Bhuddist End Of Dharma Teachings Maitreya Prophecy
Siddhartha Gautama was commonly known as the Buddha, or 'enlightened one'. He lived in what is now modern day Nepal between approximately 563 BCE to 483 BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened, or enlightened, teacher spending most of his life teaching the path of awakening, or Dharma, that he had discovered. But, like many enlightened teachers, and prophets, Buddha never actually wrote any of his own teachings. This was left to his students, and followers, who wrote his teachings. Today, Buddhists number between 300 - 500 million worldwide.
The Buddhist 'End Times' scenario derives from Buddha's prediction that his teachings, or Dharma, would disappear at some time in the future. The actual time frame is not clear, but the circumstances around the loss of his teachings is the degradation of society.
It is said that when no one practices the actual teachings of Bhudda, the result would be an ever increasing poverty and the end of the worldly laws of true Dharma. At this time people will follow the concepts of theft, violence, murder, lying, false speech, sexual misconduct, abusive and idle talk, covetousness and ill will, wanton greed, and uncontrolled lust resulting in poverty and the breakdown of law and cooperation, and the total disregard for the true Dharma.
In the Buddhism cosmology, adherents believe in cycles of life in which the life span of human beings changes according to human nature. The Buddha explained correlation between the life span human beings and their behaviour. In the past, unskillful behavior was unknown among the human race. As a result, people lived for an immensely long time. They were endowed with great beauty, wealth, pleasure, and strength. Over the course of time, though, they began behaving in various unskillful ways. This caused the human life span to gradually shorten, to the point where it now stands at 100 years, with human beauty, wealth, pleasure, and strength decreasing proportionately.
Some time following the loss of the true Dharma, a new Buddha named Maitreya will arise to renew the teachings of Buddhism, and will rediscover the path to Nirvana. The decline of Buddha's teaching in the human world, and its eventual renewal by Maitreya, are in keeping with the teachings of Buddhist cosmology. Like Hindus, Buddhists generally believe in cycles of destruction and creation, of which the current epoch represents only the latest step of the decline towards a new creation.
In keeping with this Buddhist cosmology of cycles, it is believed that the age leading up to the coming of the next Buddha Maitreya will be characterized by impiety, physical weakness, sexual depravity, and general social disarray. Many believe that we are withing that time now, as it is very difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to reach enlightenment because of the state of the world. Amongst the many sects of Buddhism, the teachings of Buddha have evolved, or devolved, into a form that would be unrecognizable to Buddha. And, since the Dharma of Buddha was never written down, but passed first through an oral tradition, whether we live in that time of forgotten Dharma is open for interpretation.
Maitreya, is foretold as a future Buddha of this world. Maitreya is a bodhisattva, one who is motivated by great compassion and has generated a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. In the Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is to appear on Earth as a human, he will achieve complete enlightenment, and will teach the pure Dharma. The prophecy of Maitreya is an event that will take place when the Dharma will seem to be forgotten on earth, and society sinks to it's lowest decline.
One mention of the prophecy of Maitreya is in the Sanskrit text, The Prophecy of Maitreya. It implies that he is a teacher of meditative trance sadhana and states that gods, men, and other beings: "will lose their doubts, and the torrents of their cravings will be cut off: free from all misery they will manage to cross the ocean of becoming; and, as a result of Maitreya's teachings, they will lead a holy life. No longer will they regard anything as their own, they will have no possession, no gold or silver, no home, no relatives! But they will lead the holy life of oneness under Maitreya's guidance. They will have torn the net of the passions, they will manage to enter into trances, and theirs will be an abundance of joy and happiness, for they will lead a holy life under Maitreya's guidance."