What is "maitreya"

Maitreya ( Sanskrit), Metteyya ( Pali), Maithri ( Sinhalese), Jampa or Di-lặc ( Vietnamese), is regarded as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he is referred to as Ajita.

According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha, Gautama Buddha (also known as Śākyamuni Buddha). The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya refers to a time in the future when the dharma will have been forgotten by most on the terrestrial world.

Maitreya has also been adopted for his millenarian role by many non-Buddhist religions in the past, such as the White Lotus, as well as by modern new religious movements, such as Yiguandao.

is the future Buddha in Buddhist eschatology.

may also refer to:

• Maitreya (Mahābhārata), a sage in the Indian epic Mahabharata
• Maitreya (Share International), an organization that claims Maitreya incarnated in the 1970s
• Maitreya (Theosophy), a member of the so-called
• Maitreya-nātha, the reputed co-author of a number of Yogacara Buddhist treatises
• Maitreya Great Tao, a Yiguandao splinter sect founded by Wang Hao-te
• Maitreya teachings, a set of beliefs that developed in China as early as the 6th century CE
• Maitreya Upanishad, one of the minor scriptures of Hinduism
• Akshay Kumar Maitreya, Indian historian and social worker
• Arya Maitreya Mandala, a Tibetan Buddhism Order founded by Anagarika Govinda
• Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Thero, a Sri Lankan monk and scholar
• Sananda Maitreya (fka Terence Trent D'Arby), an American singer-songwriter

1. redirect Share International

The Maitreya or Lord Maitreya is described in Theosophical literature of the late 19th-century and subsequent periods as an advanced spiritual entity and high-ranking member of a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, the so-called Masters of the Ancient Wisdom. According to Theosophical doctrine, one of the Hierarchy's functions is to oversee the evolution of humankind; in accord with this function the Maitreya is said to hold the so-called Office of the World Teacher. Theosophical texts posit that the purpose of this Office is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge about the true constitution and workings of Existence to humankind. Humanity is thereby assisted on its presumed cyclical, but ever progressive, evolutionary path. Reputedly, one way the knowledge transfer is accomplished is by Maitreya occasionally manifesting or incarnating in the physical realm; the manifested entity then assumes the role of World Teacher of Humankind.

The Theosophical concept of Maitreya has many similarities to the earlier Maitreya doctrine in Buddhism. However, they differ in important aspects, and developed differently. The Theosophical Maitreya has been assimilated or appropriated by a variety of quasi-theosophical and non-theosophical New Age and Esoteric groups and movements. These have added, and advanced, their own interpretations and commentary on the subject.

Maitreya was a sage in the epic Mahabharata. His lineage is unknown. He came to the court of Hastinapura to advise Duryodhana to restore the kingdom of the Pandavas, a little while after the sons of Pandu had gone into exile, having been defeated at dice. However, Duryodhana did not even bother to listen to the sage, and showed his disrespect all too plainly. Incensed, the sage cursed him and said, "Fourteen years hence, you shall be destroyed in battle by the Pandavas, along with your kinsmen and all that you hold dear. Bheema shall dispatch you to the abode of Yama, by breaking your thighs with the mace." Some hold that the curse of this sage played a major part in encompassing the destruction of the Kauravas.