Das Ende des Dharma und die Ankunft des Maitreya
Although Buddhism is said to have, as other Indian religions, a cyclical idea of cosmological time there are - in the framework of a more conceivable time-table then the myriads of aeons of kalpas - apocalyptic sceneries in the early and later texts, converging in the idea of the >end of the dhar...
| Published in: | Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | German |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Diagonal-Verlag
2012
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| In: |
Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Although Buddhism is said to have, as other Indian religions, a cyclical idea of cosmological time there are - in the framework of a more conceivable time-table then the myriads of aeons of kalpas - apocalyptic sceneries in the early and later texts, converging in the idea of the >end of the dharma< (Chin, mofa, Jap. mappo); in this period there will be a general material and moral decline of the world and mankind, almost leading to their destruction. On the other side there is the idea of a coming Messiah, the future Buddha Maitreya, who will turn everything to the better again. These two conceptions seem to have emerged independently from each other in the Buddhist history of ideas. There is, however, one legend which was able to connect both periods of bliss, the lifetime of the Shakyamuni Buddha and the time of the coming Maitreya, and to build a bridge over the gap of the chaotic decline of the dharma and the world: the legend of Mahakasyapa, the Buddha's most eminent follower and heir of the dharma, who was imagined as sitting in the Cockfeet-mountain (Kukkutapada-giri) in deep meditation waiting for Maitreya to pass the garment of Shakyamuni Buddha over to him as a sign of legitimate succession to the true dharma. The formation of the legend can be traced back to several strings of motives already found in old Buddhist literature, and the legend itself gained a vivid reception in the Buddhist oikumene all over Asia, reaching from India to Japan, from China to Southeast Asia. |
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| ISSN: | 2194-508X |
| Contains: | In: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/0031.145 |