集神州三寶感通錄 3.18

3.18

案別傳云。佛令九十九億大阿羅漢三明六通住持正法。於三千界四大洲中統通弘護。極人壽六萬歲時。雖遇三災諸聖暫隱。至壽百歲聖人還出。廣通佛法。如是漸增千歲萬歲終六萬歲方取涅槃。七萬歲時辟支佛現。八萬歲時慈佛方降。

According to another record, the Buddha commanded ninety-nine kotis of great arhats possessing the three knowledges and six supernormal faculties to sustain the true Dharma, comprehensively propagating and protecting it across the three-thousandfold world and the four continents. When human lifespan reaches sixty thousand years, though they encounter the three disasters, the holy ones will temporarily withdraw. When lifespan drops to one hundred years, the holy ones will re-emerge and widely propagate the Buddha's Dharma. In this manner, [lifespans] will gradually increase by thousands and ten-thousands of years, and only at the end of sixty thousand years will they enter nirvāṇa. When lifespans reach seventy thousand years, pratyekabuddhas will appear; when lifespans reach eighty thousand years, the Compassionate Buddha will at last descend.