Buddhist Prophecies of the 21st Century and Beyond
by Alexander Duncan
So far as I know there are two major Buddhist prophetic cycles that may be related to the 21st century: the 2,500 year mappo cycle and the Kalachakra prophecies.
The word mappo (more correctly, mofa) derives from the Chinese 末法, meaning “the end of dharma,” and refers to the last of three ages, commencing with the death of the Buddha, estimated (according to current scholarship) to correspond to the year 383 BCE or, in round numbers, 400 BCE. In the Mahasamnipata Sutra, the three periods are further divided into five five-hundred year periods, the fifth and last of which was prophesied to be a time when the Buddhism of Sakyamuni would lose all power of salvation and a new Buddha would appear to save the people. The three periods and the five five-hundred year periods are also described in the Sutra of the Great Assembly. This time period would be characterized by unrest, strife, famine, and other natural disasters. The final millenium of this 2,500 year cycle represents the nadir of the first 2,500 year cycle of historical Buddhism, and the arising of a new current. Descriptions of the three periods also appear in other sutras. Since the Buddha died in 383 BCE, this means that the “new current” may be expected about 2100, corresponding very neatly both with the rise of the technological singularity and the appearance of Shambala according to the Kalachakra.
If one looks at historical Buddhism in the light of this theory, the following historical development may be seen:
400 BCE-100 CE: The death of the Buddha followed by the consolidation of the teachings in the Pali Canon; a period of establishment and consolidation; Outer Buddhism;
100 CE-600 CE: the Fourth Buddhist Council leading to the arising of the Greater Way (Mahayana) culminating in the appearance of Nalanda University; a period of expansion and differentiation; Inner Buddhism;
600 CE-1100 CE: the rise of Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism culminating in the appearance of Padmasambhava; a period of intensification and realization; Secret Buddhism;
1100 CE-1600 CE: the appearance of the first Dalai Lamas; a period of preservation, consolidation, and externalization; beginning of decline;
1600 CE-2100 CE: the full decline of Buddhism, with the promise of revival at the midpoint, at the point of greatest darkness;
2100 CE: the Dharma Transmission to the West (DTW); a period of renewal and revivification.
According to this exegesis, then, the high point of historical Buddhism was reached in the 9th century of the common era, corresponding to Nalanda University and Padmasambhava, and the low point, the 19th century, corresponding to the revival of Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhism. Padmasambava’s sudden appearance in Tibet also occurred at the midpoint of the 2,500 year cycle, midway between the parinirvana of the Buddha and our own time.
In this context it is interesting to note that the advent of the Kali Yuga in 3102 BCE, which also corresponds to the advent of the current age of the Mayan cycle in 3114 BCE, plus 2,000 years, equals 5,000 years (2 x 2,500 years). The length of this age also corresponds quite well with the astrological precession of the equinoxes (roughly 26,000 years), culminating in the so-called “Age of Aquarius.” All of these theories appear to be consolidated and harmonized in the Buddhist chronology just presented.
The Kalachakra prophesies the advent of Shambhala about 300 years into the new cycle, in 2424 CE, when spirituality and technology (technocracy) will converge in a new, global, post-Judaic civilization of the future. At that time, Islam will have largely displaced both Judaism and Christianity, and the world will be divided between Islam and Buddhism. Islam will then wage a war of final annihilation on the dharma, but its own karma will return upon it and destroy it, resulting in the advent of a planetary dharmic civilization that is identified with the end of the Kali Yuga. This constitutes an alternative chronology to the Hindu/Vedic view in which the Kali Yuga lasts for hundreds of thousands of years. The time from the advent of the Kali Yuga to the advent of Shambhala is therefore 5525 years. The midpoint of this cycle is close to 383 BCE, the best current date of the parinirvana of the Buddha. The midpoint of the second half of this cycle is about 1000 CE, corresponding to the Kalachakra itself.
Historical Chronology
383 BCE. Parinirvana of the Buddha according to best current scholarship.
29 BCE. Pali Canon written down on palm leaves for the first time.
78-101 CE. Fourth Buddhist Council.
320-467. Expansion of Nalanda University.
8th-9th cent. Padmasambhava visits Tibet.
1012. Kalachakra.
1197. Sack of Nalanda University by Moslem invaders.
1391-1474. First Dalai Lama.
1578. Third Dalai Lama.
1642. Fifth Dalai Lama. Sovereignty of Tibet established.
1860. Revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
1908. Allan Bennett leads the First Buddhist Mission to the West.
1959. 14th Dalai Lama leaves Tibet, enters India.
2010. Nalanda International University established on site of original Nalanda University.
