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Here is link giving a bit of details that Buddha preached about the decline of Buddhism after parinibbana.

http://www.lawsofthenature.com/GotamaSasana.aspx

I share with you the following passage taken from the page of the above link

The Buddha said that after His parinibbaana, only for 1,000 years will the monks be able to acquire the analytical knowledge (Patisambhida), or what we know as Arahanthship or deep knowledge. Then, as time goes on, they will only be able to attain Anaagami (Never return). And then only Sakadagami (Once return), and finally, only Sotapanna (Stream enterer). With the death of the last disciple who has attained Sotapanna, the attainments will disappear.

Here's my issue with the above. From what I understand is that after a certain period of time after parinibbana, the maximum attainment that one could achieve reduces from arahant to anagami and so on. But this is illogical because if a person attain anaagaami he/she will only have at most 1 life where he/she will become an arahant which makes the above statement false, unless it means that the person will be born as a deva maybe having a very long lifetime until the next Buddha. This is confusing.

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All Anagamis are born in one of the five Suddhavasa Brahma realms. There they will attain Arahanthship. Yes, they have a very long life span. The lowest realm 'Aviha' has a life span of 1000 Maha Kalpas. So they will see many Buddhas in the future before entering Parinibbana.

The text is talking about monks. That means the human world. Divine beings are not discussed here.

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  • This is a question from the same link. Why is refraining from claiming to have attained the four spiritual levels a deadly sin?
    – Heisenberg
    Mar 21, 2016 at 13:08
  • @Heisenberg It's the other way round: killing, claiming attainment, stealing, and sexual conduct are all "deadly sins", in the sense that a person who commits one of those acts is no longer a bikkhu. There's more to being a bikkhu than just keeping those precepts, but the link you posted said that "as time goes on" these are the only four disciplines they will keep.
    – ChrisW
    Mar 21, 2016 at 13:12
  • Why is claiming attainment wrong? I am sorry if this is totally unrelated. I can post this as a fresh question if you wish
    – Heisenberg
    Mar 21, 2016 at 13:14
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    Claiming that you are enlightened(4 stages), when you are not, invalidates your monkhood, if done knowingly. Truly enlightened beings do not usually discuss their attainment with others. Mar 21, 2016 at 13:20
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    @Heisenberg This commentary classifies it as robbery or false pretenses. Technically it's falsely claiming attainments that's wrong (but monks avoid making claims at all). See also page 87 of this which says, "All conscious lies are forbidden by the first p›cittiya rule, but knowingly to make a false claim to a superior human state is one of the most heinous lies a bhikkhu can tell, so here it receives its own rule and the heaviest possible penalty."
    – ChrisW
    Mar 21, 2016 at 13:22

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