“Once, in the time of a Buddha named Padumuttara, the two of us were born as
contemporaries and close friends. On that occasion, we traveled to pay homage to the
image of Padumuttara at a sacred temple on a mountain. Before ascending to the
temple, we each plucked a lotus flower to use as an offering. The journey up the
mountain took a considerable amount of time, so it was nearly dusk when we arrived.
We quickly took the lotus flowers we had prepared into the temple and decided to
spend the night near the temple grounds.

After we had finished our worship and prayers, you asked me what I had prayed for. I
replied that I wished to become a Buddha in the future. Upon hearing this, you said
that you had made the same aspiration.”

“Then, we used the lotus flowers we had offered as a means of divination to see who
would become a Buddha first. I took a vase that was there, filled it with water, and
placed one on the left and one on the right of the Buddha image. Then, I placed my
lotus flower on the left and yours on the right. We both made a joint aspiration that if
one of us were to become a Buddha first, that person’s lotus flower would bloom first
the following morning.”

“Before dawn, out of curiosity about the outcome of our divination, I secretly went into
the temple while you were still asleep. When I arrived, I saw that your lotus flower had
bloomed first. So, I secretly switched the bloomed lotus flower with mine and then
woke you up, pretending to invite you to see it together. When you saw it, you affirmed
to me that I would certainly become a Buddha before you.”

“The following day, you saw in a vision that I had secretly switched the lotus flowers.
But because of the vow you had already made, you did not object in any way. In that
vision, it showed the result of this time-switching: in the era when I would become a
Buddha, the duration of my teachings would last for 5,000 years. However, due to the
past karma of secretly switching the lotus flowers, during the midpoint of that time, my
teachings would face the consequences of decline. My Dharma armies would use my
name to cause corruption, tarnishing and degrading my teachings, making them lose
their dignity.”

“And on that day, you also recounted the events in your vision that would occur in the
future, when my teachings reached their midpoint, which is similar to the story you are
currently telling me, as if it were the same event,” the Buddha explained.

“What did I say about those things, Lord?” Achita asked.

“You said that when my teachings reached their midpoint, humans would use money
that was like palm leaves to spend extravagantly. There would be no honesty, only
corruption and evil intentions. At that time, many material things would arise in the
world, with various strange and novel appliances. Humans would wear clothing not
spun and woven on looms. Both men and women would wear patterned fabrics like monitor lizard skin, short-sleeved, long-sleeved, and sleeveless shirts. They would
wear sarongs that constricted the legs, with short, long, and cropped lengths. Men and
women would wear similar clothing to the point of being indistinguishable, appearing
neither truly male nor truly female. Humans would know things they had never known
and see things they had never seen. And most importantly, they would face numerous
terrible events.”

“Most importantly, my teachings would reach their peak of decline during the
midpoint. But you promised me that you would help restore righteousness, help
correct wrong views, and help destroy attachments arising from tradition that make
the mind unfree. This corresponds to the vision you asked me about. That red domeshaped building, in one sense, signifies the symbol of religion, which at that time would
be like a restrictive, confining organization, like an institution that disempowers
humans. Even the members of the institution themselves would become like parrots
and mynah birds, without wisdom, unable to access their own Buddha-mind. And in
another sense, it signifies that the whole world is falling under the bondage of fear
from an organization pulling the strings behind the scenes, and you will have the duty
to liberate them.”

“At that time, my status will be gone; I will no longer have the role to establish rules
and regulations. And you are the one who intends to begin your era to help my
teachings continue for the full 5,000 years,” the Buddha explained.

“Lord Phoche, may I interject here for a moment?” I paused my viewing of the image
and the conversation between the Buddha and Achita temporarily.

“What is it?” Lord Phoche asked in return.

“So, my appearance in the present is still not the true time of Buddhahood, is it?”
Achita asked.

“Both yes and no. Although this time has passed the midpoint of the Buddhist era and
there is still time to continue until the full 5,000 years, which is looking at it by dividing
into eras with one Buddha per era, having a beginning of the first era and ending at the
second. But if you look broadly or at the great era that is unfolding, which is divided
into two major epochs using the principle of dividing into an age of darkness and an
age of light, both of these major epochs will encompass a vast expanse of time.
Compared to the number of Buddhas who have arisen in the past, it will be hundreds of
thousands. Your arrival at this time is therefore like the beginning of a great era that
will continue for millions of years, with the time of the Buddha Gotama overlapping the
middle of these two major epochs,” he replied.

“So, the legends that say after the 5,000-year era of the Buddha ends, the world will be
without a Buddha for a very long time before entering the era of Phra Sri Ariya
Maitreya are incorrect, then?” I asked.

“You need to understand this anew. If the lifespan of this Buddha’s teachings is counted
as 5,000 years, of which half has now passed, and as you know, this period is the time of the greatest decline, and you have volunteered to correct the misunderstandings
that have arisen. And when you can successfully rectify these misunderstandings,
which means you can lead almost the entire world to the ultimate truth on their own,
or what you call ‘attaining enlightenment,’ it will be a great phenomenon unlike
anything that has happened before, because this phenomenon will occur to people all
over the world simultaneously.”

“Think carefully about what will happen from now on. If the remaining 2,500 years are
a time of peace, with people understanding the truth throughout the full 5,000 years,
what will happen next is that the world will not revert to decline again. As I have
already told you, your universe is traveling into a new frontier in the vast infinite
universe. Even if there are no more Buddhas named, the people on Earth can still
evolve themselves and pass on this evolution to future generations. You can use your
imagination to explore the future world yourself to see what the conditions will be
like.”

“And because the world has been elevated by your efforts, even though you once
promised the Buddha that you would help correct the wrong views of the world by
making everyone understand the true meaning of the word Buddha and lead everyone
to become Buddha or God, which this event is your emergence, your name has already
appeared, your mission has appeared, the result of the era’s transformation has
appeared, which for the universe, this is the beginning of the ‘Golden Age,’ the era that
will be your masterpiece, the era that the kingdom under your name is what everyone
is waiting for, which is the ‘Age of Phra Sri Ariya.’ If the 5,000-year lifespan of the
Buddha Gotama’s teachings is an era, the lifespan of the Age of Phra Sri Ariya will be
many times longer, or about 80,000 years, and its consequences will continue for
millions of years, which will be a great era without Buddhas for a very long time
because there is no decline, so there is no need for anyone to be born again. The world
has gone through the process of elevation, and humanity has found peace.”

“And this is the code that your companion at that time secretly switched the lotus
flowers for, because in truth, you were supposed to become a Buddha before him. This
past karma is why there is an overlap between the end point of the Buddha Gotama’s
era and your era, do you understand?” Lord Phoche further explained.

“I understand. This is the relationship of overlapping intentions that caused the
intersection, right?” I observed.

“Yes. Alright, now that you understand the origins, shall we return to the events of the
night you spoke with the Buddha?” Lord Phoche asked.

“Is there anything else? If not, we can move on,” I replied.

“There is one more thing, and this matter directly concerns you,” Lord Phoche said.

“What is it? If it’s related, let’s see it all,” I asked.