fifth five-hundred-year period ［後五百歳］ ( go-gohyakusai): Also, last five-hundred-year period or fifth half-millennium. The last of the five five-hundred-year periods described as following Shakyamuni’s death. It corresponds to the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law. The Great Collection Sutra predicts in some detail the course that the development of Buddhism will take in the twenty-five hundred years, or five half-millennia, following the Buddha’s death. The fifth five-hundred-year period indicates the first five hundred years of the Latter Day of the Law and is called “the age of quarrels and disputes” or “the age of conflict.” The sutra predicts that during this period, various rival Buddhist schools will quarrel incessantly among themselves, and Shakyamuni’s correct teachings will be obscured and lost. T’ien-t’ai of China and Dengyō and Nichiren of Japan, however, viewed the fifth five-hundred-year period as the time when the supreme teaching would spread. In the “Medicine King” (twenty-third) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni states, “After I have passed into extinction, in the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it abroad widely throughout Jambudvīpa and never allow it to be cut off.” See also three periods.