Eschatology

===Buddhism===
{{Main|Buddhist eschatology}}

There is no classic account of beginning or end<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Lopez
 | first1 = Donald S.
 | author-link1 = Donald S. Lopez Jr.
 | title = The Story of Buddhism
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Harper
 | date = 2001
 | page = 33
 | quote = Unlike so many other traditions, the Buddhist scriptures contain no classic account of an end time, an apocalypse, an eschaton.
}}
quoted in:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Netland
 | first1 = Harold
 | author-link1 = Harold A. Netland
 | last2 = Yandell
 | first2 = Keith
 | author-link2 = Keith Yandell
 | chapter = The Dharma or the Gospel?
 | title = Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uwEvBBSvH-0C
 | location = Downers Grove, Illinois
 | publisher = InterVarsity Press
 | date = 2009
 | page = 196
 | isbn = 9780830838554
 | access-date = 7 July 2019
}}
</ref>
in Buddhism; Masao Abe attributes this to the absence of God.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Abe
 | first1 = Masao
 | author-link1 = Masao Abe
 | year = 1985
 | chapter = Buddhist Nirvana – Its Significance in Contemporary Thought and Life
 | editor1-last = LaFleur
 | editor1-first = William R.
 | title = Zen and Western Thought
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3SuvCwAAQBAJ
 | series = Library of Philosophy and Religion
 | edition = reprint
 | location = Basingstoke
 | publisher = Macmillan
 | publication-date = 1985
 | page = 214
 | isbn = 9781349069941
 | access-date = 7 July 2019
 | quote = Since there is no God in Buddhism, there is no creation or last judgment, but rather Emptiness. Thus, for Buddhism, history has neither beginning nor end.
}}
</ref>

History is embedded in the continuing process of [[Saṃsāra|samsara]] or the "beginningless and endless cycles of birth-death-rebirth".<ref>{{Cite book|title= Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal|last1= Netland|first1= Harold|last2= Yandell|first2= Keith|date= 2009|publisher= IVP Academic|isbn= 9780830838554|location= Downers Grove, IL|pages= 196 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uwEvBBSvH-0C}}</ref> Buddhists believe there is an end to things<ref>Vetter, Tilmann (1988), ''The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism'', Brill.</ref> but it is not final because they are bound to be born again. However, the writers of [[Mahayana]] Buddhist scriptures establish a specific end-time account in Buddhist tradition: this describes the return of [[Maitreya Buddha]], who would bring about an end to the world.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture|last= Birx|first= H. James|date= 2009|publisher= SAGE|isbn= 9781412941648|location= Thousand Oaks, CA|pages= 409}}</ref> This constitutes one of the two major branches of Buddhist eschatology, with the other being the [[Sermon of the seven suns|Sermon of the Seven Suns]]. End time in Buddhism could also involve a cultural eschatology covering "final things", which include the idea that [[Gautama Buddha|Sakyamuni Buddha]]'s [[dharma]] will also come to an end.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Encyclopedia of Death & Human Experience: 1-|last1= Bryant|first1= Clifton|last2= Peck|first2= Dennis|date= 15 July 2009|publisher= SAGE|isbn= 9781412951784|location= Thousand Oaks, CA|pages= 422}}</ref>

====Maitreya====
{{main|Maitreya}}
The Buddha described his teachings disappearing five thousand years from when he preached them,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston (F.S.S.) |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GyxrFy-wzUQC&dq=The+Buddha+described+his+teachings+disappearing+five+thousand+years+from+when+he+preached+them&pg=PA38 |title=Report of the Centenary Conference on the Protestant Missions of the World: Held in Exeter Hall (June 9th-19th), London, 1888 |date=1889 |publisher=J. Nisbet & Company |isbn=978-0-8370-6891-6 |language=en}}</ref> corresponding approximately to the year 4300 since he was born in 623 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vidyabhusana |first=Satis Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lG85RD9YZoC&dq=maitreya++was+born+in+623+BCE&pg=PA225 |title=A History of Indian Logic: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Schools |date=1988 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |isbn=978-81-208-0565-1 |language=en}}</ref> At this time, knowledge of dharma will be lost as well. The last of his relics will be gathered in Bodh Gaya and cremated.{{Citation needed|date= November 2012}} There will be a new era in which the next Buddha Maitreya will appear, but it will be preceded by the degeneration of human society. This will be a period of greed, lust, poverty, ill will, violence, murder, impiety, physical weakness, sexual depravity and societal collapse, and even the Buddha himself will be forgotten.<ref name="Hooper"/>

This will be followed by the coming of Maitreya when the teachings of [[dharma]] are forgotten. Maitreya was the first Bodhisattva around whom a cult developed, in approximately the third century CE.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web|url= https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/358868/Maitreya|title= Maitreya|date= 20 July 2023|publisher= Britannica Encyclopedia}}</ref>

The earliest known mention of Maitreya occurs in the Cakkavatti, or Sihanada Sutta in [[Digha Nikaya]] 26 of the [[Pali Canon]]. In it, [[Gautama Buddha]] predicted his teachings of dharma would be forgotten after 5,000 years.
{{blockquote|At that period, brethren, there will arise in the world an Exalted One named Maitreya, Fully Awakened, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, an Exalted One, a Buddha, even as I am now. He, by himself, will thoroughly know and see, as it were face to face, this universe, with Its worlds of the spirits, Its Brahmas and Its Maras, and Its world of recluses and Brahmins, of princes and peoples, even as I now, by myself, thoroughly know and see them.|Digha Nikaya, 26}}

The text then foretells the birth of Maitreya Buddha in the city of [[Ketumatī]] in present-day [[Varanasi|Benares]], whose king will be the Cakkavattī Sankha. Sankha will live in the former palace of King Mahāpanadā, and will become a renunciate who follows Maitreya.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pitaka |first1=Sutta |last2=Nikaya |first2=Digha |last3=Canon |first3=Pāli |title=''Cakkavatti Sutta: The Wheel-turning Emperor'' |url=http://www.basicbuddhism.org/index.cfm?GPID=29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505101810/http://www.basicbuddhism.org/index.cfm?GPID=29 |archive-date=5 May 2012 |website=Basic Buddhism |page=26}}</ref><ref>Vipassana.info, [http://www.vipassana.info/me_mu/metteyya.htm Pali Proper Names Dictionary: Metteyya]</ref>

In Mahayana Buddhism, Maitreya will attain ''[[bodhi]]'' in seven days, the minimum period, by virtue of his many lifetimes of preparation. Once Buddha, he will rule over the Ketumati Pure Land, an earthly paradise sometimes associated with the Indian city of [[Varanasi]] or Benares in present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]]. In Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha presides over a land of purity. For example, [[Amitabha]] presides over Sukhavati, more popularly known as the "Western Paradise".<ref>{{cite web|url= http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-BJ013/51013.pdf |title= 《彌勒上生經》與《彌勒下生經》簡介 |access-date= 27 November 2012}}</ref>
[[File:KushanMaitreya.JPG|right|upright|thumb|Bodhisattva Maitreya from the second-century Gandharan art period]]

A notable teaching he will rediscover is that of the ten non-virtuous deeds—killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, abusive speech, idle speech, covetousness, harmful intent and wrong views. The ten virtuous deeds will replace them with the abandonment of each of these practices. [[Edward Conze]] in his ''Buddhist Scriptures'' (1959) gives an account of Maitreya:
{{blockquote|The Lord replied, 'Maitreya, the best of men, will then leave the [[Tushita|{{IAST|Tuṣita}}]] heavens and go for his last rebirth. As soon as he is born he will walk seven steps forward, and where he puts down his feet a jewel or a lotus will spring up. He will raise his eyes to the ten directions and will speak these words: "This is my last birth. There will be no rebirth after this one. Never will I come back here, but, all pure, I shall win Nirvana."'|''Buddhist Scriptures''<ref>{{cite book|title= Buddhist Scriptures|url= https://archive.org/details/buddhistscriptur0000conz|url-access= registration|last= Conze|first= Edward| author-link = Edward Conze|publisher= Penguin Classics|date= 30 July 1959|pages= [https://archive.org/details/buddhistscriptur0000conz/page/256 256]|isbn= 0140440887}}</ref>}}
Maitreya currently resides in [[Tushita]], but will come to [[Jambudvipa]] when needed most as successor to the historic [[Śākyamuni Buddha]]. Maitreya will achieve complete enlightenment during his lifetime, and following this reawakening he will bring back the timeless teaching of [[dharma]] to this plane and rediscover [[Nirvana (concept)|enlightenment]].<ref name="Theravada Buddhism 1988, pages 83-85"/> The [[Arya Maitreya Mandala]], founded in 1933 by [[Lama Anagarika Govinda]], is based on the idea of Maitreya.

Maitreya eschatology forms the central canon of the [[White Lotus|White Lotus Society]], a religious and political movement which emerged in [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan China]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Mote|first=Frederick W.|title=Imperial China 900-1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQWW7QgUH4gC&pg=PA530|year=2003|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01212-7}}</ref> It later branched into the Chinese underground [[Organized crime|criminal organization]] known as the [[Triad (organized crime)|Triads]], which exist today as an international underground criminal network. {{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Note that no description of Maitreya occurs in any other sutta in the canon, casting doubt as to the authenticity of the scripture. In addition, sermons of the Buddha normally are in response to a question, or in a specific context, but this sutta has a beginning and an ending, and its content is quite different from the others. This has led some to conclude that the whole sutta is [[apocrypha]]l, or tampered with.<ref name="Theravada Buddhism 1988, pages 83-85">
[[Richard Gombrich]], ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo''. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, pages 83–85.
</ref>

====Sermon of the Seven Suns====
In his "Sermon of the Seven Suns" in the [[Pali Canon]], the Buddha describes the ultimate fate of the [[Earth]] in an apocalypse characterized by the consequent appearance of seven [[sun]]s in the sky, each causing progressive ruin until the planet is destroyed:
{{blockquote|All things are impermanent, all aspects of existence are unstable and non-eternal. Beings will become so weary and disgusted with the constituent things that they will seek emancipation from them more quickly. There will come a season, O monks when, after hundreds of thousands of years, rains will cease. All seedlings, all vegetation, all plants, grasses and trees will dry up and cease to be.{{nbsp}}...There comes another season after a great lapse of time when a second sun will appear. Now all brooks and ponds will dry up, vanish, cease to be.|Aňguttara-Nikăya, VII, 6.2 Pali Canon<ref name="Hooper"/>|title=|source=}}

The canon goes on to describe the progressive destruction of each sun. The third sun will dry the [[Ganges River]] and other rivers, whilst the fourth will cause the lakes to evaporate; the fifth will dry the oceans. Later:
{{blockquote|Again after a vast period of time a sixth sun will appear, and it will bake the Earth even as a pot is baked by a potter. All the mountains will reek and send up clouds of smoke. After another great interval a seventh sun will appear and the Earth will blaze with fire until it becomes one mass of flame. The mountains will be consumed, a spark will be carried on the wind and go to the worlds of God.{{nbsp}}...Thus, monks, all things will burn, perish and exist no more except those who have seen the path.|Aňguttara-Nikăya, VII, 6.2 Pali Canon<ref name="Hooper"/>}}

The sermon completes with the Earth immersed into an extensive holocaust. The Pali Canon does not indicate when this will happen relative to Maitreya.<ref name="Hooper"/>