The Truth about the Spread and Destruction of the Buddhadharma

When the Buddha's dharma is about to perish, the sangha will split apart and fight among themselves; arhats will be envied and first brutally killed while still alive, and in the end all monastic practitioners will be killed. From then on there will be no more transmission of the Buddha's dharma, and all Buddhist teachings will cease to exist. That is, once the Sangha Jewel perishes, the Three Jewels perish, because in the Sahā world it is the monastic Sangha Jewel that transmits the dharma lineage of the Buddha. Without the Sangha Jewel, there would be no transmitters of the Buddha Jewel and the Dharma Jewel, and Buddhism would inevitably perish. This is what is taught in the Sūtra on the Complete Extinction of the Dharma. When we study Buddhism, we should read more sūtras; the dharma expounded in the sūtras is the most comprehensive and the most accurate. By reading many sūtras, we can learn more about Buddhist history as well as the development and trajectory of Buddhism, thereby increasing our wisdom and strengthening our resolve on the Path.

When the World-Honored One first came to the Sahā world to transmit the dharma, he first delivered Ājñāta Kauṇḍinya and the other five bhikṣus, establishing the monastic sangha; then he delivered the non-Buddhist renunciants led by Mahākāśyapa and others; and finally he delivered his own relatives and family members in the secular world. Whoever was able to leave home, the Buddha delivered them into monastic life. Then he transmitted the dharma step by step: first he taught the Small Vehicle dharma of liberation, then the Mahāyāna prajñā, and finally the vaipulya Yogācāra teachings. After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, he instructed his monastic disciples to spread the Buddha's dharma widely, and he assigned several great arhats headed by Mahākāśyapa to remain in bodily form and abide in the world in order to protect and uphold the transmission of the Buddha's dharma. Some great bodhisattvas, including bodhisattvas from worlds in other directions, vowed to transmit the dharma in the Sahā world, but the Buddha did not consent. The Buddha said: "In my Sahā world there are monastic practitioners abiding in the world to propagate the dharma. You bodhisattvas each have your own tasks of transmitting the dharma in the worlds of the ten directions and are extremely busy. Let the Sahā world rely on my monastic practitioners as the main transmitters of the dharma." Therefore, from the time the Buddha established the sangha until the final extinction of the Buddha's dharma, it was always the monastic practitioners who were the main propagators of the dharma. The Buddha said that he himself was also counted among the monastics. When the monastic sangha fractures and the monastics are killed, Buddhism will immediately perish, with no one left to transmit the dharma.

The arhats of the Dharma-Ending Age are almost all wisdom-liberated ones; their meditative concentration is only at the level of the first dhyāna, so they have no supernatural powers. Even if they had supernatural powers, when karmic obstructions manifest, no one can escape them—they can still be killed. Mahāmaudgalyāyana's supernatural powers were the greatest among the śrāvaka disciples, yet at the end of his life he too was beaten to death—supernatural powers cannot prevail over karmic force.

After the dharma of Śākyamuni Buddha perishes, we can only wait for Maitreya Buddha to appear in the world to deliver sentient beings; in three dharma assemblies he will deliver nearly thirty billion sentient beings to the attainment of realization. At that time, we will be among the disciples left behind by Śākyamuni Buddha, and because our roots of goodness and merit will be taken over and delivered by Maitreya Buddha, every sentient being does not belong to only one Buddha. One must study the dharma with immeasurable Buddhas and learn Buddhism together with immeasurable bodhisattvas in order to master all the Buddha's teachings. Studying the dharma with only one Buddha is not enough to attain buddhahood, and practicing with only one bodhisattva or one master is even less sufficient to attain buddhahood. Therefore, every sentient being should make vows to make offerings to and protect all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the worlds of the ten directions.