Introduction

The Cakkavati Sihanada Sutta is the "Lion's Roar Sutta of the Buddha on the Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma." The Buddha tells his disciples how morality, symbolized by the treasure of the Wheel of Dhamma, flourishes, then declines, and is reborn again. The wheel was a symbol of power among the kshatriya class, whose main military force was war chariots. The Buddha, raised as a kshatriya, repeatedly invoked this symbol in his sermons, imbuing it with the highest meaning of the Law of Virtue.

The Buddha's teachings contain a prophecy about the appearance of a new Buddha, Maitreya, in the era of the revival of the Dhamma.

The Golden Age of the Dhamma

During the height of the morality of the earth's rulers, the Buddha explained, people lived for up to eighty thousand years. State governance was based on the principles of preserving the lives of beings, non-acquisitiveness, restraint of passions, truthfulness, and abstinence from intoxication. Thanks to this, the Wheel of Dhamma rolled unimpeded in all directions, and some kings, formerly rivals, became allies, upholding the good Dhamma.
When the Wheel of Dhamma wobbled, indicating to the world-ruling king that his lifespan was drawing to an end, he would pass the throne to his heir, shave his head, and enter into seclusion. The heir followed the same code of preserving virtue as his ancestors, maintaining the prosperity of the earth.

The Decline of the Dhamma

The time comes when the heirs stop following the rules of virtue, and the first vice to overtake them, and then the common people, is greed. The king stops providing property to the poor, and theft appears. Following theft, harsh punishments for thieves appear. People, witnessing the cruelty of the authorities, develop cruelty in themselves: taking up arms, they rob and kill.
People, overcome by greed and cruelty, shorten their lifespans, and the distinction between beauty and ugliness intensifies in their minds. Desiring the beautiful bodies of others, people become lustful and weak, and their lifespans become shorter and shorter.
Then lies, denunciations, disrespect for elders and the wise, rudeness, gossip, slander, and false teachings spread, further fueling passions, hostility, and greed.

One day, the Buddha predicted, the human lifespan would reach ten years, and girls would be married off at five. People would hate each other so much that they would strive to exterminate each other, crying, "This is not a man! This is a beast!"

And in this era, only a few people will be saved from obsession, hiding from the maddened world.

The Revival of the Dhamma

When the age of madness devastates the world, some who survived it will emerge from their solitude and rejoice to meet one another, embracing one another. And, reflecting, they will understand that the world has been devastated by the development of the bad qualities of the mind.
These people will begin to watch their speech and thoughts, their actions, not committing evil, but desiring good. And, purifying their mind, they will begin to live longer and longer, until their lifespans once again reach eighty thousand years, and righteousness will once again be established throughout the land.

The prophecy of the appearance of Buddha Maitreya

In the era of the revival of the Dhamma, a great Arhat, a holy sage, a teacher of gods and humans, Maitreya (the original pronunciation is Metteya, which comes from the word metta, or friendliness), will appear. This sage, through his own experience, will comprehend and clarify the truth about all worlds, their inhabitants, and dhammas, just as the Buddha himself did. Maitreya will lead a Sangha ten times larger than the Buddha's.

The Buddha's Teaching to the Monks

At the beginning and end of his story, the Buddha instructs his disciples: be your own refuge, be your own lights, taking refuge in the Dhamma, following the light of the Dhamma; watch over yourselves vigilantly, leaving behind greed, despondency and hostility; abide in the mindfulness of the Dhamma, without leaving it.

The Buddha explains that the lifespan of a disciple depends on the development of four supernatural powers: willpower (chanda); the power of self-restraint, discipline (vinaya); the power of the mind (chitta); and the power of direct comprehension (vimamsa, experiential comprehension, investigation). Having mastered these powers, a disciple can exist in a single form for the duration of a kalpa.

The beauty of a disciple lies in high morality, restrained behavior, and attentiveness to his smallest misdeeds.

The bliss of the disciple (sukha) consists in the realization of the four manifestations of the radiance of the mind (the four jhanas).

The wealth of a disciple is the brahmaviharas: friendliness, compassion, joy in the company of virtuous friends and contentment.

The strength of the disciple lies in the cessation of the craving for the world, and although there is no force more difficult to overcome than the force of Mara (the sense of “I”), Mara too is subject to the highest virtue.

Conclusion

As in the Mahapadana Sutta, Digha Nikaya 14, life is one world or another. The more subtle the world, the higher its morality, the more peaceful it is, and the longer the duration of existence in it. Accordingly, the ability of a disciple who has mastered supernormal abilities to exist for an entire kalpa signifies the disciple's ability to completely exhaust all the corrupting qualities of the mind, achieving a state beyond which there is nothing else.

The prophecy of the coming of Buddha Maitreya is not only a confirmation of the Dharma's ability to be reborn in the earthly world, but also a prediction of the disciples' awakening. Each disciple represents a world in which the gradual revival of the Teaching takes place, leading up to the attainment of Arhatship, when the disciple's own heart manifests as the Buddha of Friendliness—Maitreya—and the countless good qualities of the mind—as the future Sangha.