Maitreya

Our celebration of the presence of Lord Maitreya is profound, alive and very much quickened. Although Maitreya comes to us out of the historical setting of Buddhism, for us he is not only the Coming Buddha who has come but also the representative of the Universal Christ.

According to the traditions of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha prophesied to his disciples that after the planet had been steeped in a period of darkness Lord Maitreya would descend to earth to preside over an age of enlightenment. Buddhists today await Maitreya's coming much in the same way that Christians await Jesus' Second Coming.

But whereas Buddhists believe that Maitreya is coming at some future date (some put it at thousands, millions, and even billions of years from now), we affirm that the Ascended Master Maitreya has come and is here today to initiate all who qualify themselves to be his students.

To know and to become Maitreya today, we need to seek and find him in the historical context. While Buddhist texts illumine the character and role of Maitreya, there is no substantive biography of this Bodhisattva become Buddha. Unlike Gautama Buddha, whose historicity is not disputed and whose life story is chronicled in many Buddhist writings, there are no historical dates related to events in the life of Maitreya.

Some writings do describe previous incarnations of Gautama, Maitreya and other bodhisattvas and their interactions with each other. And there are many sutras (discourses of the Buddha) in which Gautama instructs various bodhisattvas, including Maitreya. But these dialogues take place in a spiritual plane that transcends time and space.

As far as Maitreya's relationship with Gautama during the Buddha's final embodiment, except for a few noncanonical works where Maitreya is identified as a disciple of Gautama named Ajita, there is no other reference to Maitreya as a contemporary of Gautama. And apart from the Ajita stories, the works that contain Gautama's prophecy of Maitreya's future Buddhahood do not indicate that Maitreya was in embodiment at the time Gautama made that prediction.

The Ascended Master El Morya has stated that even though the revelation of the specific dates, places and associations of Maitreya prior to his ascension in 531 b.c. would settle much speculation on the subject, it is not the appointed time to release these facts to the world.

Maitreya's Kindness

The name Maitreya is taken from the Sanskrit word maitri (Pali, metta), meaning "kindness," "love," "benevolence," "friendship," "friendliness" or "goodwill." Thus Maitreya has been referred to as the "Loving One" or the "Friendly One," the embodiment of all-encompassing love.

In the Gandavyuha Sutra, which has been described as the "Pilgrim's Progress" of Buddhism, the young pilgrim Sudhana characterizes Maitreya as "the venerable compassionate Maitreya endowed with a great loving heart and undefiled knowledge and intent on benefiting the world." (Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, essays in Zen Buddhism Third Series), ed. Christmas Humphreys (1953; reprint, New York: Samuel Weiser, 1971),p. 124)

Maitreya's Mystery School is known as the Place of Great Encounters, and the greatest encounter a disciple of the Cosmic Christ can hope for is the encounter with Maitreya. And the greatest result one can have from such an encounter is to realize that the Christ of Maitreya is one's True Self. How so?

Maitreya holds the office in the hierarchy of the Great White Brotherhood of representative of the Universal, or Cosmic, Christ; and that Christ individualized is none other than our Holy Christ Self. Thus, when we encounter Maitreya we see personified in him, more than in any other Master, the mirror image of our Holy Christ Self, who is after all our True Self. Conversely, when we behold our beloved Christ Self face to face, we see the image of Maitreya reflected in this our individualization of the God Flame.

It is, therefore, when we embody the same desires, the same longings, the same compassion, the same kindness that Maitreya embodies that we can best realize that the Christ of Maitreya is the Christ of our True Self.

Since the principal virtue of Maitreya is kindness, then if we would be his chelas, it is kindness and caring that we must embody.

There are two aspects to Maitreya's kindness: The yin, which is the quality of sensitivity to the needs of all life and of extending oneself to fulfill those needs, and the yang, which is the steady, even presence of the quality of harmony that allows the God-mastery whereby we may respond to those needs in a practical, compassionate way.

The Roles of the Buddhas

Maitreya, the Coming Buddha, the Future Buddha, plays many roles in the various Buddhist traditions throughout the Far East. Not only is he the guardian of the Dharma but he is also an intercessor and protector, a guru who personally initiates his devotees, a messenger sent by the Eternal Mother to rescue her children, a Messiah who descends when the world is in turmoil to judge the wicked and save the righteous, and last but not least he is the Laughing Buddha.

Another role of Maitreya reflects his wisdom --as well as his skill as a communicator of wisdom--in the language of the heart and in the erudition of the mind. Maitreya was a patron saint of commentators. His aid was sought by Buddhist scholars in India and China who needed help with difficult scriptural passages...

In Korea Maitreya took on roles that in China were normally ascribed to Kuan Yin. He is known as the bestower of children, sons in particular, and is worshiped as a protector of sailors.

In Japan some look to Maitreya as the mediator in relationships between men and women.

Maitreya's retreat

Maitreya maintains his etheric retreat over Tientsin, China, southeast of Peking.

Video: Buddhism--The Potential to Become the Buddha

Maitreya Buddha