Overview
Orthodox Theravāda maintains that the Buddha’s Dispensation (Sāsana) is temporary and will eventually decay and vanish entirely from the earth due to human heedlessness. The commentarial tradition details a precise, tragic five-stage sequence of disappearance (antaradhāna), mapping the gradual spiritual blindness that will envelop humankind before the next Buddha arises.
The List
- Adhigamaantaradhāna - Disappearance of Attainment: The initial stage of decline. Due to lazy practice, the direct experiential realization of the supramundane paths, fruits, analytical knowledges, and Arahatship completely vanishes from the earth.
- Paṭipattiantaradhāna - Disappearance of Practice: The vanishing of somatic discipline. Monastics stop meditating, abandon the austere ascetic practices, and throw away their moral codes, leading to the collapse of basic morality.
- Pariyattiantaradhāna - Disappearance of Learning: The physical loss of the scriptures. The text of the Tipiṭaka is neglected, forgotten, and entirely lost to memory, starting with the Abhidhamma, then the Suttas, and finally the Vinaya.
- Liṅgaantaradhāna - Disappearance of the Monastic Sign: The vanishing of outer monastic forms. The last corrupt monks stop shaving their heads, cast away their orthodox saffron robes, keep only a symbolic string around their wrist, and merge completely into the lay populace.
- Dhātuantaradhāna - Disappearance of the Relics: The ultimate end. All remaining corporeal relics of the Buddha worldwide miraculously escape their stupas, fly through the air to gather at the Bodhi tree in India, emit a final blinding flash of light like a second Buddha, and are entirely cremated into nothingness by a cosmic fire.
Textual References
- Canonical: Anāgata-bhaya Suttas (AN 5.77-80) – The Buddha outlines the “future dangers” that will eventually erode the core teachings.
- Commentary: Manorathapūraṇī / Anāgatavaṃsa Aṭṭhakathā – Formally outlines these five precise structural phases of total dispensation extinction.