4 Bizarre Predictions From Ancient Buddhist Texts | Unveiled

4 Bizarre Predictions from Ancient Buddhist Texts

Our world has several thousand years of written history to look back on, much of which has been passed down through the ages via myth, legend and ancient religious text. These fables, parables, stories and lessons are seemingly designed to help us make sense of what’s around us… but, sometimes, they get bizarrely close to the truth before the truth has even happened.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re exploring four bizarre predictions from ancient Buddhist texts.

Perhaps of all the major world religions, Buddhism is the one most associated with peeling back the reality… of reality. Broadly, there’s a focus on achieving a higher level of understanding - a transcendence through nirvana. And, although the ancient texts aren’t perhaps quite as outwardly central as they appear in some other religions, there are books and passages that do tackle what lies ahead.

For our first prediction today, we’ll begin on a positive note, and with a general concept that underpins most others. Time is a key concept in Buddhism. Compared to the Christian understanding of time, for example, where there’s a singular thread leading from the past to the future, Buddhism says that time is cyclical. And, therefore, timelines are multiple. And, for the individual, this is good news… because it means that, potentially, there is no inevitable, inescapable destruction of the cosmos waiting for us at the end of time. Rather, we’ll experience multiple lives, afterlives, and rebirths, and not only within just this universe but spanning multiple cosmic worlds. What’s more, these cosmic worlds themselves - this rotational library of other planes - also goes through the constant cycle of birth and death.

In this way, rather than doom and destruction, the only true constant that Buddhism predicts for our reality is change. This change is then mediated by karma, the individual actions of humans, which it’s said are what determines the future direction and conditions for that human’s path through the cycle of time. Again, this is somewhat reassuring, as the apparently cyclical nature of reality predicts that the rise of our problems - ranging from despair to disruptive ideologies, political strife to personal loss - is really just a precursor to greater peace in the future, and is the natural order of things. Ultimately, at our current human level on Earth, it remains to be seen whether this prediction for eventual peace will “come true”... but the bizarre thing is that, arguably, it doesn’t matter. The journey is the thing; the destination is always ahead.

Next, “prediction two” takes us to Tibetan Buddhism, specifically. There are plenty of intriguing legends to choose from here, but not least the Shambhala prophecy. Purportedly made about twelve hundred years ago, the Shambhala prophecy details the rise of a large group of individuals who it’s said will one day bring about great change and healing through their compassion and wisdom regarding the interconnectivity of all things. But, first, it predicts what goes wrong for us to require them. It foretells of a time when all life on Earth faces great peril in the form of forces armed with innovative and never-before-seen technologies that wield unfathomable destructive power. And, while there is some ambiguity here, the modern translation into things like nuclear bombs and chemical weapons is an easy one to make. And the backdrop of violence and greed is clear. Again, though, there are reasons to remain positive.

For one, these threats are all at least conceivable by us… meaning there are no unbeatable, physically impossible, or godlike figures in play. Here, the dire circumstances are our own doing, but breaking out of them can be our own doing, too… through the rise of the kingdom of Shambhala. This isn’t a literal kingdom in the sense of a spreading society, but rather it speaks to a new (and much-needed) mindset; a spiritual shift. In this way, the kingdom of Shambhala - all those with the spirit - will collectively strive to dismantle the dangers threatening life on Earth. Working like a guiding light when all seems dark. What’s particularly exciting, though, is that according to some understandings of it, entry into the Shambhala might be possible for anyone. The prophecy focuses on how an individual’s decisions, lifestyle choices, and relationships all play a crucial role in their ability to rise up and have the passion to act. To oppose the unfathomable destructive power - in whatever form it takes - for the betterment of the world.

Unfortunately, though, and in an even wider sense, some readings of Buddhism suggest that things may yet have to get worse before they get better. Much worse. Our third prediction, this time said to have been delivered by the Buddha himself in the “Sermon of the Seven Suns”, describes an ultimate fate for us… and it’s not good. Though the “Seven Suns” premonition does still exist within cyclical Buddhist time (meaning that it needn’t be the total end of all things) it certainly paints an unappealing vision of the future for anyone that should live through it. It centers around an apocalypse, of sorts, characterized by the appearance of seven suns in the sky, with each causing and representing progressive ruin for Earth.

At this seeming endpoint, all things face a terrifying void of everlasting nothingness. To some degree, it’s the core of Buddhism flipped on its head. During this time, it’s said that human beings will become tired and even disgusted with life. They will crave freedom from it, and seek out increasingly disturbing ways to achieve that freedom. As the multi-suns appear, though, the matter will be taken out of our hands. It’s said that there will be widespread damage and destruction inflicted to the ecosystem and the global biosphere, as more of the suns appear. That the rains will cease, and that all plants and trees will dry, die, and dissinterate. That ponds, lakes, rivers and even oceans will also dry up. That mountains will fall, and that the remaining husk of our world will burn. By the time of the seventh sun, nature, as we know it, will be brought to its knees and to the brink of collapse... all under the ruthless gaze of a blistering sky. Our once beautiful planet turned to a vast wasteland and hellish inferno. According to this part of Buddhism, then, it’s a very dark day that is coming… although, thankfully, all still isn’t lost, as every ending still brings a new beginning.

But, unfortunately, and for all that Buddhism may have a reputation for preferring a more positive outlook, this physical “hell on Earth” isn’t the only big problem that’s apparently creeping over our horizon. There’s psychological ruin ahead for us, too. For today’s fourth (and final) prediction, we turn to the Buddha once again, who legend says had told that his teachings would disappear five thousand years after his passing - a time that approximately corresponds with the year 4,500. At this stage in future history, that our knowledge of reality, and the universal truth it represents, will be lost. That the Buddha and his teachings will be irretrievably forgotten, and that there will follow the degeneration of human society as a result. The likes of greed and poverty will take hold of us, so the legend goes… as well as violence, murder, betrayal, and anything else that really we’d rather do without. This will be the darkest times for humankind, perhaps even trumping the ecological ruin foretold in the “seven suns”.

Again, though, and seemingly as with all of the worst possibilities in Buddhist belief, there might still be a chance of relief and salvation… because it’s said that this collapse of humanity should also signal a fresh start and a new golden age for us, beginning with the appearance on Earth of Maitreya, the fifth and final avatar of Buddha. The future Buddha for our kind. Having developed incomparable wisdom over the course of all his previous lives, Maitreya brings with him a full awareness of the nature of the universe, infinitely far beyond any level of understanding that we could hope to achieve. And so, during his time with us, the belief is that Maitreya will guide humanity to change its ways back toward virtue and kindness. That he will usher in the abandonment of violence, mean-ness, dishonesty, and all other vices, to move us out of our terrible low point… and back into being the best that we can be. As per most versions of the story, though, there’s no further Buddha after this one. The Earth that’s left in Maitreya’s wake should, then, be the perfect place. A genuine utopia, predicted within the cyclical structure of Buddhism.

So, which of these most hits home with you? The complex temporality where change is the only thing that matters… or the kingdom of Shambhala that should one day save us from destructive technology? The seeming apocalypse of the “Seven Suns” set against the multiversal backdrop of Buddhist thinking… or the potential arrival of a Messianic figure who guides us to a golden age of peace and prosperity? Because, for now, those are four of the more bizarre predictions from ancient Buddhist texts.