Bodhisattvas may manifest in any place in order to help sentient beings. They may be here right now, but people without the right karmic roots would not be aware of them. Furthermore, bodhisattvas are not limited to planet Earth and the human realm. There are many other worlds and realms where bodhisattvas appear.

STUDENT:

All of this is perplexing. It would seem that the number of good practitioners should increase as the years go on. As Buddhism spread in the early years and more and more people experienced high levels of attainment, that would just increase the amount of exposure to the Dharma people could have. There should be thousands of saints today and they should be more recognizable. It seems, instead, that the power cannot sustain itself, that it is going to end, and that bothers me.

SHIH-FU:

Just because some practitioners consider themselves seekers does not mean that they have deep enough karmic roots to meet and interact with a bodhisattva. Secondly, as I said before, this is not the only world. People who lived here once do not have to be reborn here again. Bodhisattvas do not come only to this world. Finally, it depends on the karmic roots of the sentient beings in the world. If bodhisattvas come and see that sentient beings are not ready, they may plant a few seeds for future generations and then leave.