The Truth of the Spread and Destruction of the Buddha-Dharma

When the Buddha's Dharma is about to perish, the Saṅgha will split apart and fight among themselves. Arhats will be envied and first killed alive, and in the end all monastics 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 Saṅgha Jewel perishes, the Three Jewels perish, because in the Sahā world it is the monastic Saṅgha that transmits the Dharma lineage of the Buddha. Without the Saṅgha 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 Sutra on the Extinction of the Dharma. In studying Buddhism, we should read more sutras, for the Dharma expounded in the sutras is the most comprehensive and the most accurate. By reading more sutras, we can learn more about Buddhist history as well as the development and trajectory of Buddhism, thereby enhancing our wisdom and strengthening our resolve on the Path.

When the World-Honored One first came to the Sahā world to teach the Dharma, he first liberated Ājñāta Kauṇḍinya and the other five bhikṣus and established the monastic Saṅgha. He then liberated the renunciant followers of non-Buddhist paths led by Mahākāśyapa and others, and finally liberated his own relatives and family members in the secular world. Whoever could leave home, the Buddha liberated and ordained. Then he taught the Dharma one by one: 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 arranged for several great arhats headed by Mahākāśyapa to remain in the world, sustaining their forms to protect and uphold the transmission of the Dharma. Some great bodhisattvas, including bodhisattvas from other worlds, vowed to teach the Dharma in the Sahā world, but the Buddha did not consent. The Buddha said: "In my Sahā world, there are monastics dwelling 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 primarily on my monastics to transmit the Dharma." Therefore, from the time the Buddha established the Saṅgha until the final extinction of the Buddha's Dharma, it was always the monastics who primarily propagated the Dharma. The Buddha said that he himself was also counted among the monastics. Once the monastic Saṅgha splits apart 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 liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutti), with meditative concentration only at the level of the first dhyāna, so they have no superknowledges. Even if they had superknowledges, when karmic obstructions manifest, no one can escape them; they can still be killed. Mahāmaudgalyāyana's superknowledges were the greatest among the Buddha's śrāvaka disciples, yet at the end of his life he too was beaten to death—superknowledges cannot prevail over the power of karma.

After Śākyamuni Buddha's Dharma perishes, we can only wait for Maitreya Buddha to appear in the world and liberate sentient beings; through three Dharma assemblies he will liberate nearly thirty billion sentient beings to attain the fruits. At that time, we will be among the disciples left behind by Śākyamuni Buddha, and our roots of goodness and merit will be taken over and liberated by Maitreya Buddha. Thus, every sentient being does not belong to just one Buddha alone; 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 become a Buddha, let alone practicing with only one bodhisattva or one master. Therefore, every sentient being should vow to make offerings to and protect all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the worlds of the ten directions.