Maitreya Buddha
Buddha Maitreya is the Buddha of the future, also known as the Laughing Buddha, is the one to follow up the historical Buddha Sakyamuni. He waits in the Tusita heaven for the moment he is to appear on earth as the Buddha of the fifth world cycle. At present he is considered as one of the dhyani-Bodhisattvas, the creators of the universe. In the future he will be like Sakyamuni, a mortal manusi Buddha who lives on earth for a while in order to teach mankind the doctrine. Maitreya, 'the loving one', is widely worshipped in the Himalayan regions.
Future History
Shakyamuni Buddha predicted that due to the inevitable degeneration of the times, his own teachings would last just five thousand years before disappearing from this world. People will grow more and more immoral and their lifespan will gradually decrease, as will their health, stature and fortune. While such delusions as miserliness, hatred and jealousy gain strength, the world will go through prolonged periods of famine, disease and continuous warfare until it eventually resembles a vast battlefield of graveyard. Thereupon Maitreya will appear, not in his fully evolved buddha form, but as a person of regal bearing, very handsome and taller than those around him. On seeing this unusual being, people will be filled with wonder and faith, and will ask how he came to have such an attractive appearance. Maitreya will reply that this is due to his practice of patience, avoiding giving harm to others, and if others will also abide in love and tolerance, they could become similar to him.
Maitreya's appearance will mark a great turning point in the fortunes of this world. As more and more beings follow his example, their store of merit, and consequently their lifespan, will increase. Eventually people will live in health for such a long time that the sufferings of old age and death will scarcely be known. At that time, their observance of morality will grow lax as people become more and more involved in the pleasures of their existence. With this laxity will come another gradual shortening and degeneration of their lifespan until eventually beings once again will become suitable ripe to take sincere interest in the spiritual path. When the human lifespan as increased again to many thousands of years, and when the planet will be entirely dominated by a benevolent wheel-turning sovereign (Chakravartin) named Shankha, it is at this time that Maitreya Buddha will descend from the Tushita buddha field (devaloka) where he now resides, to appear in this world as the fifth founding Buddha of this world age. Maitreya will be born the son of a Brahmin priest, and will renounce the world and attain enlightenment in a single day, not requiring six long years. The world in this time will be politically neutralised, and therefore the warrior class and its martial virtues will be obsolete. Thus he will be born among the intellectuals, the priests, and his teaching will bring the gentler emotions to the fore.
His teachings will not deviate from that of previous Buddhas, except for an interesting tradition that he will not teach any esoteric Tantras (most likely hinting that Maitreya's mission will in general be more effective than Shakyamuni's). This does not show a difference in the perfection of liberative techniques of the two Buddhas, rather a difference in the evolutionary stage of the human beings on the planet (Shakyamuni Buddha taught at a time of violence and widespread militarism, and had to turn to the martial qualities of toughness, ascetism and determination toward the pursuit of enlightenment.
Shakyamuni Buddha also predicted that those who followed his teachings would be reborn in the first circle of Maitreya's entourage and would be able to complete the spiritual path under Maitreya's guidance.
Maitreya (The Future Fifth Manushi Buddha)
(The Compassionate One).
(T.) byams-pa (pro. cam-pa) (kind, loving).
(M.) maijdari (from the Sanskrit).
(C.) Mi-lo-fo (Mi Lo Fo).
(J.) Miroku
Mudra: dharmacakra (turning the Wheel of the Law), or vara (charity), and vitarka (argument).
Symbols: kalasa (vase), cakra (wheel).
Colour: yellow.
Emblem: campa (naga pushpa) 57 (white flower with yellow centre).
Distinctive marks: stupa in head-dress, scarf around the waist tied at left side.
Dhyani-Buddha: Amoghasiddha.
Dhyani-Bodhisattva: Visvapani.
Manushi-Buddha: Maitreya,
The Dhyani-Bodhisattva form of Maitreya belongs to the group of eight Dhyani-Bodhisattva.
Buddhist tradition divides the period between the death of Buddha and the manifestation of Maitreya in the actual universe into three divisions of time 58:
Period of 500 years, 'the turning of the Wheel of the first Law'.
Period of 1 ,000 years, ' the law of images ' (Saddharma pratirupaka).
Period of 3,000 years, 'the turning of the Wheel of the second Law', after which Maitreya will leave the Tushita heaven and come upon earth to 'establish the lost truths in all their purity'.
Sakya-muni is supposed to have visited Maitreya in the Tushita heaven when he appointed him to be his successor, and many Buddhist sages (arhats) are believed to have had communion with him, transporting themselves by supernatural means to the Tushita heaven to seek enlightenment on various religious points. The great Asanga, one thousand years after the birth of Buddha, ascended to the Tushita heaven, where [Page 21] he was initiated, by Maitreya, into the mystic doctrine of the Tantra, which he grafted on to the Mahayana school in the beginning of the sixth century. Maitreya is therefore looked upon, by certain sects, as the founder of the Tantra school.
He is the only Bodhisattva who figures in Southern Buddhism, and statues of him are found in Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, generally in company with Gautama Buddha. His worship was at its height in India, according to the accounts of the Chinese pilgrims, in the fifth century, and there are many statues of him in the Gandhara sculptures of that period. He is represented either seated as a Buddha with his long hair drawn up in a knot on the top of his head forming the ushnisha, his legs closely locked, and his hands in dharmacakra (teaching) mudra; or as a Bodhisattva, in which case he is standing, with his long hair hanging over his shoulders, while a part of it is caught up in a knot on his head. His hands form ' argument ' and ' charity ' mudra.
In the Indian sculptures, as Bodhisattva, he is standing. His hair is arranged mitre-shaped. His hands form the usual mudra, and in the left is a vase which is round, while in the sculptures of the Gandhara school the vase is oval or pointed in shape.
The early Mongolian images of Maitreya are also generally standing and hold in their hands, forming 'argument' and 'charity' mudra, the stems of flowers called 'campa', which, however, in the bronzes often resembles the lotus-flower. If painted, the campa is white with a yellow centre.
In Tibet, Maitreya is also represented both as Buddha and Bodhisattva. As Buddha, he has short curly hair, the ushnisha, urna, and long-lobed ears. He wears the monastic garment, with the right shoulder bare, and the hands are in dharmacakra mudra. He is seated, but the legs, instead of being locked, are both pendent, and the feet may be unsupported. He is the only divinity in the Northern Buddhist pantheon represented seated in European fashion. (PI. xv, fig. b.)
As Bodhisattva, he may be also seated with the legs closely locked, which, according to M. Foucher, 59 was possibly his attitude in the Tushita heaven when teaching the Arhats; but as Bodhisattva he is usually seated in European fashion with each foot resting on a small lotus-flower asana. (v. PL xv, fig. a.) He is represented as an Indian prince with all the Bodhisattva ornaments, and in the crown is generally a stupa-sh&ped ornament which is his distinctive mark, but he may be without a crown and have the stupa in his hair. His hands are in dharmacakra mudra and may be holding the stems of flowers supporting his two symbols, the vase and the wheel, on a level with his shoulders. (PL xv, fig. c.) He may be seated on a throne supported by lions and have five Dhyani Buddhas in the nimbus. (PL xiv.)
He may have an antelope skin over his left shoulder, in which case he is generally standing. His hands are in vitarka and vara mudra, and he either carries the vase, or the two symbols — vase and wheel — are supported by lotus-flowers on a [Page 22] level with each shoulder. It is in this latter attitude that he is represented in the group of 'eight Bodhisattva'. He never carries the wheel, which is always supported by a lotus-flower.
When the stupa is not well defined in the crown and he is standing with the hands in; 'argument' and 'charity' mudra holding the vase, with the antelope skin over the left shoulder, he resembles a form of Padmapani 60 and is extremely difficult to determine. Padmapani' s distinctive mark is a small image of Amitabha in his crown, but it may be missing.
Maitreya's two distinctive marks are a stupa in the crown and a scarf wound around the waist and tied on the left side with the ends falling to the feet; but these may be missing. According to Grunwedel, if all the distinctive marks are missing, one may call this form 'Maitreya', as he is a more popular deity than Padmapani.
The stupa in the crown of Maitreya is thought to refer to the belief that a stupa on Mount Kukkutapada near Bodh-Gaya covers a spot where Kasyapa Buddha is lying. When Maitreya leaves the Tushita heaven, he will go to the mountain, which will open by magic, and Kasyapa will give him the garments of a Buddha. 61
In the Gandhara sculptures, Maitreya was represented much larger than his assistants. According to Hiuen-tsang, there is a statue of Maitreya at Dardu, north of the Punjab, in wood, which is one hundred feet high. It is believed to have been made by an artist whom the Lohan Madhyantika caused, by magic, to mount three times to the Tushita heaven to contemplate the form of Maitreya before carving the statue. 62
The Chinese claim that Maitreya was thirty feet high. According to Edkins, in the province of Che-kiang there is a stone image of Maitreya forty feet high, and still another seventy feet high. At Peking in the Yung-ho-kung, there is a wooden image still higher.
The bronze and stone images of Mi-lo-fo (Maitreya) of the sixth century a.d. are usually standing, with the right hand in abliaya mudra, and the left in vara mudra. In the cave temples of Yun-kang and Long-men there are many examples of Maitreya seated European fashion, but the feet are crossed.
In Japan, he is seated with legs locked, his hands in dhyana mudra holding a vase, and in this form he somewhat resembles the Tibetan Amitayus.
Maitreya is found in a triad with Gautama Buddha and Avalokitesvara, and also with the goddesses, Kurukula and Bhrikutl.
