The pantheon · The Six Realms of Rebirth
Maitreya
彌勒 · Mile (Wade-Giles: Mi-lo)
Buddhist
The Future Buddha
The buddha-to-be who waits in the Tushita heaven and will one day descend to teach the dharma anew, when the teachings of the present age have been forgotten.
- Portfolio
- the future age · the coming dharma · loving-kindness · hope
- Observance
- In Chinese temples the Budai form of Maitreya is celebrated on the first day of the lunar new year, and his smiling image commonly greets visitors at the temple gate throughout the year.
How to recognise them
In classical Buddhist art Maitreya is a dignified bodhisattva, often seated in a distinctive pose with one ankle resting on the opposite knee and a hand raised to the cheek in contemplation, waiting for his time. This is quite different from the rotund, laughing figure many Westerners picture, which is a later Chinese form discussed below.
Maitreya (Mi-lo, 彌勒) is the buddha of the future. His Sanskrit name comes from maitri, 'loving-kindness,' which is why his Chinese title, Cishi, means 'the Loving One.' Buddhist tradition holds that he currently abides as a bodhisattva in the Tushita heaven, awaiting the far-distant age when the teachings of the present Buddha, Shakyamuni, have completely vanished from the world.
When that time comes, tradition says, Maitreya will be born into the world, attain buddhahood, and teach the dharma afresh to a humanity that has lost it. Because he represents renewal and hope, his cult has periodically inspired movements anticipating a coming golden age. Devotees who aspire to be reborn in his presence hope to hear the dharma directly from the next Buddha's mouth.
In China a second image grew up beside the dignified bodhisattva. Budai (Pu-tai) was a jovial, big-bellied wandering monk of the tenth century, remembered for his cloth sack and open laughter. Popular devotion came to regard him as an incarnation of Maitreya, and his image was installed at temple entrances. Over time this cheerful figure — not the meditating bodhisattva — became the face most people recognise.
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Written from
- Maitreya, the Future Buddha — Alan Sponberg and Helen Hardacre (eds.), 1988
- Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting Sects in Late Traditional China — Daniel L. Overmyer, 1976
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