Hello Daniel,
I am not aware of a sutta that directly says a Sakadagami would not be born below the Deva realms. It is possible that there is.
– However, we can easily deduce that because a Sakadagami has lost “vatthu kama” the desire to “own olarika sensory objects.” Thus he/she could only be born with a sukuma rupa, i.e., in Deva realms. Even though kama raga anusaya is much reduced it is not eliminated like for an Anagami.
“When a human achieves Sakadagami magga phala, he will be born in Deva realm one his physical body is dead, right? Even if his bhava would still have more kammic energy left (because it is an anantarika kamma) Is that correct?”
– Yes. That is correct.
“The second question is about the Buddha’s Sasana and 5000 years. Here, everybody also believes in 5000 years. But when I research a source, I cannot find much clear sources. Some sources say even 500, and so on. You wrote in one article, I think, that it can also be 5000-80000?”
– No. I have never written that the Buddha Sasana can last 5000-80000 years. Please don’t quote me unless you can give the post and bullet # where I make such statements.
– The Gotami Sutta (AN 8.51) has the following verse: “Sace, ānanda, nālabhissa mātugāmo tathāgatappavedite dhammavinaye agārasmā anagāriyaṃ pabbajjaṃ, ciraṭṭhitikaṃ, ānanda, brahmacariyaṃ abhavissa, vassasahassameva saddhammo tiṭṭheyya. Yato ca kho, ānanda, mātugāmo tathāgatappavedite dhammavinaye agārasmā anagāriyaṃ pabbajito, na dāni, ānanda, brahmacariyaṃ ciraṭṭhitikaṃ bhavissati. Pañceva dāni, ānanda, vassasatāni saddhammo ṭhassati.”
Translated: “But, Ānanda, if women had not obtained permission to bear the robes, the Buddha Sasana would have lasted 1,000 years. But now that I have given them permission, the Sasana will last only 500 years.”
However, there is at least one sutta that says as long as true Dhamma will not totally disappear and there will be people who will be able to attain Nibbana. I hope someone may remember the name of that sutta and post it.
It is quite clear that the number of Arahants decreased dramatically 500 years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. The fourth Buddhist Council held in Sri Lanka (when the Tipitaka was written down) was attained by all Arahants. That was about 450 years after the Parinibbana of the Buddha.
– But after that number of Arahants decreased rapidly. But there will always be Arahants as long as the true Dhamma exists.
– I am not sure where the limit of 5000 years comes from. Again, if someone knows, I would like to know that too.
P.S. I may have casually mentioned the 5000-year limit (not 50000), but that is only because that number is commonly quoted. In fact, Waharaka Thero had also mentioned that number, as I recall.