10. More Questions of Sönam Gyen
T
hey reassembled, and Sönam [continued] her inquiry: “Machik-la, when the state law is corrupt like that, what will religious ethics be like? Will the religious law be corrupt or not? What developments will there be in the Dharma?” Machik answered, “Alas, good people, men and women, listen! The times of the corruption of state law will also be the occasion for the deterioration in religious law. At one point the religious ethics will shine even more than now [because of] one monk who will keep the Buddha’s doctrine properly. But the doctrine’s fall into obscurity will not be stayed for long, [but it will be] like a rainbow fading in the sky. Then nothing will have the power to do anything for the doctrine until its demise. The cultivation of Dharma will become mere debate over dry words that have been overheard. It will become the basis of conflict. It will be a time of fixation on mere signs.”
Future Deterioration of Religious Ethics Again Sönam Gyen asked, “Machik-la, who is this monk who will spread the doctrine during that time of the deterioration of religious ethics? Will the clarification of the doctrine be greater than it is now, or like it was before? Between now and the coming of that monk to spread the teaching, will its demise occur? What signs will indicate the corruption of religious law and demise of the teaching?” Again the mother answered: