Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on the Extinction of the Dharma

聞如是：

Thus have I heard.

一時佛在拘夷那竭國——如來三月當
般涅槃——與諸比丘及諸菩薩。

At one time the Buddha was in the country of Kuśinagara, where the Tathāgata was to enter parinirvāṇa in three months, together with the bhikṣus and the bodhisattvas.

無央數眾來詣
佛所，稽首于地。世尊寂靜默無所說，光明
不現。賢者阿難作禮白佛言：「世尊前後說
法威光獨顯，今大眾會光更不現，何故如此？
其必有故，願聞其意。」

An innumerable assembly came to the place where the Buddha was and bowed their heads to the ground. The World-Honoured One sat silent and still, saying nothing, and his radiance did not appear. The venerable Ānanda made his obeisance and addressed the Buddha, saying: “World-Honoured One, on former and later occasions when you taught the Dharma, your majestic radiance shone forth uniquely. Now, before this great assembly, that radiance does not appear. Why is this so? There must surely be a reason for it. I wish to hear its meaning.”

佛默不應，如是至三。

The Buddha remained silent and gave no reply, and so it was up to three times.

佛告阿難：「吾涅槃後法欲滅時，五逆濁世魔
道興盛。魔作沙門壞亂吾道，著俗衣裳，樂好
袈裟、五色之服；飲酒噉肉，殺生貪味；無有
慈心，更相憎嫉。

The Buddha said to Ānanda: “After my parinirvāṇa, when the Dharma is about to be extinguished, in the turbid age of the five heinous acts, the way of Māra will flourish. Māra's followers will take the form of monks and will corrupt and throw into disorder my Way. They will wear lay garments and delight in fine kāṣāya robes and clothing of the five colours. They will drink wine and eat meat, killing living beings out of craving for flavours. They will have no compassionate mind, and they will be hateful and envious toward one another.

「時有菩薩、辟支、羅漢，精進修

德，一切敬待，人所宗向；教化平等，憐貧念老，
鞠育窮厄；恒以經像令人奉事，作諸功德；志
性恩善，不侵害人；損身濟物，不自惜己，忍
辱仁和。設有是人，眾魔比丘咸共嫉之，誹謗
揚惡，擯黜驅遣不令得住。自共於後不修道
德，寺廟空荒，無復修理轉就毀壞；但貪財物，
積聚不散，不作福德；販賣奴婢，耕田種植，焚
燒山林，傷害眾生，無有慈心；奴為比丘，婢為
比丘尼，無有道德，婬妷濁亂，男女不別，令道
薄淡皆由斯輩。或避縣官依倚吾道，求作沙
門，不修戒律；月半月盡雖名誦戒，厭倦懈
怠不欲聽聞，抄略前後不肯盡說；經不誦習，
設有讀者不識字句，為強言是，不諮明者；貢
高求名，虛顯雅步以為榮冀，望人供養。眾魔
比丘命終之後，精神當墮無擇地獄，五逆
罪中餓鬼、畜生靡不經歷，恒河沙劫罪竟乃
出，生在邊國無三寶處。

At that time there will be bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas and arhats who diligently cultivate virtue. All will respect and attend upon them, and people will look to them as their refuge. They will teach and transform beings impartially, pity the poor, remember the aged and nurture those in destitution and distress. They will constantly have people venerate sūtras and images and perform meritorious deeds. Their disposition will be kind and good; they will not harm others. They will diminish themselves to aid others, not sparing their own persons, patient under insult, benevolent and harmonious.

If there are such people, the bhikṣus who are followers of Māra will all envy them. They will slander them, spread evil reports about them, expel them and drive them away, not allowing them to remain. Afterward, among themselves, they will not cultivate virtue. Monasteries and temples will become empty and desolate. No longer repaired, they will gradually fall into ruin. They will only covet wealth and possessions, hoarding them and not giving them away, and they will perform no meritorious deeds. They will trade in male and female slaves, plough fields and plant crops, burn mountain forests and harm living beings, having no kindness in their hearts. Male slaves will become bhikṣus, and female slaves will become bhikṣuṇīs. They will have no virtue, will be defiled and disordered by lust, and will make no distinction between men and women. That the Way becomes thin and faint is entirely due to people of this kind.

Some, in order to evade the magistrate’s officers, will rely upon my Way and seek to become śramaṇas, yet they will not cultivate the precepts and discipline. At the middle and end of the month, although it is called the recitation of the precepts, they will be weary and lax, unwilling to listen. They will abbreviate the beginning and the end and refuse to recite them in full. They will not recite or study the sūtras. If there are any who read them, they will not recognise the characters and phrases, yet will stubbornly insist that they are correct and will not consult those who understand. Arrogant and seeking fame, they will vainly display refined deportment as a hope for glory, expecting others to make offerings to them.

After these bhikṣus who are followers of Māra reach the end of their lives, their consciousness will fall into the Avīci hell. Because of the five heinous offences, there will be no hungry ghost or animal state that they do not pass through. Only after kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges have passed and their offences are exhausted will they emerge, to be born in a borderland where there are no Three Jewels.

「法欲滅時，女人精進，
恒作功德；男子懈慢，不用法語，眼見沙門如
視糞土，無有信心。法將殄沒，登爾之時諸天
泣淚。水旱不調、五穀不熟，疫氣流行死亡者
眾。人民勤苦，縣官計剋，不順道理，皆思樂
亂。惡人轉多如海中沙，善者甚少若一若二。
劫欲盡故，日月轉短，人命轉促，四十頭白，
男子婬妷，精盡夭命，或壽六十。男子壽短，女
人壽長七、八、九十或至百歲。

When the Dharma is about to be extinguished, the women will be diligent and will continually perform meritorious deeds, while the men will be negligent and arrogant and will not heed the Dharma's words. They will look upon a monk as upon dung, and they will have no faith. When the Dharma is on the point of perishing and vanishing, at that time the devas will shed tears. Water and drought will be out of balance, and the five grains will not ripen. Pestilence will spread abroad, and the dead will be many. The people will toil in hardship, and the officials will reckon and extort, contrary to right principle; all will incline toward delight in disorder. The evil will grow ever more numerous, like the sands of the sea, and the good will be exceedingly few, no more than one or two. Because the kalpa is drawing to its end, the days and months will grow ever shorter, and the lifespan of human beings will be ever more curtailed. At forty their heads will be white. The men will be licentious, and with their vital essence exhausted they will die prematurely, or at most they will live to sixty. The lifespan of men will be short, while the lifespan of women will be long, seventy, eighty, ninety, or even up to a hundred years.

「大水忽起卒至
無期，世人不信故為有常。眾生、雜類不問
豪賤，沒溺浮漂，魚鱉食噉。

A great flood arises suddenly, coming all at once with no fixed time. The people of the world do not believe that such a thing can be, and so they hold the world to be permanent. Sentient beings and creatures of every kind, regardless of noble or humble status, are drowned and swept adrift, and devoured by fish and turtles.

「時有菩薩、辟支、
羅漢，眾魔驅逐不預眾會。三乘入山福德之
地，恬怕自守以為欣快，壽命延長。諸天衛

護，月光出世，得相遭值，共興吾道五十二
歲。《首楞嚴經》、《般舟三昧》先化滅去，十二部經
尋後復滅盡，不復現。不見文字，沙門袈裟
自然變白。

At that time there will be bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats whom the hosts of Māra drive out, so that they have no part in the assemblies. These of the Three Vehicles will withdraw into the mountains, into lands of merit and virtue, where in tranquil quietude they keep themselves restrained and take this as their joy, and their lifespans are extended. The devas guard and protect them. The Moonlight Bodhisattva appears in the world, and they are fortunate enough to encounter him, and together they cause my Way to flourish for fifty-two years. The Śūraṅgama-sūtra and the Pratyutpanna-samādhi-sūtra are the first to be dissolved away and to vanish, and the twelve divisions of the canon follow soon after and are likewise wholly extinguished, appearing no more. The written letters are no longer seen, and the monks' kāṣāya robes spontaneously turn white.

「吾法滅時，譬如油燈臨欲滅時，光
明更盛，於是便滅——吾法滅時亦如燈滅。自
此之後，難可數說。如是之後數千萬歲，彌勒
當下世間作佛。天下泰平，毒氣消除，雨潤和
適，五穀滋茂，樹木長大，人長八丈，皆壽八萬
四千歲，眾生得度不可稱計。」

When my Dharma is about to be extinguished, it is like an oil lamp that, just as it is about to go out, shines all the more brightly, and then is extinguished. When my Dharma is about to be extinguished, it is likewise as a lamp going out. From this point onward, the events are too many to recount. After this, when many thousands of myriads of years have passed, Maitreya shall descend into the world to become a Buddha. The world will be at peace, the poisonous vapours dispelled, the rains gentle and timely, the five grains flourishing in abundance, the trees grown tall and great. Human beings will be eight zhàng in height, all with a lifespan of eighty-four thousand years, and the beings brought to liberation will be beyond all reckoning.

賢者阿難作禮
白佛：「當何名斯經？云何奉持？」

The venerable Ānanda paid homage and addressed the Buddha: “By what name should this sūtra be known? And how should it be upheld?”

佛言：「阿難！
此經名為『法滅盡』。宣告一切，宜令分別，功德
無量不可稱計。」

The Buddha said: “Ānanda, this sūtra is named 'The Complete Extinction of the Dharma.' Proclaim it to all, and let it be expounded with discernment. Its merit is immeasurable and beyond reckoning.”

四部弟子聞經，悲慘惆悵，皆
發無上聖真道意，悉為佛作禮而去。

Having heard the sūtra, the fourfold assembly of disciples were grieved and disconsolate, and they all gave rise to the resolve toward the unsurpassed, holy, true Way. Then they paid homage to the Buddha and departed.