The Legend of the Future Lineage

Part of the Legend of the Future Lineage is presented here, a teaching given by the great Maithri Buddha, the seventh of the Sambuddhas, addressed to Bodhisattvas and to devas. The teaching arose because, after taking his seat upon the diamond throne (vajirasana) at the centre of the world-system, a vision kept recurring to him: beings trapped in the four woeful states (the apaya) crying out, pleading to be saved, because they had somehow sensed that a Buddha had appeared.

The vision kept returning vividly to the Maithri Buddha: beings who had been trapped in the woeful states for aeons, having somehow learned that a Sambuddha had arisen in the world-system, crying out to be rescued. The Buddha described this living vision to the Bodhisattvas seated near him.

At the same time, the Buddha saw clearly that these beings had fallen into the woeful states precisely because of the actions that lead there, and that, in himself, no impulse arose to simply reach in and save them. He explained this to the great Bodhisattvas and to the principal Bodhisattvas and energies present.

Great Bodhisattva: "Venerable one, they seem to have somehow sensed word of you. Should they not be helped in whatever way possible?" Maithri Buddha: "The arising of a Sambuddha is felt throughout the entire world-system. Yet it is precisely because of this that a certain portion of beings create the very causes that lead them into the four woeful states. If any being in this world-system is to be freed from samsara by a Sambuddha, they must bring the causes for that themselves. Why do you look only at the beings in the woeful states?" Great Bodhisattva: "Isn't that in itself the cause, venerable one?" Maithri Buddha: "It is not only they who cry out: all beings cry out. If someone is to be freed from samsara, they must bring a cause for it themselves. At the very least, that intention itself must arise in them. Otherwise it would be unjust: the principle of balance (samagunaya) would be lost." Great Bodhisattva: "Has this vision, then, been recurring to you continuously? And is it not simply their own thinking that you are feeling?" Maithri Buddha: "What I feel is their suffering." Great Bodhisattva: "Is that not, then, simply their situation as it stands, venerable one?" Maithri Buddha: "Not all beings can be freed. But no injustice is done to anyone. Even if every being, without exception, could be freed, the lineage of Buddhas would cease to arise, and the balance of the universe itself would collapse."

Realms of Beings and the Reach of a Buddha's Light

World-systems are called satta-vasa: literally, "abodes of beings." Satta-vasa refers to the various levels (planes) in which beings dwell: animal, deva, human, brahma: each of these is a satta-vasa. There are said to be tens of thousands of such abodes. What is meant by a "world-system" (sakvala) refers to these as well.

Radiating rays of Buddha-light, the Buddha gives every being throughout these abodes, including those in the four woeful states, the opportunity to discover their own vision of the Buddha.

Those in the four woeful states reap only the harvest of the seed they themselves planted. This holds true for the whole world, without exception: what is within me is likewise only the harvest of the seed I myself planted. Beings in the four woeful states have no wish to see nibbana. Once freed from those states, they can experience pleasure, but all they ask for is release from the woeful states themselves. Not one of them asks to be freed from samsara altogether.

It is the human being, specifically, who is capable of asking to be freed from samsara. Devas do not ask for this. Brahmas, and preta and kumbhanda spirits, do not ask for it either. Not one being among the yakkhas or those in the four woeful states asks to be freed from samsara. If anyone asks for it at all, it is only human beings.

The Sambuddha's ascending of the diamond seat has now begun to take effect throughout the world-system.

Great Bodhisattva: "The beings are in turmoil." Maithri Buddha: "Yes, they are in turmoil. Tomorrow it will be greater than today. The day after, greater still. Remember well what I have said before: about faith, and about the Triple Gem."

The Fate of Those Who Believed

Beings in the four woeful states have one option available to them. They cried out to me, pleading, having learned, through faith, that a Sambuddha had appeared. Because of that faith, everyone who held it attains a first fruit. Not only that: they are also freed from the four woeful states. They will gain human birth. Carrying out service and devotion to the Buddha, they will be able to depart from this world altogether.

Beings in the four woeful states who never saw the Buddha, who could not perceive him, who did not believe in him, will nonetheless be brought to human birth, and will occupy themselves with building shrines, monasteries, and halls, caring for them, and safeguarding the things and surroundings associated with the Buddha's use.

Other beings above the four woeful states will work in service of the Buddha's dispensation (sasana).

Nagas, yakkhas, and beings of similar clans and lineages (those who follow other faiths, other doctrines, and mistaken views, outside the domain of the Buddha's teaching), acting for the wellbeing of beings, will likewise bring prosperity, peace, happiness, and good fortune into their own lives.

A portion will carry this Dhamma close to themselves, filling their heads with information about samsara and with other philosophical facts and ideas, without truly cultivating it. Yet one day, exhausted by their own knowledge and information, this will dawn on them, and they too will come to cultivate some truth, some wholesome quality, some virtue.

The Lineage of Purity

Just as, in this world, apart from a mother and a father, no proper child is born; just as a child's qualities resemble those of the parents; just as a child inherits from the parents, so too, in this world-system, whoever takes purity as their guide and begins their path upon it will, without fail, find peace and rest through that very purity.

Those noble ones who attain that purity will present to this world, as the pure Dhamma, a vision expressed through honesty, honest action, letting go, compassion, patience, peace, joy, and loss.

Embracing that pure vision, beings will come to correctly analyse matters of peace, of rest within samsara, of gain and loss. Once this pure Dhamma has arisen, beings will then undertake the search for the pure path, its exploration, and the cultivation of what is wholesome.

"I am crossing over this ocean of becoming, churned like milk churned again and again into the purest essence, entrusting seven Bodhisattvas to this world-plane as my heirs. Those seven Bodhisattvas will come together, sit together, journey together, and, becoming Buddhas seven times, in seven ways, will re-establish, again and again, the peace of beings."

Those seven children will, without fail, receive that father's inheritance, his legacy, as their own possession.

Great Arahants must spread this noble true Dhamma throughout the world before passing on. Living within this world-plane with great discipline, the Arahants must, in keeping with this, bring forth monks, nuns, and lay men and women followers before they too pass on.

Those four assemblies (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen) must properly develop virtue as virtue, right concentration as right concentration, and wisdom as letting-go, with careful mindfulness.

War, Ruin, and Renewal

Seven days after this Buddha has passed away, the great compassion that has held this world-plane together will fracture, and a great war, a world war, will arise once more.

An age will follow in which beings kill one another over a little food, a little water, a little air, a little medicine. Through this, all that has, until now, been carried forward under the name of "dharma", but which is in fact adharma, and false information, will be destroyed from this earth, collectively.

Built upon wholesome energy, upon cause and effect, upon the consciousness of beings, this pure vision will sprout again from within those very beings and blossom once more upon this earth. Only that will remain.

Through this, a new vision will be established upon this earth. In time, word will spread and echo throughout this universal plane that a Sambuddha appeared in the world and has since passed into final nibbana. Beings, searching in reverent, half-remembering devotion, seeking out the ruins, the footprints, even the traces of wind where he once stood, will praise his great loving-kindness and his great effort, and will find, honour, and pay homage to those places.

What has now dawned is the living period of that great and powerful Sambuddha. During this period, devoted sons and daughters prepared for this purpose will care for it with proper attendance, with love and reverence, and with pure minds. It will please the Sambuddha to dwell quietly, lightly, and joyfully together with that lineage of devoted children.

Devoted, faithful people who come to listen to this most pure and noble true Dhamma have permission to listen to it, to pay homage, to see it, and to depart with a heart made joyful. To do so, they must come properly prepared, with right effort and with devotion.

How the Buddha Is to Be Served

Attendance upon a Sambuddha must be carried out by one who is free of defilement. A defiled mind is one that strives to possess and to appropriate for its own use. Those free of such currents of mind have the opportunity to serve in this way.

The cultivation of jhanic absorption states, the development of various forms of concentration, and the observance of various precepts and ascetic vows are entirely forbidden within this Buddha's dispensation. In their place, one must cultivate alert mindfulness and the middle way.

(Standing in the middle, being released from both extremes: this is what is meant by meditation.)

I sanction, within this dispensation, this middle way: cultivating the discipline that purifies the mind, recollecting the virtues of the Triple Gem, and offering alms.

(Note carefully that it was not said to recollect the Buddha's virtues in order to offer alms.)

Wisdom (panna) is nothing other than the letting go of conditioned formations (sankhara). There is no wisdom apart from the ability to release what cannot otherwise be released.

Only Buddhas can teach the vision of a Buddha. Only a Buddha who has cut off the root of kamma can bring the working of the Dhamma to completion. Only a fully self-enlightened Buddha (samma sambuddha) can teach the Dhamma in terms of law (niyaya). Only a fully self-enlightened Buddha can teach the Dhamma of the Four Noble Truths. Only a fully self-enlightened Buddha can teach both the Four Noble Energies and the Dhamma of the Four Noble Truths.

After hundreds of thousands of aeons, the appearance of such a Sambuddha (teacher of all the noble Buddhas yet to come, gathered through countless perfections built up over ages) is exceedingly rare in this world. His eventual passing is a great sorrow for the world.

Such a Sambuddha, appearing in this way, has a particular capacity: to teach the Dhamma in a manner equally suited to every conceivable, inconceivable, boundless kind of being dwelling throughout the universe, and also to divide and teach the Dhamma suited to each specific kind of being, and, in whichever way is needed, to bring about the liberation of beings.

Only a Sambuddha is able to address all beings at once. Sambuddhas alone can, in this way, divide the Dhamma according to the different planes of being.

This method, this division, will continue to hold, with this same authority, until the next Sambuddha arises in this world, shakes the earth, ascends the diamond seat, and establishes anew the fixed Dhamma of this world-system.

Only the next Sambuddha will have the capacity to still this world-system for a time, to bring it to a pause, to look upon its beings, and to reconstitute this entire field of teaching anew.

"I have brought forth seven Buddhas, established the Dhamma and its laws, and re-established the world. Now go and carry out your own task."

What was taught today was the Legend of the Future Lineage.

These Bodhisattvas must hold this well in mind. It must travel, through your consciousness and through kamma, into the world of the future.

When the petals of a flower on a tree multiply too much, the tree can no longer bear it.

"What remains now is my own passing. The rest of the work is entrusted to you."