Teacher David,
In Chapter 37 of Volume 3 in your books series, Gotoma Buddha explains how beings once had a lifespan of 80,000 years but that those beings lifespan will decrease to 10 years.
He also correlates it with the arising of Maitreya, an Arahant Fully Enlightened Buddha.
The context of the words he shared seems to indicate he was referring to beings individually having a lifespan of 80,000 years but I remember you indicating that the lifespan he was referring to was the lifespan of mankind, not individuals.
Can you kindly share what caused the impermanence between what he meant and what is written down in the Pali Canon or explain another reason why there is a seeming contradiction between your understanding of current/future events and the literal writings attributed to Gotoma Buddha?
Chapter 37 (Page 143):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HOmY2mkxQAGzmE2U2EFhwYLYxEFPwqcY/view
Thank you, Teacher David.
Hello Chris…sure, I will help you.
There are four potential things that could be contributing to this.
1.) The way it was captured after the death of Gotama Buddha was not fully accurate.
2.) It could be that it was captured accurately but, changes were made to The Pali Canon over time.
3.) It was captured accurately, no changes occurred to The Pali Canon, but there could be inaccuracies in the translation.
4.) It could be that when someone is sharing a future “prophecy”, so to speak, they are typically not 100% accurate. Because an individual 2,500 years ago, is not able to have full insight into what is or is not going to occur in the future. Prophecies by a human being are rarely 100% clear and direct or 100% accurate because there is not 100% insight into future events so far in the future. Because the future is so far away and what the individual is describing is so far in the future, 100% clarity is not always possible.
All four of these are possibilities.
With that said, what The Buddha was talking about is the life span of humanity. It has never and will never be possible for a human being to live for 80,000 years. Our general lifespan is 60-100 years old, with outliers from this.
The 10 year lifespan he is describing is what we are currently experiencing with climate change due to our unwise decisions that, if all of humanity continues to make the current decisions we are making, humanity would only last for another 10 years, perhaps. But, with improved decision making, based on The Natural Laws of Existence described by Maitreya Buddha, the remaining time left for all of humanity would be 80,000 years from the lifetime of Maitreya Buddha and when he turned The Dhamma Wheel.
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