The Age of the True Dharma, called Shobo in Japanese and Zhengfa in Chinese, is the first of the three ages into which East Asian Buddhist writers divided the time following the historical Buddha. In this first age the teaching, the practice it calls for and the attainment that practice makes possible are all held to be fully present together, before either practice or attainment begins to fail in the two ages that follow it. This entry names the age's position in the wider three age scheme this atlas already tracks under its own doctrine entry, Mappo (The Latter Age of the Dharma), which carries the fuller treatment of the scheme and the debate over what it means.
Facts
Disputed
Proposed DatingThe Japanese Tendai reckoning places the Buddha's death in 949 BCE and gives this first age 1,000 years; Chinese calculations from the sixth century onward placed the same transitions variously, so this is a real, named calculation rather than a single undisputed date. Proposed DatingThe same Japanese reckoning that dates the Buddha's death to 949 BCE closes this first age 1,000 years later, at the point the Age of the Semblance Dharma opens. Chinese calculations worked out from the sixth century onward placed the same transition variously, so this is a real, named calculation rather than a single undisputed date. Dating
Proposed DatingThe Japanese reckoning most widely adopted, the same one this atlas records for the opening of the final age below, dates the Buddha's death to 949 BCE and gives this first age 1,000 years, closing it in the year 52 CE. Chinese calculations worked out from the sixth century onward placed the same transitions variously, so this is a real, named calculation rather than the single undisputed answer. 1 Attributions
TraditionEast Asian Buddhism, and above all the Japanese Pure Land and Nichiren schools, for whom the three age scheme changed what practice was reasonable to attempt. 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of DeclineJan Nattier
Belongs to Tradition
The first of the three ages East Asian Buddhist writers divided the time after the historical Buddha into, in which teaching, practice and attainment are all held fully present.
Source Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of DeclineJan Nattier
Related To
Source Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of DeclineJan Nattier
Succeeded By
Sources
1. Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline
Jan Nattier, Asian Humanities Press, 1991- the structure and period of origin
- Related To: The Five Corruptions of the Kalpa (Pancha Kasaya)
- Associated With: Siddhartha Gautama
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