The Buddha to Come, The Future Buddha
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Dear friends,
If you enjoy travelling, these are some of the places I recommend you to visit. It is extremely important to take time out from our busy schedules to go on pilgrimage to visit holy places and see sacred images of the Buddhas.
Everything we see leaves an imprint in our mind stream, therefore it is the same with seeing Buddha images. Some of us may not have the karmic affinity to practice Dharma in this life, but that imprint that was imbedded into our mind stream will be carried on to all our future lives. Then, when the right time comes, it will create a cause for us to meet and practice Dharma again.
This website contains some very important and special Buddha statues. I hope people who come across this will have the affinity to see these statues for themselves and eventually meet and learn from the future Buddha, Maitreya, when the time comes.
Tsem Rinpoche
The Buddha to Come (Sutra)
The Future-Buddha Maitreya, Diskit monastery, Himalayas (MickeySuman/flickr)
Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Amber Larson (eds.) Wisdom Quarterly; “The Wheel-turning Emperor” (Cakkavatti Sutra, DN 26) Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff, trans.); G.P. Malalasekera; Wiki
This sutra consists of a narrative illustrating the power of skillful karma. In the past, unskillful behavior was unknown among humans.
As a result, people lived for an immensely long time — as long as 80,000 years [which is likely a stereotype rather than literal number signifying an extraordinarily long time, an ayu-kalpa, an average lifespan within a larger cycle, an incalculable or innumerable] — endowed with great beauty, wealth, pleasure, and strength.
The Giant Buddha of Leshan, China (Qasimism/flickr.com).
Over the course of time, however, they began behaving in various unskillful ways. This caused the gradual shortening of the human life span, to the point where it now stands at 100 years, with human beauty, wealth, pleasure, and strength decreasing proportionately.
In the future, as morality continues to degenerate, human life will continue to shorten to the point were the normal life span will be just 10 years, with people reaching sexual maturity at five.
Leshan head and tourists (Joegwolf/flickr).
“Among those human beings, the Ten Courses of Action (AN 10.176) will have entirely disappeared… The word “skillful” will not exist, so from where will there be anyone who does what is skillful?
Those who lack the honorable qualities of motherhood, fatherhood, shraman (wandering ascetic)-hood, and Brahmin-hood will be the ones who receive homage… Fierce hatred will arise, fierce malevolence, fierce rage, and murderous thoughts: mother for child, child for mother, father for child, child for father, brother for sister, sister for brother.”
Maitreya (Dboo/flickr.com)
Ultimately, conditions will deteriorate to the point of a “sword-interval,” in which swords appear in the hands of all human beings, and they will hunt one another like game. A few people, however, will take shelter in the wilderness to escape the carnage. And when the slaughter is over, they will come out of hiding and resolve to take up a life of skillful and virtuous action again.
With the recovery of virtue, the human life span will gradually increase again until it reaches a very long time (listed as 80,000 years), with people attaining sexual maturity at 500 [another number that literally means “a large number” instead of 500].
The Friend
Maitreya (Kushan)
The Sanskrit name Maitreya (Metteyya in Pali) is derived from the Sanskrit word Maitri (Pali metta) which means “loving-kindness.” This term is in turn derived from the noun mitra (Pali mitta) in the sense of “friend.”
Maitreya is typically pictured seated, with either both feet on the ground or crossed at the ankles, on a throne, waiting for his time. He is dressed in the clothes of either a bhikshu or Indian royalty. As a bodhisattva, he would usually be standing and dressed in jewels. Usually he wears a small stupa in his headdress that represents the stupa of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s relics to help him identify it when his turn comes to lay claim to his succession, and can be holding a Dharmachakra (wheel of life) resting on a lotus. A khata (ceremonial scarf) is always tied around his waist as a girdle.
The Stupa on his head was actually seen by disciples when Maitreya received teachings from his master Buddha Shakyamuni as a sign of his outstanding devotion. That is the reason why he is pictured with a Stupa either on his head or in his hands. Also the original Stupa was a crystal one, which stands for the purity of his devotion.
In the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, in the first centuries CE in northwestern India, Maitreya is represented as a Central Asian or northern Indian noble (kshatriya caste, warrior, ruler, royalty), holding a “water phial” (kumbha) in his left hand. Sometimes this is a “wisdom urn.”
The Future Buddha
One of the most beautiful representations of the Future Buddha, the second most important figure in populist Mahayana Buddhism. Kwan Yin, like the Virgin Mary in Catholicism, is the most important. Thikse monastery, Ladakh, Buddhist India, Himalayas (WQ).
Only three diseases will be known at that time: desire, lack of food, and old age. Another buddha — Metteyya (Sanskrit, “Maitreya”) — will gain enlightenment and have a Sangha [a monastic community of monks, nuns, and novices] numbering in the thousands.
Future largest Buddha statue, India.
Maitreya is regarded as the future buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Mahayana Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva. He is the bodhisattva, or buddha-to-be, who in Buddhist tradition will be reborn on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and again make known the liberating Dharma unique to buddhas.
According to sutras he is the immediate successor of the historic Shakyamuni Buddha. The prophecy of his arrival refers to a time when the Dharma will have been forgotten by most on Jambudvipa [more likely a reference to this planet or region in space than to the subcontinent of India]. It is found in the canonical literature of all major Buddhist schools (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana), and is accepted by most Buddhists as a statement about an event that will take place when the Dharma will have been mostly forgotten on Earth.
The greatest ruler of the time, King Sankha, will go forth into homelessness and attain arhatship under Metteyya’s guidance.
The story, after chronicling the ups and downs of human wealth, life span, and so on, concludes with the following lesson on karma and skillful action.
…”Meditators, live with yourself as your island, yourself as your guide (not refuge), with nothing else as your guide. Live with the Dharma as your island, the Dharma as your guide, with nothing else as your guide. [To this might well be added the noble-Sangha, those who have successfully followed the Buddha’s ennobling Dharma and gained one or more of the stages of enlightenment. These three — Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha — are regarded as the Three Precious Jewels of tradition].
This may also be translated as: “Live with dharma [rather than the Dharma, the Teaching, the Doctrine] as your island, mental phenomena as your guide, with nothing else as your guide.” Dhamma has many meanings, one in particular is phenomena. Another more common definition in India is “social obligations” or “duties” (as opposed to karma, which are one’s personal choices for action). The Buddha, a karmavadin, or teacher-of-karma, was not recommending one simply do whatever one feels like, but to live in accordance with Truth, with justice, in harmony with others.
Mountain-size “Giant Buddha” of Leshan’s foot photographed from stairway that leads toward base of the statue that stands 253 feet (77 meters), making it the largest stone Buddha in the world — even larger than the known monoliths in Afghanistan, where the Buddha was likely born and where a larger reclining Buddha remains be discovered). It is carved into the Chinese cliff face facing Mt. Emei in the distance (Andrew MacDonald).
“And how does one with oneself as island, oneself as guide, with nothing else as guide; with the Dharma as island, the Dharma as guide, with nothing else as guide?
“There is the case where a meditator remains focused on the body in and of itself — ardent, alert, and mindful — putting aside greed and grief with regard to the world. One remains focused on feelings (sensations) in and of themselves… mind (process of consciousness) in and of itself… mental qualities in and of themselves — ardent, alert, and mindful — putting aside greed and grief with regard to the world. [We stop here because Maitreya is not mentioned again, and why is that? The suggestion is that it is because this sutra was never really about Maitreya. See commentary below.]
Commentary
R. Gombrich (ahandfulofleaves.org)
Doubt about this discourse: Metteyya (Sanskrit Maitreya) is mentioned in the Cakavatti (Sihanada) Sutta (DN 26) of the Pali Canon. He appears in no other sutra in the Pali Canon, and this has cast doubt as to the sutra’s authenticity.
Most of the Buddha’s discourses are presented as having been presented in answer to a question, or in some other appropriate context. But this sutra has a beginning and ending in which the Buddha is talking to monastics about something totally different. This leads Gombrich to conclude that either the whole sutra is apocryphal (of unknown origin), or that it has at least been tampered with (Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, pp. 83-85).
Source: http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.my/2014/08/the-buddha-to-come-sutra.html
For more interesting information:
- Gal Vihara: The Stone Temple of Sri Lanka
- Giritale, Sri Lanka (site of the replica Avukana Buddha)
- Leshan Giant Buddha
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Merely seeing Buddha images will definitely leave us an imprint in our mind stream. As advice by our Lama Tsem Rinpoche it is extremely important to go on pilgrimage to visit holy places and see sacred images of the Buddhas. I am fortunate to visit pilgrimage sites with friends , seeing is believing looking at some of the beautiful scared images of Buddha. To meet Rinpoche and practice Dharma on line in this life time, is a fortune for me. Well we have to learn and practice Buddha Dharma now, before its too late, create the causes for this life and future life to come and able to meet Maitreya the next Buddha to come. Interesting read about the next Buddha Maitreya.
Thank you Rinpoche for this important sharing.
Pictures of the holy places and sacred images of the Buddhas are awesome. I am always fascinated with such places . It is always nice to visit pilgrimage sites from different parts of the world to see the different types of Buddha images.
Looking towards the coming of Buddha Maitreya in the future, we should now create the causes to be reborn near to Buddha Maitreya to have the merits to serve the Dharma to benefit many beings.
Thanks for the beautiful article .
Seeing Buddha images will leaves us an imprint in our mind stream. Well since young I always loves to see images of Buddha and true enough it it happened. It have created a cause for me to meet and practice Dharma in this life time. I am fortunate to learn and practice dharma from blogs. I have Rinpoche to thank having this dharma teaching on line which I truly appreciate with folded hands. Glad to have come across this old post about the future Buddha to come …..Maitreya. According to Buddhist scripture, Maitreya will be a successor of Gautama who will appear on Earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure Dharma. Interesting read.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Dear Rinpoche,
From this article I have learned how the future of human life would be. Seem it become worst as the dharma degenerate. Come to think about that, it is quite true, look at today’s modern world, more things appear to lure us from practice dharma and advancing in our spiritual path. Without dharma knowledge, people will move towards their desire. Thus, age to survive becoming short and peoples seem to kill without worry on the returning of karma.
Looking at myself, it is high possibility I will met that kind of scary future and be in the stage where people degenerate without dharma, killing each other. It is very scary to think about that. ?? Thus, how much merits have I collected this life, it is sufficient for me to met with dharma in my next future life? It is so true which stated in Lamrim, to know our future life, look at how we live pass this life.
Thus, it is precious to be able to learn and practice dharma this life. How fortunate I am . Rinpoche have gave us a precious treasure.
I pray that , May I always be in Dharma, may more peoples learn and practice dharma well. May all sentient being become Buddha fast.
Thank you Rinpoche
With folded hand, Love
Freon?
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article.
It helps me understand the Future Buddha Maitreya better. It also gives us a good insight of what and how the future will be when there is no more Dharma. Most people choose to be ignorant, big ego, desire for comfort and pleasure and attachments not easily let go. Without Dharma, the human species will suffer. Feeling blessed that there is still hope for the future with the emergence of Maitreya Buddha when the right time comes.
Pictures of the holy places and sacred images of the Buddhas are awesome. I am always fascinated with such places and images. Before I came to understand Dharma, I believed having the opportunity to visit holy places and seeing Buddha images is not by chance. With Dharma knowledge, I now know it is not by chance. We planted seeds in our past lives to be connected again in this lifetime and hopefully we all have enough merits to be reconnected in our future lives.
Thank you Rinpoche for your continuous teaching _/\_
Thank you Rinpoche for researching, teaching and sharing of what will become of humans in the generations to come. With this foretelling our future, we have to start our Dharma without delay and do the preliminaries quickly. There is no time left. If we were to die today, I can imagine our mind (which is not strong Dharma-wise), we may not meet Guru or Dharma again in our next life, which will lead us deeper into samsara, and eventually into the state of affairs as described – we will continue to suffer until Maitreya comes and slowly the humans will wake up to take the righteous path.
Imagine the sufferings life after life, after life…….. it is very, very tormenting.
Thank you Your Eminence.
Lum Kok Luen
This article paints a scary picture of what will become of humans in the future owing to the continued degeneration of humans and our decline in morality. There will come a time when the human lifespan will be reduced to a mere ten years. Dharma will have been all but forgotten then.Then Maitreya Buddha will come to teach the Dharma again to release beings from suffering.
Now why should we wait passively for this to happen to suffer the dreadful consequences? Why don’t we practice the Dharma NOW. We have the best of conditions to do so, when we have the Guru , our Spiritual Guide, to teach us the Dharma directly and to guide us? Let our Guru be our guide and follow his instructions. He will tailor these instructions to align them with our needs. His main aim is to free us from suffering and the causes of our suffering. We have to trust him. Practice the Dharma now. Practice strong Guru Devotion and we will create the causes to be close to our Guru and the Dharma in this and our future lives.
At this present age where Dharma is degenerating and people are getting less and less of Buddha’s teachings and are more attached to this samsaric world. People are more attached to their present life and do not care or think of their future life. It is feared that the life span of human may reduce to only 10 years and sexuality maturity at 5 years.
Look at the newspaper everyday people are killing each other rape, robbery, kidnapping crime etc..There is no respect of humanity, care, love of mankind.
This is where Dharma have to comes in to change the mindset of human kind. We are very lucky that Rinpoche has come here to build KFR so that we can come to learn and practice the Buddha Dharma. This is also for us to accumulate merits so that we can meet Maitreya the next Buddha to come.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article about Maitreya. It is always nice to visit pilgrimage sites from different parts of the world to see the different types of Buddha images. The current era that we are living are already degenerating. People’s minds are full of ego, desire and attachments. When I read about this post, I feel there’s still hope to turn the situation around with the help of the Future Buddha and fellow Sangha. The circle of suffering needs an exit, and Buddha will show us the way. Thank you Rinpoche and writers for sharing this beautiful write up _/\_
I do remember a teaching from Rinpoche, he mentioned if we happen to have missed the boat in gaining enlightenment during Buddha Shakyamuni’s time, if we practice the Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa we can be connected with Maitreya too in the future.
Still, it is wonderful if we can be enlightened sooner than later of course. The time between Buddha Shakyamuni and the emergence of Maitreya has not be fully determined yet. And those in between times seem to be quite a dark age, so best to practice as much as we can now to the best of our ability.
Before the the future Buddha comes, we should strive to practice Dharma as much as possible, don’t let any of them slip away. Have some Dharma seeds in our minds, and they will sprout whenever it’s mature, but we should do our parts not just wait them to come automatically.
The worst part of life comes in when we think that we have time. – Buddha
Don’t wait for the light, be the light. – Tsem Rinpoche
The Buddha to Come, The Future Buddha is Maitreya. Maitreya is now in Tushita Heaven and he is teaching the Dharma until it is time for him to come to earth. There have been Buddhas before Buddha Shakyamuni but they did not teach.
We are extremely fortunate to meet the Dharma and hear Dharma teachings as it is very rare and it is very rare to take a human rebirth. Practicing Dharma, reading and studying it and visiting holy sites will help us to be close to the Dharma in our future lives.
Samsara is degenerating more and more and it is very scary as mentioned in the article. Therefore we need to create the causes to be close to the Dharma in our future lifes and practice to the best of our abilities
.
Is important we need to collect enough merit so in future time, we are able born to meet the future buddha Meitreya and receive his teaching directly.
Is horrible when dharma degenarate, people are losing their morality, full with agreed ,desire and harming each other. As lord Shakyamuni Buddha has prophecy.Meitraya Buddha will return to this earth again , acheive enlightenment. Liberating dharma like Buddha Shakyamuni to help sentient being. We must start now generate merit to meet Meitraya at the future.
Honestly speaking, this post is what beyond us can imagine or even to understand fully. Lifespan from 80,000 years and it drop till now average of 100 years, how many lifetimes we has been taking rebirth and how many more lifetimes we have to take rebirth until we reach the average age of 10 and then until Maitreya come?
How scary when we enter the dark age, Dharma will be forgotten, Buddha’s teaching will disappear, and people will pray for each other and kill each other for own benefit. Killing our family members without hesitation? I can never imagine that. No more taking refuge to the 3 Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) but taking refuge with the 3 Poisons (Greed, Hatred and Ignorant). How far are we till this time? Just compare with the people’s mind 20 years ago and now, how much different people’s mind has degenerated? How much people focus on themselves so much so that until they become so cold and don’t care to the things or people around them? How many times we saw on internet or news saying how people got robbed, people got into accident, kids to beaten up on the street, etc and the passer-by took the phone out to take pic / video instead of helping?
Hence, practice Dharma is so important, Dharma is like a boat in the deep blue sea, in the sea of suffering, whether we can reach the shore will depends on the durability of the boat, so we have to keep maintaining the boat’s condition until we reach the shore, it is the same as Dharma, so now we are in Dharma, so what keep us in Dharma is our merits, we have to keep generate infinite amount of merits until we reach the shore (enlightenment).
I came to know the name of Maitreya Buddha was when I read the book “What Buddhists Believe” written by Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera. It mentioned as follow:
“When the Buddha was about to pass away, The Buddha said:’ I am not the first Buddha to come upon earth; nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in this world, a Holy One, a Supremely Enlightened One, endowed with wisdom, in conduct auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of devas and men. He will reveal to you the same Eternal Truths which I have taught you. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure; such as I now proclaim.’ ‘How shall we know him?’ asked Ananda. The Buddha replied, ‘He will be known as Maitreya which means kindness or friendliness.’
However the most important is we know that Maitreya Buddha will appear as the next Buddha. Therefore is important to lean and practice Dharma in order for us to reborn as human beings in the time of Maitreya Buddha.
I was truly agreed coming generations of mankind will be degrading especially in spiritual path. High technological development may cause increased of the 3 poisons which are the main elimination of human life. It’s pretty sad these people will forever trap in samsara if there isn’t any realization and spiritual attainment in them. In hope, that more people will predispose in Dharma path, get connected with Buddha Maitreya and achieve enlightenment.
It’s a deep thought for me. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article.
As time goes by, we we have been seeing degeneration. Compare things of 20 to 40 years ago, people used to be simpler and less likely to harm others. These days we don’t really trust strangers and some even people around us. As more people indulged in desire, hatred and anger, instead of cultivating these unwanted qualities, over time it is only natural and logical that people will become more scarier. I am still sceptical of people living past 80,000 years old but at the same time I am seeing generally people passing away at a much younger age. May i myself be able to be connected with Buddha Maitreya and be connected with His teachings when His time comes.
I think that was many years ago, i contacted an travel agent ( they call me and email me back ASAP ) from India, and asked me when i want to go Diskit monastery, Himalayas. I was so surprise at tB$hat time, because i don’t have enough money to go for the tour, it’s cost around RM 7 – 8k.
Well.. Till today i still don’t have enough money to go. But in future, i’ll save money to go for this holy place ( B4 i died lah.. LOL ).
My point : The Future-Buddha Maitreya, Diskit monastery, Himalayas. All of us must pay a visit and make a connections with Maitrya Buddha. _/\_
OM MAITREYA MAM SOHA
As mentioned in the article that the arrival of Maitreya will be the time when Dharma will have been forgotten by most of the people. Maitreya will appear as the fifth universal Buddha of this world age and turn the wheel of Dharma for the benefit of all.
Therefore, those of us fortunate enough to have met Rinpoche and learn the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and maintained some level of pure discipline hopefully we able to meet Maitreya in future, learn from him and quickly achieve enlightenment.
I reckon as technology advances, greed increases for mankind. To feed desires, humans most probably would do anything to get what they wanted. Wars may escalate, fueled by the desire to control and the greed to own more. And with the advent of more sophisticated weapons of destruction, the human race may be almost wiped out. Those that managed to survive the holocaust would then emerge to rebuild what would have been destroyed. Perhaps at that time Buddha Maitreya would manifest and humans would then appreciate what Buddha Maitreya would teach.
When I first got to know Maitreya, it was a very interesting ‘story’, of how He will be the Buddha in future and that He will only teach Sutra unlike Buddha Shakyamuni who taught both Sutra and Tantra. What I find amazing is that all these information about Maitreya and the not so distant future, are brought forward till today.
IMO, whatever the future will be, it is foretold, hence instead of thinking of what to do or worry about it, we should focus on now, while we are still in this precious human body, to practice Dharma to the very best that we can until the day we die. Since we cannot yet control where we go after we die, then the more we should focus and practice what we can now so that we are able to bring forward that little merits we accumulated, to sustain our practices in future lives.
As Rinpoche advised Pastor Henry, in our daily dedications, we should always set the following motivation:
May our life be firm and stable to be able to practice Dharma for we may not know when we will have the opportunity again.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article about Maitreya. It is always nice to visit pilgrimage sites from different parts of the world to see the different types of Buddha images. The current era that we are living are already degenerating. People’s minds are full of ego, desire and attachments. They do not see the need to practice Dharma and do not see the importance of getting out of samsara. It is not surprise to see people killing one another before Maitreya arrives because the minds of the people are already degenerating. May all sentient beings eventually be liberated from samsara and gain enlightenment _/\_
With folded palms,
Vivian
Thanks Rinpoche and the blog team for sharing this informative article about Maitreya.
It’s the first time I read about human would degenerate until the lifespan is not more than 10 years old and they are “sword-interval”, which there is sword appear in their hand and slash each other like games. It reminds me of a violence Japanese movie, Battle Royale where there’s no hope in the world but kill.
I believe the degeneration of the human kind is true–look at the rise of materialism now compare to the past.
When I read about this post, I feel there’s still hope to turn the situation around with the help of the Future Buddha and fellow Sangha. The circle of suffering needs an exit, and Buddha will show us the way.
May all sentient beings and I always take rebirth to meet Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Thank you.
It’s wonderful to be able to read about the giant Maitreya Buddhas. The pictures were gorgeous. But, the most important part is that it is prophesied that before Maitreya Buddha comes, there will be a time of chaos, a time of degeneration where humans will live in violence.
It is a bit disconcerting to read that. So, it is important that we do make an effort to learn up the dharma that it not be lost but rather preserved for a time when Maitreya Buddha comes to turn the wheel of dharma again.
As is said in the Sutra of the Buddha to come , human beings will degenerate to such a level that their age span will concordantly decrease to only ten years.This will be the age of darkness , according to the Lamrim,when Lord Buddha’s teachings will die out. After this age of darkness, 4.9 billion human years will elapse before Maitreya Buddha comes.
However, in this fortunate human rebirth we have found the Dharma. We have found our Spiritual Guide and our Dharma centre. We have taken refuge in the Three Jewels. Therefore, it stands to reason that we should not waste this rarest of rare opportunities of meeting with such fortunate circumstances in this optimum human rebirth. It follows that we should seize this opportunity to practice the Dharma and follow the graduated path to freedom and enlightenment, with our Guru as our infallible guide, as we rely on him with full trust and devotion. In this way, we create the cause to meet and study with Maitreya when he appears on earth.Failing to do this, throws us into the path that leads to darkness, chaos and pain, and uncertainty of meeting him when he comes.
We should start creating the connection with Maitreya Buddha, by sowing imprints of his image in our mindstream.We should start creating the causes to meet him, through these imprints in our mindstream. It will be lovely to start going on pilgrimages to view his image as well as those of other Buddhas. How wonderful to behold Maitreya Buddha in such resplendent glory in this huge outdoor image of him. Better still, with the immediacy of web images, visit Maitreya and other buddhas, on this blog!
Thank you Rinpoche, for sharing this article, and for providing all the lovely images of Maitreya Buddha and other Buddhas on this blog.
Degeneration of the Human race is like a downward spiral that does not seem stoppable or are we progressing higher and higher in our way of life and the mental capacities. Even now we do see the differences from one generation to the next. There is definitely scientific and technological progress but are we getting to be more virtuous or not? Depending of the level of our ignorance, what is happening now may be considered good progress or degeneration.
It is only with great wisdom that the ongoing progress can be judged. As we know Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment as a human being and prophesied the coming of the Future Buddha, even without wisdom I trust that we are living into further and deeper degeneration. And we will continue to create negative Karma until we hit bottom, then the Buddhas, ever so compassionate will come to our rescue. It is always said that the Buddhas will never leave until all sentient beings are lifted out of samsara.
Beautiful statues of the Future Buddha to view and be blessed.
Other religions too have very similar prophecies on the future of this world as that spoken by the Buddha. We basically have to hit rock bottom before it can recover and flourish ! This pattern is pretty apparent today; doubt anyone can debate otherwise. The million dollar question is – how do we brace for the worse to come ?
The Buddha, a karmavadin, or teacher-of-karma, was not recommending one simply do whatever one feels like, but to live in accordance with Truth, with justice, in harmony with others.
Looking towards the coming of Buddha Maitreya in the future, we should now create the causes to be reborn near to Buddha Maitreya to have the merits to serve the Dharma to benefit many beings.
The Future Buddha Maitreya is definitely one of the most popular figure seen in most of the Buddhist Monasteries and temples. I had the great fortune to make pilgrimage to The LeShan Giant Buddha in China few years back. The statue was magnificent, I was excited most of time, my eyes were captivated and couldn’t move away from the Buddha statue most of time.
From this article, I have learned that human being will deteriorated over times and dharma is almost completely lost in our world system. Human beings lifespan will be shorten to only 10 years, people generally reached maturity at age of 5. Buddha Maitreya at this time will take rebirth on earth and lead human being to live a virtuous life again, then thru many eons later, human beings lifespan will be extended to 80,000 years, living in good wealth and health. I guest when Buddha Maitreya took rebirth on earth, with the teachings of dharma and practising virtuous life, our planet will be transformed into heaven like places.
These super size statues denote how much faith and closeness of the devotees towards Buddha Maitreya. A lot of time, money and effort taken to produce these masterpieces.
Towards the end of the article, it says that Buddha only mentioned the name of Buddha Maitreya once in a Pali Canon sutra. Wonder why is that so although we often heard people saying future Buddha is the laughing Buddha and this is norm in our culture here?
Thank you Rinpoche
The laughing Buddha is Budai, He is usually identified with or seen as an incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha, so much so that the Budai image is one of the main forms in which Maitreya is depicted in China.(…he is also very popular as a garden ornament here in the West). It would be very auspicious for us to see and recieve teachings from Maitreya the future Buddha when he is here teaching if we don’t end up gaining enlightenment before then. I am suprised that Maitreya was mentioned in the Pali Cannon. I haven’t read all the sutras in it yet but doesn’t that confirm that Maitreya is indeed real, and that he will come one day? That’s two sutras referencing him. 🙂
Similar to how Shakyamuni mentioned or made reference to Amitabha and his Pureland in multiple sutras. In the Taisho Tripitaka, which currently contains 2,184 texts, Amitabha Buddha and his Pure Land are mentioned in approximetly 283 Sutras! The 3 Pure Land Sutras only happen to be the ones that focus entirely on Amitabha Buddha and his Pure Land.