On some Buddhist Uses of the kaliyuga

Although their respective cosmologies have much in common, Hinduism and Indian Buddhism have, from an early period, developed fairly independent eschatological doctrines and prophecies that testify to widely diverging apocalyptic anxieties and hermeneutic strategies. Whereas Hinduism, from the second – third centuries CE on-ward, invariably resorted to a four-period degeneration scheme ending with the dreaded kaliyuga (often compared with Iron Age as described by Hesiod), sure signs of which the Brahmins saw in foreign rule over India and the increase in “ heresies ” (e.g., Jainism and Buddhism), the Buddhists were (and to some extent remain) ob-sessed with the gradual decline and final itself, a Quite unexpectedly , The present at the most significant instances of the Indian appropriation of the kaliyuga , discussing them and attempting to disclose their internal logic. It ends with a detailed discussion of the question whether and under which circumstances appear in the End Times. Eltschinger them in light of the scenario of the End. Such a posteriori, or after-the-fact, uses of apocalypticism are often reactions to major historical changes [ … ] that do not fit into the received view of provi-dential history. By making a place for such events in the story of the End, the final point that gives all history meaning, apocalyptic eschatology incorporates the unexpected into the divinely foreor-dained and gives it permanent significance. ” In what follows, I provisionally distinguish between apocalyptic and cosmological accounts of the eschaton . Whereas cosmological eschatology is fo-cused (generally in the present tense) on the disappearance of the universe as a whole in both its physical and metaphysical constituents, apocalyptic eschatology often consists in a prophecy (gen-erally in the future tense) that interprets dramatic present-day events as sure signs of the End. Kalkin, will the mountain horses, elephant masters, kings in gold chariots, and armed warriors. There will be ninety million dappled mountain horses swift as the wind, four hundred thousand elephants drunk with wine, five hundred thousand chariots, six great armies, and ninety-six crowned kings. Kalkin, with Ś iva and Vi ṣṇ u, will annihilate the barbarians with this army. Ferocious warriors will strike the barbarian horde. Elephant lords will strike elephants; mountain horses will strike the horses of Sindh; kings will strike kings in equal and unequal combat. ū m ā n, son of Mah ā candra, will strike A ś vatth ā man with sharp weapons. Rudra will strike the protector of the barbarian lord, the master of all the demons. The wrathful Kalkin will strike K ṛ nmati. Kalkin, with Vi ṣṇ u and Ś iva, will destroy the barbarians in battle with his army. Then Cakrin will return to his home in Kal ā pa, the city the gods built on Mount Kail ā sa. At that time everyone on earth will be fulfilled with religion, pleasure, and prosperity. Grain will grow in the wild, and trees will bow with everlasting fruit – these things will occur. 79