Dear friends,

I have the urge to write about Mappo – The Dharma ending age, the longest period of fall knowings. The doom. The concept of the Dharma Ending Age, or Mappo in Japanese Buddhism is a fascinating and complex idea that speaks to the cyclical nature of time and the decline of spiritual truth. This concept is rooted in Buddhist cosmology, it posits that the world undergoes three distinct periods following the death of a Buddha:

1. The Age of the True Dharma (Shōbō): In this era, the Buddha’s teachings are still fresh and vibrant. People are able to practice the Dharma and attain enlightenment.

2. The Age of the Imitation Dharma (Zōbō): The teachings remain, but their power has diminished. While people may still practice the Dharma, achieving enlightenment becomes increasingly rare.

2. The Age of the Dharma Ending (Mappō): This is the final and longest period, a time of spiritual decay and confusion. The Buddha’s teachings are distorted, and people find it nearly impossible to follow the path to enlightenment. It’s an age of great suffering and moral decline.

I might point out some themes to highlight in the Mappo period:

1. Truth is distorted: The old teaching system is distorted and misinterpreted or twisted to serve personal or political agendas. The pure, unadulterated wisdom of the Buddha and the Wise is lost in a sea of dogma and superficial rituals. You can witness this by looking into the world we are living now: just pure crisis. People are suffering from whatever they once believed in.

2. Fall of belief systems: As the truth becomes obscured, faith erodes. People lose trust in the spiritual institutions that are meant to guide them, leading to a sense of nihilism and despair. Hope is rare, and now hope is nowhere to be found.

3. Trust in religions: This is a direct consequence of the above. People may still identify with religions, but their trust is superficial. Those people who represent their religions have been doing all the dirtiest things under the names of their Gods. They may follow rituals without understanding their meaning, or they may turn to religion for worldly gains rather than spiritual liberation.

I believe that in every 2000 years, we have to suffer this Mappo period. Astrology often works with cycles that describe the rise and fall of civilizations, beliefs, and human consciousness. It takes approximately 25,772 years to complete one cycle, with each “age” (e.g., the Age of Pisces, the Age of Aquarius) lasting about 2,160 years. Astrologers often associate these ages with shifts in human consciousness and a change in the dominant spiritual or cultural paradigm. The transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, for example, is seen by some as a shift from a time of dogmatic, organized religion (Pisces) to a time of individual freedom, knowledge, and humanitarianism (Aquarius).

Cycles of Saturn and Jupiter: The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which occurs approximately every 20 years, marks a new cycle of social and political trends. The alignment of these planets in a particular element (fire, earth, air, or water) for roughly 200 years is a powerful astrological indicator. The current shift from the Fire cycle to the Earth cycle between Sagittarius and Capricorn is seen by some as a move away from materialistic, institutionalized values toward intellectual, technological, and social concerns. This could be interpreted as a parallel to the Mappo cycle, where the old structures of belief and power are breaking down, making way for a new paradigm—one that is not necessarily more enlightened but simply different.

The Mappo is a period of great difficulty, but it also signals a powerful transition—a time when the old ways must fall away to make room for a new beginning. Those old deities, ancient souls, are slowly awakening. They need to align and lead the new systems. Spirituality is not nonsense, it’s the truth that has been hidden, leaving us in confusion and ignorance. Believe or not, Gods are real.

Thanks Google for letting me use the info!