Buddhist Time PropheciesAt that period, brethren, there will arise in the world an Exalted. One named Metteyya, Arahat, Fully Awakened, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, an Exalted One, a Buddha, even as I am now .
|
 |
He, by himself, will thoroughly know and see, as it were face to face, this universe, with It's worlds of the spirits, It's Brahma’s and It's Maras, and It's world of recluses and Brahmins, of princes and peoples, even as I now, by myself, thoroughly know and see them.Digha Nikaya 1 |
|
The truth [ the Norm, the Dhamma ], lovely in It's origin, lovely in It's progress, lovely in It's consummation, will be (Metteyya Buddha) proclaim, both in the spirit and in letter, the higher life will he make known, in all It's fullness and in all It's purity, even as I do know. He will be accompanied by a congregation of some thousands of Brethren, even as I an now accompanied by a congregation of some hundreds of Brethren. Digha Nikaya 2 This prophecy of Gautama Buddha clearly predicts
that the teaching of Mettayya Buddha will apply to a much larger part of the
world than his own teaching - in other words that it will be a worldwide
teaching. .
For Bahá'ís of Buddhist background, Baha'u'llah fulfils the prophecies for the coming of "a Buddha named Maitreye, the Buddha of universal fellowship" who will, according to Buddhist traditions, bring peace and enlightenment for all humanity. They see the fulfilment of numerous prophecies, such as the fact that the Buddha Maitreye is to come from "the West", noting the fact that Iran is West of India.
|
 |
Baha'u'llah founder of Baha'i faith does not just fulfill the Buddhist prophecies. He is also promised one of Jews "the expected Messiah", for Christians and Muslims the awaited return of Christ, for the Zoroastrians (Parsees) the Saoshyant, for the Hindus the Kalki Avatar, as well as being for Buddhists the Metteyya Buddha. |
|
The prophecy of the Lord Buddha that the teaching of Metteyya Buddha will be much more extensive than his own is already being fulfilled through the Baha'i Faith, already a worldwide religion with communities in every part of the planet consisting of all the races and nations of humanity. So what is this ' teaching that is lovely' predicted by Gautama Buddha and which Baha'is believe Baha’u’ll’ah has brought? It is the renewed spiritual guidance and the new social teachings given by Baha’u’ll’ah, which we will examine in Chapter 5. But there is another prophecy that is much more specific about the time of the coming of the Metteyya Buddha. Sariputta asked the Buddha: ' The Hero that shall
follow you? ' I will tell you,
Sariputta ' The Buddha Supreme, now
am I "This Buddha, then,
Mettayya by name
|
 |
Buddha, ' After my decease, first will occur the five disappearances. And what are the five disappearances?' The disappearance of attainments [to nibbana], the disappearance of the method [inability to practice wisdom, insight and the four purities of moral habit], the disappearance of learning [loss of men who follow the Dhamma and the forgetting of the Pitakas and other scriptures], |
|
the disappearance of the symbols [the loss of the outward forms, the robes and practices of monkhood], the disappearance of the relics [the Dhatu]... "Then when the Dispensation of the perfect Buddha is 5000 years old, the relics, not receiving reverence and honor will go to places where they can receive them... This, Sariputta, is called the disappearance of relics'. This passage clearly shows that the Metteyya Buddha will appear 'before this auspicious aeon runs to the end of It's years’. Since Gautama Buddha appeared in India and was speaking to disciples who had also been Hindus and were familiar with the Hindu system of dating cycles. It would seem likely that when Gautama Buddha said 'before this auspicious aeon runs to the end of It's years', he was speaking of the Hindu Kali Yuga in the middle of which he had appeared.
|
| This Kali Yuga ended at noon on 1 august 1943, equivalent to the year 2486 of the Buddhist Era. Therefore according to this prophecy of the Buddha, the Metteyya Buddha should already have appeared sometime before 1943. |
|
It is true that this prophecy of the Five Disappearances states that the last of the Disappearances will occur when the Dispensation of the Buddha is five thousand years old. Since only 2,500 years have passed, It might seem that it is not yet time for the coming of Metteyya Buddha. It should however, be borne in mind that when the Buddha allowed woman to be ordained as nuns, he then prophesied that because of this time that the Dhamma endured would be halved. The period during which the full Dhamma is known and Nibbana achieved (the First Disappearance) is halved from one thousand years to five hundred and similarly for the whole process.
|
| Thus resulting in 2,500 years during which all of the Five Disappearances must occur. The year 2500 of the Buddhist Era was celebrated in AD 1956. This ties in very well with AD 1943 as the last possible date for the appearance of the Metteyya Buddha. Baha'is believe that Baha'u'llah, who appeared in the century before the expiration of this deadline, was the Metteyya Buddha. |  |
|
The Five Disappearances refer to the gradual disappearance of the Dhamma from the world. This is something which the Buddha knew would happen since everything in this world is transient and changes. He describes the gradual fading of the efficacy of his teachings until even the 'true sacred relics (Dh'atu), not receiving reverence and honor, will go to places where they can receive them. If we consider the situation in the Buddhist world at the time of the advent of Baha’u’ll’ah in the middle of the nineteenth century, we will note that all of this prophecy had been fulfilled by that time.
|
| Buddhism had disappeared from It's native soil in India, the sacred relics had gone from India ' to places where they can receive reverence and honor in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and elsewhere in the Buddhist world. The scripture and the Dhamma could even be said to have disappeared from the Buddhist community, when Colonel Olcott arrived in Sri Lanka in the last half of the nineteenth century, he could find no monks who knew Pali and could read the scriptures. |  |
|
There has, of coarse been a revival in Buddhism since those days but this is only to be expected. For with the appearance of a new Buddha, Baha'u'llah, in this world, the light is once more shining, and the sun, when It shines, shines on all things, whether or not they are turned to it.
Gautama Buddha described the degraded state of the world at the time of the coming of Metteyya, these conditions have been fulfilled today. Thus, brethren, from goods not being bestowed on the destitute, poverty grew great ..stealing... violence... murder...lying...evil speaking...adultery...abusive and idle talk...covetousness and ill-will...false opinions... incest, wanton greed and perverted lust...till finally lack of filial and religious piety and lack of regard for the head of the clan grew great. From these things growing, the life-span of those beings and the comeliness of them wasted. Among such humans, the ten moral courses on conduct will disappear, the ten immoral courses of action will flourish excessively, there will be no word for moral among such humans - far less any moral agent. Among such humans, brethren, they who lack filial and religious piety, and show no respect for the head clan - It is they whom homage and praise will be given to the filial-minded, to the pious and to them who respect the heads of their clans... The world will fall into promiscuity, like goats and sheep, fowls and swine, dogs and jackals. Among such humans, brethren, keen mutual enmity will become the rule, keen ill-will, keen animosity, passionate thoughts even of killing, in a mother towards her child. In a child towards It's mother, in a father towards his child and a child towards his father, in brother to brother, in brother to sister, in sister to brother... As indicated in this prophecy, the Dhamma will have disappeared from the world by this time. Gautama Buddha states that the true Dhamma will not disappear from the world until a false Dhamma appears to replace it.
|
Even
today in Buddhist countries, however, It is difficult to apply the laws of the
Sangha as given in the Buddhist scriptures. Monks, for example, rarely now join
the Sangha for life: many are forced to carry money with them, some are involved
in politics, and so forth.| There is no disappearing of the true Dhamma until a counterfeit Dhamma arises in the world. Once a counterfeit Dhamma arises then there is a disappearing of the true Dhamma. It is when, here in the order itself, hollow and foolish persons arise that they make this true Dhamma disappear. Baha'u'llah has confirmed that this false, counterfeit Dhamma is present in the world and is replacing the true Dhamma. In the Baha'i writings it is stated that the true Dhamma has been replaced by a desire for material things: |
 |
|
Contents Baha'u'llah's Writings Introduction to Baha'i Religion
|
Today, all
the peoples of the world are indulging in self-interest and exert the utmost
effort and endeavor to promote their own material interests. They are
worshiping themselves and not the divine reality. They seek diligently their
own benefit and not the common weal. This is because they are captives of the
world of nature and unaware of the divine
teachings, of the bounty, of the kingdom and of the Sun of Truth.
These prophecies appear to describe accurately the present condition of the world with It's materialism, consumerism, promiscuity, drug problems and increasing violence and conflict. These problems are ravaging every society and undermining the pillars of all social structures. The way in which this situation can be remedied is, as the prophecy indicates, for a new Buddha to arise. Only a new Buddha can restore the Dhamma and replace the counterfeit Dhamma of materialism and selfishness, only a new Buddha can give the new teachings to solve the social problems of the world, only a new Buddha can solve the problems caused by the modern world foe the laws of the Sangha by giving new laws. Baha'is believe that the Baha'u'llah is the Metteyya Buddha prophesied by Lord Buddha and has done all of these things. The only way is to search without prejudice,
to study scriptures with a pure heart, a clear mind, and to pray to God for
Guidance. Also you can find Baha'i center Tel no in your area telephone directory and contact them. For better study you are welcome to print this article. Site address
|
< 
|
We are interested to hear your comments. Much of the material on this homepage consists of extracts from existing Baha'i publications, but also included are a number of insights and comments about prophecies which are entirely the author's own understanding and, as such, do not necessarily represent the official position of the Baha'i Faith or it's teachings. Joel Smith |
