Maitreyan Buddhism ― When used in reference to a MetaPhysical Orientation as to Tradition, Culture or Preferred Flavour, is primarily defined, usually selfdefined by its members and/or adherents as such, and holding the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, and/or interpolations thereon as a primary or critical parameter of their Spiritual Paradigm. (also see: the complete entry on Buddhism.) Devotees of the Buddha Maitreya existed in early Chinese Buddhism, they described Maitreya, dwelling in the Tusita paradise, as an object of veneration much like Amitabha for the Pure Land School. Some postulate that there is no monolithic Buddhism as such, but that there are Buddhisms such as Sinhala Buddhism or more precisely Sinhala Theravada Buddhism, Siam or Thai Buddhism, Myanmar or Amarapura Buddhism and so forth. The doctrine of mo-fa in Indian Buddhism. The Scripture Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma reports the Buddha Sakyamuni's prediction that his Dharma will be transgressed and desecrated by evil demons (mara) posing as monks and nuns. In addition to breaking every precept of the monastic code, these mara- monks devote themselves to secular self-gratification, drive away saints and holy men, and are devoid of all compassion. The Sangha becomes a refuge for slaves and criminals, and society at large is plagued by corruption, immorality, and bitter suffering. Even the natural world is out of balance: rains are untimely, the grain does not ripen, and pestilential vapors spread everywhere. After many years of cosmic decline, the bodhisattva Candraprabha will appear, and then all twelve divisions of the Tripitaka will also be extinguished. But our scripture closes with a vision of hope. Tens of thousands of years in the future, Maitreya will usher in a golden age of infinite blessing and goodness: a new world order in which the Dharma at last may be realized.

In the Pali Canon, there are several dialogues which describe a future golden age, to be ruled by a messianiac king named Cakkavatti (Sanskrit: Cakravarti), the Great Wheel-Turner. According to these texts, Cakkavatti will reign after the completion of an immense cycle of decline and renewal. In the first-century A.D. Cakkavatti-Sihanda Suttanta (6 ), for example, the Buddha states that we are now in the downward phase of a macrocosmic cycle, the nadir of which will see the destruction of the Buddhist Dharma. Various portents of decline are visible in the present age, including negligence in the observation of the precepts, moral pollution of the Sangha by secular values, and social and political conditions unfavorable for the perpetuation of the faith.

While precedents for the mo-fa doctrine exist in the Pali sutras, the theme receives its fullest articulation and development in Chinese Buddhist apocrypha. Early Chinese messianism -- "Taoist" as well as "Buddhist" -- describes the degeneration of the present world in terms of a future apocalypse, and emphasizes the imminence and transformative power of the eschaton (8). The Pali references are infrequent, and descriptively pale by comparison.

Maitreya and the Golden Age of the Future. Devotees of the Buddha Maitreya existed in early Chinese Buddhism, they described Maitreya, dwelling in the Tusita paradise, as an object of veneration much like Amitabha for the Pure Land School. Our text is perhaps the first to associate Maitreya with the mo-fa doctrine and a vision of eschatological salvation. In the heterodox sectarian movements of late imperial China, Maitreya is described as both savior and regent, delivering the faithful from the corruption and suffering of the present world and ruling over the golden age to come. The Scripture Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma places this time of cosmic transformation in the far-distant future (as do all the earliest mo-fa scriptures), but later sectarians described Maitreya's descent as imminent. Their condemnation of the existing religious and social order, coupled with their announcement that the eschaton was near at hand, contributed to swift and often cruel persecution by imperial authorities.

If we focus on the last paragraphs of the text, describing a golden age of the future initiated by the compassionate savior Maitreya, then the earlier criticism of the Sangha could be regarded as a prelude to the central visionary message of the work. Faith and hope are fueled by hardship or disappointment, and the description of moral decline may principally be a device used to inspire faith. However, this faith could not have had the same immediacy and emotional depth as that enlivened by later Maitreya scriptures, which announce the imminent destruction and transformation of the present world order. Still, the Scripture Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma is one of the roots of Maitreyan eschatology, which was to play so prominent a role in the history of Chinese Buddhism.

It is likely that all of the factors listed above contributed to the composition of the Scripture Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma. Indian precedents exist for the mo-fa theme; the medieval Chinese Sangha was in disrepute; sectarian attacks on the established order were soon to be heard; and Maitreyan eschatology was to dominate Chinese popular religion. The work is the earliest of its kind in our possession, and a marvelous example of popular Buddhist cosmology.

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Capital A with ring aboveÅ   Capital A with macronĀ   Capital A with breveĂ   Capital A with diaeresisÄ   Capital A with circumflex   Capital A with dot aboveȦ   Capital A with inverted breveȂ   Capital A with tildeà   Capital A with ogonekĄ   Capital AE ligatureÆ   Capital AE ligature with tildeÆ̃   Capital Glottal Stop⦾   Capital Palatoalveolar Click⊛   Regular English AA   Script Capital Lℒ   Capital L with macron aboveL̅   Capital L with dot belowḶ   Capital L with stroke, Dark L Ł   Regular English LL   Capital WHω   Capital W with macron aboveW̅   Capital W with dot belowẈ   Regular English WW   Capital Slide H with reverse solidusℋ⃥   Capital H with macron aboveH̅   Capital H with dot belowḤ   Aspirate^○   Slight Pause⚫   Very Slight Pause⚬   Regular English HH   Capital S with macron aboveS̅   Capital S with dot aboveṠ   Capital SH sign∫   Capital SKΣ   Regular English SS   Hard and Deep Capital DД   High and Light Capital D∇   Regular English DD   Capital O with ring aboveO̊   Capital O with macronŌ   Capital O with breveŎ   Capital O with diaeresisÖ   Capital O with solidusØ   Capital OE ligatureŒ   Capital O with Cyrillic Round OmegaѺ   Capital OIꙔ   Capital O with ogonekǪ   Capital O with double oo topტ   Regular English OO   Capital EZJHʑ   Capital Z with macron belowẔ   Capital Z with dot aboveŻ   Regular English ZZ   Capital K with macron aboveК̅   Capital K with dot below К̣   Capital Hard KHχ   Capital KHƙ   Regular English KK   Capital V with macron aboveV̅   Capital V with dot belowṾ   Regular English VV   Capital G with macronḠ   Capital G with dot aboveĠ   Capital GNΓ   Capital GRЖ   Capital GW   Capital Uvular Voiced ImplosiveϘ   Regular English GG   Capital rolled R with macronЯ̅   Capital rolled R with dot aboveЯ̇   Capital R with macron aboveR̅   Capital R with dot above Ṙ   Capital R with ogonek R̨   Regular English RR   Capital C with cedillaÇ   Capital CHЧ   Regular English CC   Capital N with macron aboveN̅   Capital N with dot belowṆ   Capital N with tildeÑ   Capital NGŋ   Capital NG with macron aboveŋ̅   Regular English NN   Capital Y with macron above Ȳ   Capital Y with dot aboveẎ   Capital Y with yaw aboveЎ   Regular English YY   Capital J with macron aboveЈ̅   Capital J with dot belowЈ̣   Regular English JJ   Capital U with a ring aboveŮ   Capital U with macronŪ   Capital U with breveŬ   Capital U with circumflex aboveÛ   Capital U with diaeresisÜ   Regular English UU   Capital F with macron aboveF̅   Capital F with dot aboveḞ   Regular English FF   Capital Q with macron aboveQ̅   Capital Q with dot aboveQ̇   Regular English QQ   Capital B with macronB̅   Capital B with dot belowḄ   Trilled B   Regular English BB   Capital M with macronM̅   Capital M with dot belowṂ   Capital M with tilde M̃   Capital MB   Capital MGⱮ   Regular English MM   Capital X with macron aboveX̅   Capital X with dot aboveẊ   Regular English XX   Capital I with macronĪ   Capital I with breveĬ   Regular English II   Capital T with macron aboveT̅   Capital T with dot belowṬ   Capital TH voicedΘ   Capital TH voicelessÞ   Capital TSЦ   Capital TSCHЩ   Regular English TT   Capital E with macronĒ   Capital E with breveĔ   Capital E with circumflexÊ   Capital schwa Ə   Regular English EE   Capital P with macron aboveP̅   Capital P with dot aboveṖ   Capital pT   Regular English PP

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