How Credible Is the Prophecy of the Golden Cudgel's 13,500 – the Prosperity of Buddhism?

Nantai

Is the prophecy of 13,500 credible? This has been an eternal mystery. According to general logic, it is easy to understand that Buddhism flourished when the Buddha was alive, and it also makes sense that it thrived during the "Period of the True Dharma" right after the Buddha's nirvana, as well as in the "Period of the Semblance Dharma". But why is it that Buddhism, which has been on the wane with its influence dwindling, its teachings distorted over time, and fewer and fewer believers in the "Period of the Declining Dharma" 2,500 years after the Buddha's nirvana, would rise against the tide and achieve an unexpected "great prosperity"? Isn't this highly anomalous? Why is this the case?

This millennia-old mystery was unraveled by Wang Sanfeng, the protagonist of Seven Steps, One Smile. The prosperity of Buddhism depends on two factors: one is the teacher, and the other is the disciples. Only when the karmic conditions for both are ripe can Buddhism flourish – neither can be dispensed with. However, the Buddha's karmic condition is always ripe; he is constantly guiding and saving beings at all times. But the karmic conditions of the disciples are not always so. The Buddha cannot save those with no karmic affinity to him. No matter how anxious the Buddha is, it will be in vain if the disciples' karmic conditions are not mature. But when will the disciples' karmic conditions ripen?

Science! Science! Who would have thought that the karmic condition for the great prosperity of Buddhism would turn out to be cutting-edge science! An excerpt from Seven Steps, One Smile is quoted below.

Wang Sanfeng said that it is science that will make Buddhism flourish. Wang Wenzao shook his head vigorously and said, "This makes even less sense. Science only drives people further away from religion; how could it possibly encourage people to believe in it? This just doesn't add up." Seeing that Wang Wenzao was a little agitated, Wang Sanfeng smiled and replied, "The reasoning might go like this: many people regard religion as superstition, so they rely on science to dispel superstition. Thus, people's expectation is that the more advanced science becomes, the more declining religion will be. However, Buddhism is not superstition – it is the truth, something tangible, infinitely more advanced than science. Therefore, when science was underdeveloped, people could not distinguish the truth from falsehood in Buddhism; they found it abstruse and dared not believe in it. But in the era of highly advanced science, many aspects of Buddhism have been successively verified by science. Only then do people realize that Buddhism is not superstition but a super science. As a result, the number of people believing in Buddhism has instead increased, and the karmic conditions have thus ripened..."

Wang Wenzao clapped his hands excitedly and exclaimed in admiration, "Absolutely right! This is convincing! Precisely! This is the karmic condition! The Buddha cannot save those with no karmic affinity to him. No matter how skilled a midwife is, she has to wait until the fetus is fully developed after ten months of gestation – otherwise, she can do nothing at all!" He stared at Wang Sanfeng and said, "It seems that you have solved this eternal mystery of why Buddhism will flourish in the Period of the Declining Dharma." Wang Sanfeng just chuckled and said, "It was not me who solved it; it was the empowerment of the Buddha's power..."