Mahasamnipata Sutra

The Mahāsaṃnipāta Sutra (Chinese: 大集經, pinyin: Dà Jí Jīng, Japanese: Daijuku-kyō or Daishik-kyō) is anthology of Mahayana Buddhist sutras. The meaning in English is the Sutra of the Great Assembly. The sutra was translated into Chinese by Dharmakṣema, beginning in the year 414. The anthology consists of 17 sutras across 60 fascicles, but the only extant copy of the entire collection is found in Chinese, though individual sutras can be found in Sanskrit and Tibetan.[1] Sutra number 15 in the collection is particularly influential because it enumerates the notion of the decline of the Dharma, or decline of the Buddha's teachings, dividing this into three eras, subdivided by 5 five-hundred periods of time:[2]

  • Former Day of the Law
    • The first five hundred year period will be the "age of enlightenment"
    • The second five hundred period will be the "age of meditation"
  • Middle Day of the Law
    • The third five hundred year period will be the "age of reading, reciting, and listening."
    • The fourth five hundred year period will be the "age of building temples and stupas"
  • Latter Day of the Law
    • The fifth five hundred year period will be the "age of conflict," where “quarrels and disputes will arise among the adherents to my teachings, and the pure Law will become obscured and lost.”

The anthology also discusses the arising of the aspiration for Enlightenment, similar to the Dasabhumika Sutra and the Lotus Sutra.[3]

References
  1. Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 508. ISBN 0691157863.
  2. Kato, Bunno (1989). Threefold Lotus Sutra. Charles E Tuttle Co. p. 309. ISBN 4-333-00208-7.
  3. Venerable Yin-Shun (1998). The Way to Buddhahood: Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-133-5.
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