It's early August 2025 and I just wanted to preface this with a kind of disclaimer that I'm sure some people might listen to this and think,
Oh that's kind of woo-woo,
Tripped out,
You know,
Speculation,
That's pretty cool,
Yeah,
Dude,
Man,
Wow,
Far out,
Kind of thing.
And then the other camp or polarity camp,
Well that's just noise,
Random,
Poponcha,
Speculation,
Proliferation of mind,
And that's not helpful,
So I'm not ruling these out.
It can definitely be written off as either one of those,
So that's totally valid to do.
I just wanted to get that out ahead of time.
If you feel either,
If you're already sensing one of those are a possibility,
Then yeah,
I suggest stop listening now.
I will have a practical aspect of this at the end.
So,
Just was contemplating,
And of course this is really only going to be relevant to Buddhist cosmology and paths,
Various paths,
Buddhist paths,
Or what's been labeled as that.
And of course,
I need to be corrected here if this is based on a shaky delusional foundation,
Or even just minor details needing clarified.
With that said,
Just taking the really long cycle picture and contemplating this Buddha's sasana,
I think it's called,
The dispensation.
And so,
I don't know,
I keep predicting that I will die out.
And with that,
What does that mean,
You know,
For our practice?
But,
And those of us who haven't decided where they want to do an arhat path,
Meaning that reach full awakening,
Or those who want to go on a bodhisattva path,
That delay full awakening,
In order to help all beings everywhere.
So,
Another special subclass here.
You know,
It's clear that we just,
We do the practice,
And then if we're ever in a situation like that,
Then we'll,
We'll choose then,
Or kind of remember what it is then,
If we're still unclear on these things,
I guess,
If this even is the right framing.
But,
Then was wondering about these eschatology groups,
These in-time groups that have this seemingly,
To my current understanding,
Kind of unskillful,
Unwise,
Inverted,
Regressed,
Reversed notion that the more depravity they can do,
The quicker the end times will come about,
And then thus bring on some kind of savior or something.
And this usually doesn't refer to Buddhism,
These groups,
As far as I know,
But I'm wondering,
Is there any kind of unskillful and or skillful eschatology groups in Buddhism?
You know,
What are the pros and cons to prolonging this Buddhist dispensation?
And what are the pros and cons to going to the next one,
Maybe quicker?
And,
You know,
What kind of intentions and actions would be involved in that?
And then what kind of skillfulness or unskillfulness can come of that?
We don't want to contemplate this too much,
Because this kind of gets into the larger imponderable of kamma,
Which is good result in madness.
So,
To me,
It's just a brief reflection,
Nothing to dig and drill down into,
As far as I know,
Is all the details.
So,
You know,
What's helpful to contemplate about this and what's not.
And then we get this notion,
I'm not sure if I'm remembering right,
I thought there could only,
In the Theravada,
Only one Buddha at a time,
And this includes private Buddhas.
So,
Pācaka Buddha,
If I'm remembering right,
There was a parinirvana of a private Buddha right before our Sammasambuddha,
Previously known as Siddhartha Gautama.
And yes,
So when this dispensation ends,
I'm guessing that that will allow for a time of another private Buddha to arise,
Or multiple private Buddhas before what's prophesied as Maitreya,
As the next Sammasambuddha.
And then this gets into other questions of prophecy,
So to speak,
I don't know the right word for it,
But apparently each Buddha has been given a prophecy to ripen into the next Sammasambuddha or a Sammasambuddha,
And I'm not sure if the when is mentioned on this,
The time period or whatever.
But as far as I know,
There's no public account in the Theravada of the next Sammasambuddha after Maitreya.
And I guess upon contemplation,
This would be maybe unhelpful to speculate this far in the future because of the fact that one's choices and actions in any given moment,
Especially in the present,
Right,
If I'm getting this right,
Do have,
When done with intention,
Do have consequences.
So,
You know,
How far in advance would it be skillful to then project out beyond that?
And then we have these various Bodhisattvas in Mahayana that are high-level,
And so maybe they're all in the running for the next Buddha after Maitreya.
And so,
Yeah,
How skillful is it to contemplate on these things,
To know these things,
To be inspired by these things?
And then those on the Bodhisattva path,
To me,
It's really inspiring but also daunting that you have all these other high-level Bodhisattvas and these huge,
Vast timescales that are involved in this.
And what are the strategies for going about this?
You know,
It's just really both daunting,
Incomprehensible,
Immeasurable,
Vast amounts of time,
And yet inspiring that there's beings that are up to that challenge,
I guess,
If,
Again,
If I'm framing,
Getting all this in the right context,
Or even maybe if it's technically true,
If this is really a view that's skillful and helpful to consider.
I think what it can do,
Though,
Is,
Yeah,
Inspire this sense of awe and profundity,
And that great skillfulness and wisdom is needed.
And on the other hand,
With our hot path,
You know,
Maybe it invokes a sense of urgency that,
Wow,
This is just,
That is just way too long of time to consider.
I can't bear to stick around that long and wait it out.
It needs to be done immediately,
Whatever can be done to end this wheel of stress and suffering.
So,
Better get to it,
Because I just cannot be bothered to drag it out that long.
There's already enough to work with right here and now.
That's fodder for the path.
And then,
I think the last,
And that's kind of the more practical,
I would say,
And then was just wondering about this interim period,
Going one step further of when Maitreya's sasana would end,
And what it'd be like to contemplate that time period of transition into the next Sammasambuddha,
Before the next Sammasambuddha,
After Maitreya,
And what kind of fertile ground that is for,
Maybe,
Decision-making,
Planning for the Bodhisattva path,
Really long-term,
Or longer-term,
But nothing compared to even beyond that,
With all the different Bodhisattvas,
I guess,
Supposedly waiting in line,
Waiting their time,
Doing their service work.
And I don't think that's the point either,
But this kind of indeterminate,
At least according to Theravada,
Of when that period of Maitreya would even end,
And what would it be like to,
Yeah,
What that's like,
And what benefits or drawbacks this,
Of course,
Imagined time period at this point in time would be like,
And why that would be important to consider,
Or not.
And,
For whatever reason,
Was drawn to contemplate that imaginary,
I guess,
Area of time for a little bit today.
And,
Yeah,
Not going to report any findings,
Because there really wasn't any findings,
As far as I know,
And there's really not anything else to say about that.
So,
Thanks for these,
Listening,
If you have,
To these kind of unique musings,
Perhaps,
And maybe they spark something of use in your own practice.
May all beings everywhere realize awakening and be free.
