the state bureaucracy which controlled the Buddhist schools in Japan at the time as another contributor to Dharma decline.
[61] The Kamakura period saw the rise of the new Pure Land Buddhist schools like Jōdo-shū and Jōdo Shinshū founded by Hōnen and Shinran respectively.
According to Hōnen, with the exception of the nembutsu (the "easy" path of simply reciting the Buddha's name), all other Buddhist practices are incapable of leading to awakening in this age.
[63][64] For Nichiren, the only solution to Dharma decline was for the imperial government to embrace the Lotus Sutra and ban all other Buddhist sects.
[65] In contrast to these figures, some Japanese authors like Myōe and Jōkei argued that it was precisely the abandonment of traditional buddhist practice and monastic discipline which caused the age of decline.
As such, they advocated strict monastic discipline and adherence to traditional practices as a way to stem the tide of decline.
Eisai (1141–1215), founder of Rinzai Zen, wrote that zazen could be practiced by all people, even those of lesser faculties.
He also wrote:The Prajñā, Lotus and Nirvana Sutras all teach the meditational practice of zazen for the last age.
[66] Dōgen meanwhile fully rejects the theory of Dharma decline, adamantly promoting the practice of zazen as useful at all times and writing: The doctrinal schools emphasizing names and appearances distinguish between the True, Counterfeit, and Final Dharma ages, but in True Mahayana [Zen] we find no such distinction.
While the coming of the decline of Dharma and the age of strife is certainly a time which Buddhists looked upon with trepidation, the various narratives also provided some hope.
Tibetan Buddhism, influenced by the Kalacakra Tantra, has a more elaborate lore, which teaches about a future king named Kalki, who rules a virtuous Buddhist kingdom called Shambala.
This provides an accessible path to liberation for all, bypassing the challenges of the degenerate age by allowing them to escape this world and be reborn in the pure land.
Kṣitigarbha (Ch: Dizang) is also known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds, in the era between the death of Gautama and the rise of Maitreya.
The Ten Wheels Sutra (T. 410) hails Dizang as a savior of the "vile age of the five turbulences [in] the world without a Buddha".
[74][75] Chinese salvationist religions are particularly focused on this idea, and they often promote themselves as teachings which are just right for the current age of decline since they can provide a path to salvation.
