Maitreya

In the Mahāyāna tradition, the bodhisattva Maitreya features as one of the Eight Close Sons, or Eight Great Bodhisattvas. All Buddhist traditions consider him to be the predicted Buddha of the future era. Various texts present different versions of the previous name of Maitreya and the time frames for Maitreya’s vow to become a teaching Buddha. Regardless of these discrepancies, all traditions stress that his vow was made before a past Buddha, who prophesied his appearance in the far future when the merit of human beings has again improved. The cult of Maitreya (Pali: Metteyya) spread throughout Buddhist Asia,

Pali Tradition

In the Pali discourses, the sole canonical prediction of Maitreya (Pali: Metteyya) is found in the Cakkavattisīhanāda (DN  26), The Discourse of the Wheel-Turning Monarch, where the Buddha describes the cyclical nature of mundane life. He instructs,

And the Blessed One named Metteyya will arise in the world—perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those who wish to train, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed—just as I have arisen today. He will realize with his own insight this world—with its gods, Māras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, gods and humans—and make it known to others, just as I do today. He will teach the Dhamma that’s good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased. And he will reveal a spiritual practice that’s entirely full and pure, just as I do today. He will lead a Saṅgha of many thousand mendicants, just as I lead a Saṅgha of many hundreds today.2

Buddhaghosa, composer of the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification), the most famous Theravāda commentary,  concludes this text with an aspiration to attain liberation after receiving teaching directly from Buddha Metteyya:

And having in my last life seen Metteyya, Lord of Sages, Highest Of persons in the World, and Helper Delighting in all beings’ welfare, And heard that Holy One proclaim The Teaching of the Noble Dhamma, May I grace the Victor’s Dispensation By realizing its highest fruit.³

Pali texts relating the coming of the future Buddha include a commentary on the anonymously composed Anāgatavaṃsa (“Chronicle of the Future [Buddha]”) written by the elder( thera) Upatissa, probably in the 10th century.  This commentary, named the Amatarasadhārā (“The Stream of Deathless Nectar” has been translated and studied by Daniel Stuart.⁴ His work provides another clue to the development and importance of the Metteyya cult within Pali Buddhism. Stuart argues that Upatissa underscores the canonical validity of the Anāgatavaṃsa on multiple occasions in his commentary by stressing that the text was taught by the Buddha himself. He proposes that the emphasis of devotional elements of the cult of the future Buddha may have been influenced by northern, Mahayana texts.
This 10th-century commentary concludes with verses of aspiration by thera Upatissa, who clearly states his own wish to be reborn during the time of Metteyya. Moreover, he declares that he is embracing the career of a bodhisattva, aspiring to complete and unexcelled enlightenment–doing this within the context of the Pali tradition. 
He avers:

“In the future, in the city of Ketumatī, I will be born into the family of a wheel-turner, [and will] see Metteyya, the lord of the world…“[I will be] perfect in moral precepts, [concentration, and discernment] and [will have] united the teaching and its meaning. The King of the Dharma [will] prophesy [my buddhahood, saying]: ‘This one will be a Buddha.’… 〉 “like a wishing tree for beings, [I] will fulfill the perfections, mount the seat of awakening, and become an unexcelled Buddha.⁵

Maitreya in Early Mahayana Texts: Central Asia

The Ārya Maitreya-Vyākaranam, or the “Prophecy of the Noble Maitreya,” is an example of a prophetic text, a text predicting the eventual enlightenment of a bodhisattva. The Sanskrit term vyākaraṇa (Tibetan lung ten), assigned to the title of the text, identifies it as a sub-genre of texts describing the lives of the Buddha and bodhisattvas.  Within the last decades, fragments of this manuscript have been found in Mes Aynak (in modern Afghanistan) and in Gilgit (in modern Pakistan). These early fragments predate the more complete manuscripts from Nepal, Tibet, and China. Modern scholars are still working to determine the particular school affiliation. Although the work was most probably not considered to be canonical, it seems to have been a popular text that was translated and disseminated across a vast area. It is unclear as to whether the text was only transmitted by Mahayana Buddhists, and only certain of the texts classify it as a Mahayana sutra.⁶

Another important source of information about Maitreya is the Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka, “The Encounter with Maitreya”, a drama about the life of the buddha-to-be. The text exists in fragments in Tocharian A, an archaic Indo-European language from central Asia (near modern Xīnjiāng). Another related text is found in Old Turkic/Uigur, with the name Maitrisimit. It appears that the full text had 28 chapters, or acts, and the fragments indicate that it was a piece that was performed publicly.⁷ Modern scholars emphasize the importance of the Maitreya cult in central Asia, but there is much work still to be done on its origins. 

Chinese Texts and The Maitreya Cult

Six sūtras in the Chinese canon relate to Maitreya (Taishō 452–57). These are:

• The Sutra on the Descending Birth of Maitreya (T.453:421a:421a–423c), translated by Dharmarakṣa (230?–316 CE)
• The Sutra on the Descending Birth of Maitreya (T.454:423c-425c), translated by Kumārajīva (344–413)
• The Sutra on Maitreya’s Descending Birth and Becoming Buddha (T.455:426a–428b), translated by Yijing (635–713 CE)
• The Sutra on Maitreya Becoming Buddha (T.456:428b–434b), translated by Kumārajīva
• The Sutra on the Visualization of Maitreya Bodhisattva’s Ascending Birth in Tuṣita Heaven (T.452:418b–420c), translated by Juqu Jingsheng (?–464).
• The Sutra on the Time of Maitreya’s Arrival (T.457:434b–435a), translator unknown 

In The Sutra on the Descending Birth of Maitreya, the elder Śāriputra asked the Buddha to explain how sentient beings in the future will be able to meet the Buddha Maitreya. In an extensive answer, the Buddha instructs that in the future, due to the merit of sentient beings, Maitreya will be born in the peerless, beautiful, joyful city of Ketumatī. Giving rise to renunciation based on the realization of impermanence, Maitreya surveys the assembly of beings who have gathered to hear him teach. He reflects,

Not for the sake of being born into pleasures of the heavens, not for the sake of the pleasures of the world, have they come to me, but only for the sake of the perpetual joy of nirvana. They have all planted various good seeds within the Buddha Dharma. Śākyamuni sent them to me, so they have all come to me today. I now receive them. Some of them, through the recitation and analysis of the Sutra, Vinaya, Abhidharma (i.e., Tripiṭaka) and the practice of these merits, have come to me. Others, having given food and clothing in alms, held to the precepts, and gained wisdom through practicing these meritorious acts, have come to me. Others, having offered flags, flowers, and incense, paid homage to buddhas, and practicing these meritorious acts, have come to me. Others have given alms, observed the lay precepts, and cultivated compassion, and with these merits they have come to me. Others, having made afflicted people happy, through practicing this meritorious act have come to me. Others who held the precepts, practiced patience, and demonstrated taintless compassion, with these merits have come to me. Others gave alms to the monks for their daily sustenance and sponsored religious observances where food offerings are made to the sangha, and with these meritorious acts have come to me. Others held the precepts, studied extensively, and attained untainted wisdom by means of meditation, and through these merits have come to me. Still others built stupas and performed rituals to the sacred relics (śarīras), and with these merits have come to me. Praise to Śākyamuni Buddha! In all these ways, you have guided these countless beings to me today”.

Tibetan Tradition

In the Tibetan tradition, a number of texts were directly translated from the Chinese into Tibetan. Unique among these is the The Noble Sūtra “The Bodhisattva Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy”. In this discourse, the topic is the ascent of Maitreya into Tuṣita Heaven, the “Heaven of Joy”. In this sutra, the Buddha answers a question from an elder monk about the rebirth of Maitreya into the Heaven of Joy as his last step before attaining enlightenment. The Buddha says,

“Upāli, take heed and listen. Since the Thus-Gone One is omniscient, I have prophesied that within this retinue, the bodhisattva great being Maitreya will fully awaken to unsurpassed and perfect buddhahood. Twelve years from now, he will pass away and undoubtedly take birth in the Heaven of Joy.” ⁹

The Buddha goes on to explain that his own students who are diligent in accumulating merit will gain rebirth into the Heaven of Joy, where they will come face-to-face with Maitreya and receive additional teachings. After that, they will be reborn into Jambudvīpa, and there they will hear his Dharma dispensation. Moreover, they “will come face-to-face with all the future buddhas of this present eon, as well as all the buddhas in as many other eons as there are stars in the sky. In the presence of all those buddhas, they will receive prophecies of their own awakening.”¹⁰

According to Tibetan tradition, the story of Maitreya’s aspiration to become a buddha is told in the Bhaiṣajya­vastu, the sixth chapter of the Vinayavastu.¹¹ There, he makes the aspiration to attain perfect enlightenment before The Perfectly Awakened One, the Buddha  Ratnaśikhin.

Another version of Maitreya’s aspiration is found in the Maitreya­prasthāna, “Maitreya’s Setting Out”. In this text, the Buddha tells the story of the monk Dṛḍhamati, who gave rise to the mind of enlightenment in the far distant past:

…the blessed one, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Ratnacchatra, rejoiced and made this prophecy: ‘Throughout the entire succession of his deaths, transmigrations, and rebirths in cyclic existence, this bodhisattva, this monk Dṛḍhamati, will be known everywhere as the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, and he will keep the same name when he reaches awakening. In the world, within the gathering of an immeasurable saṅgha of hearers and of sentient beings endowed with all the bliss of the buddha field of the Buddha Ratnavyūha, he will become the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Maitreya.’¹²

The great variety of references across traditions indicates the importance of the cult of Maitreya across the Buddhist world. The aspiration to be reborn and receive teachings from the future Buddha mirrors his own path to awakening and has served as a model and inspiration for practitioners throughout history. 

Additional Resources:

The Iconography of the Future Buddha Maitreya is discussed in this short video from Himalayan Art Resources.

Footnotes :

1. For an overview of the different names, particularly the conflation of the disciple Ajita with Maitreya, see Seishi Karashima, “Ajita and Maitreya: More evidence of the early Mahāyāna scriptures’ origins from the Mahāsāṃghikas and a clue as to the school-affiliation of the Kanaganahalli-stūpa”, in: ARIRIAB (Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University), vol. 21 (2018): 181~196.
2. The translator notes that this is the only Pali Sutta that mentions Metteya. Mention of future buddhas in general is accepted and occurs elsewhere in the Pali canon as well as in Mahāyāna texts. For a scholarly analysis from a modern scholar of the Theravada point of view, see Bhikkhu Anālayo, ‘Maitreya and the Wheel-turning King’, Asian Literature and Translation Vol. 2, No. 7 (2014) 1–29.
3. Bhadantácariya Buddhaghosa, Visuddhimagga, (The Path of Purification), Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli . p. 747.  Note that the translator specifies this is found in the Sinhalese texts.
4. Daniel Stuart, The Stream of Deathless Nectar The Short Recension of the Amatarasadhārā of the Elder Upatissa A Commentary on the Chronicle of the Future Buddha Metteyya With a Historical Introduction, Lumbini International Research Institute Bangkok and Lumbini 2017.
5. Ibid., verses 24.5.3 and 24.5.16 , p. xliii.
6. DiSimone, Charles. “Manuscript Discoveries at Mes Aynak.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (2023): n. pag. Web.
7.  Kumamoto, Hiroshi. “The Maitreya-Samiti and Khotanese.” gengo.lu-tokyo.ac.jp (2002): n. pag. Print.
8. The Sutra That Expounds the Descent of Maitreya Buddha and His Enlightenment, Skt. *Maitreyavyākaraṇa, translated by Kumārajīva into the Chinese as Mile xiasheng chengfo jing (彌勒下生成佛經). Translator(s): Shōtarō Iida and Jane Goldstone, Taishō 454.
9. The Noble Sūtra “The Bodhisattva Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy”, 1.5
10. Ibid., 1.25.
11. Vinaya­vastuni Bhaiṣajya­vastu, “The Chapter on Medicines” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline , 3.200-202.
12. Maitreya­prasthāna, The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Maitreya’s Setting Out”,1.123