[Buddha-l] Dharma Ending Age

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2005-08-29 at 09:53 +0200, Erik Hoogcarspel wrote:

> This is slightly off topic, but maybe interesting enough. In the 
> Vajracchedika it says that after the period of 500 years, when the 
> dharma will be forgotten, there will be bodhisattvas, but they will not 
> follow just one buddha, but many. I always found this a remarkable 
> passage. Was this a consequence of foresight, or was there perhaps a 
> discussion at the time about this topic?

Given that the Vajracchedika was probably composed about five hundred
years after the Buddha, it is most likely that this "prediction" was a
description of current events that were then put into the mouth of the
Buddha, making him look prescient. 

One could offer no greater proof that understanding of dharma had just
about vanished than the Vajracchedika itself. So many words! So little
insight!


> Do you really think that a logical proof that rain is impossible will
> change the weather? Unless you're Aristotle of course who thought
> logic to be a reflection of reality or rather the other way around.

And because of that, Aristotle would never accept the validity of any
argument that purportedly proved the impossibility of rain. He was not
nearly as stupid as some modern Europeans like to imagine.

-- 
Richard Hayes