MAITREYA

Maitreya is the bodhisattva anticipated by all Buddhists traditions to become the next buddha of this world, Jambudv?pa. Currently dwelling in the Tusita heaven, Maitreya awaits rebirth at that time in the distant future when ??kyamuni Buddha's dispensation will have been completely forgotten.

Depicted as both bodhisattva and future buddha, Maitreya is frequently portrayed sitting Western-style with legs pendant, sometimes with ankles crossed. Another distinctive iconic attribute is a miniature st?pa or funerary mound placed at the front of his head, recalling the legend that ??kyamuni Buddha's disciple Mah?k??yapa remains suspended in meditation beneath a st?pa, awaiting Maitreya, to whom he will present ??kyamuni's robe and alms bowl, thus establishing the transmission of authority from one buddha to the next. East Asian Buddhists also recognize Maitreya in a particularly graceful form as the bodhisattva appearing in the lovely "pensive prince" pose and also as the "laughing buddha" ubiquitously encountered in the entryway of Chinese monasteries (and restaurants), the latter form based on the semihistorical sixth-century monk Putai, who was especially loved for his kindness to children.

A devotional cult focusing on Maitreya developed very early in India, later becoming especially prominent in Central Asia and China during the fifth and sixth centuries. Devotees sought to secure rebirth in Tusita, first to benefit from Maitreya's teaching there, and later to join him during his tenure as the next buddha. Although eventually eclipsed in East Asia by the more popular Amit?bha cult, anticipation of Maitreya's golden age continued to erupt periodically in millenarian movements that were intensely devotional and occasionally political as well.

See also:Buddha(s); Millenarianism and Millenarian Movements

Bibliography

Lancaster, Lewis. "Maitreya." In The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade, vol. 9. New York: Macmillan, 1987.

Sponberg, Alan, and Hardacre, Helen, eds. Maitreya, the Future Buddha. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Alan Sponberg