Cylindrical Sutra Container, first half 12th century, Unknown Japanese, 17 × 6 5/16 × 6 1/4 in. ( × × cm) (with lid), Bronze, Japan, 12th century, According to Japanese Buddhist belief, the year 1052 marked the beginning of a degenerative era known as mappō, the Latter Days of the Buddhist Law. During these so-called Latter Days, the practice of the Buddhist Law (or 'dharma') would die out, preventing anyone from gaining enlightenment and escaping the cycle of death and rebirth. The arrival of Miroku, the buddha of the future, at the end of ten thousand years would return

---

Size: 4933px × 6748px
Location:
Photo credit: © Penta Springs / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 1052, 12th, arrival, belief, bronze, buddha, buddhist, buddhists, burial, burying, century, container, containers, copying, cycle, cylindrical, days, death, degenerative, dharma, die, enclosing, enlightenment, era, escaping, future, gaining, japan, japanese, law, legitimacy, lid, mappō, marked, miroku, mounds, practice, preserve, preventing, rebirth, response, return, scriptures, set, sutra, sutras, ten, thousand, unknown, year, years, zealously