2. Updated Mar 2010
Buddhist Association of Canada
Cham Shan Temple
ná mó fó tuó
南 無 佛 陀
Namo Buddha
ná mó dá mó
南 無 達 摩
Namo Dharma
ná mó sēng qié
南 無 僧 伽
Namo Sangha
35. • Maitreya (Srt), Metteyya (Pāli), is foretold as a future
Buddha of this world.
• He is referred as Ajita Bodhisattva in Amitabha Sutra
and the Lotus Sutra
• Name literally means The Loving One - Bodhisattva
Maitreya (Chin: Mileh-fo) is often depicted as a fat,
laughing monk whose belly some considered auspicious to
rub.
• He is also referred to as The Monk with the
Cloth Bag.
36. . Maitreya will be a successor of the historic Śākyamuni
Buddha. The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya
references a time when the Dharma will have been
forgotten on Jambudvipa (as the locus of human existence
) 閻浮洲, 贍部洲, 譫浮洲, and 南贍部洲.
37.
38.
39. • Maitreya currently resides in the Tuṣita Heaven ,
said to be reachable through meditation.
• Tuṣita (Skt) is one of the six deva-worlds of the
Kāmadhātu (desire realm), located between the
Yāma heaven and the Nirmāṇarati heaven.
40. Three principal scriptures of the Maitreya sect 彌
勒三部經 :
• Contemplation of Maitreya Bodhisattva Ascending to
the Tusita Heaven Sūtra
彌勒上生經
• Contemplation of Sūtra on the Descent of Maitreya
彌勒下生經
• Buddha pronounces the Sutra of Maitreya’s great
attainment of Buddha hood
佛說彌勒大成佛經
41. • He descends from Tusita heaven and takes birth in the city
of Ketuma. He will rule over Ketuma Pure Land (associated
with the Indian city of Varanasi).
• Maitreya Bodhisattva, seeing the evanescence and
impermanence of the treasure platform, will know that all
saṁskṛta dharmas will perish. Training Himself to remember
impermanence, Maitreya Bodhisattva will praise past
Buddhas as the cool nectar, with a stanza on impermanence:
All processes are impermanent,
Which are the dharma of birth and death.
Having ended birth and death,
Nirvāṇa is delight!
• After speaking these verses, he renounces from family life
to learn the way to Buddha hood.
42. • He will renounce family life in the morning and, that
evening, will subjugate the four kinds of māras and
attain anuttara-samyak-saṁbodhi under Dragon-flower
three. He will then speak in verse:
Long thinking of the suffering of sentient beings
And wanting to rescue them, I was unable to do so.
Today I have attained bodhi.
Suddenly, obstructions are no more.
I have verified the emptiness of sentient beings
And the true reality of their original nature.
My sorrow and suffering nevermore,
My lovingkindness and compassion are unconditional.
43. For the sake of rescuing you all,
I have given to innumerable people
My kingdom, my head, my eyes,
My hands, my feet, and my wife.
Beginning today are my liberation
And the unsurpassed great silence and stillness.
I will expound them to you all
And widely open the Sweet Nectar Way.
Such fruition of great reward
Is all born from perfection in the six pāramitās,
Such as almsgiving, observing precepts, and developing
wisdom,
And is acquired from great lovingkindness and compassion
As well as from untainted merit.
44. Three dragon-flower assembly 龍華 3會
or three Maitreya’s assembly
(To preach the Buddha truth and deliberate the Sentient
beings who have not been deliberated during Sakyamunia’s
era)
• The first assembly teach the sentient beings who have
taken 5 precepts.
• The second assembly teach s. who have taken the refuge in
triple gem.
• The third assembly teach s.b. who have uttered the words
“Namo Buddhaya” (means taking refuge in the Buddha).
45. Kalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning an aeon, or a
relatively long period of time (by human calculation) in
Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.
• Maha-Kalpa – A great Kalpa or aeon. A great kalpa
begin from the beginning of a universe till it is destroyed
and another begins in its place. It has 4 periods:
• Creation or formation period.
• The appearance of sun and moon, light and the period of life,
human and general. It is the continuation of the formed
world
• Destruction period, first by earth, then water, then fire,
then deluge then a great wind and world dissolution
• total destruction, gradually reaching the void.
46. Five treatises of Maitreya
The Dasabodhisatta-uddesa and Anagatavamsa both give
instructions on what people must do if they are to meet Buddha
Metteyya.
• Practise three teachings (sasana): give gifts (dana), observe
morality (sila), and cultivate development of the mind (bhavana).
• These three actions are the basis of meritorious action (punna).
Through these actions a person can be assured of rebirth in the
higher planes of existence
• Developing the mind leads to the temporary purity attained
through the Jhana states. But it can also lead to insight
(Vipassana) and true liberation.
The first 4 of the 1,000 Buddhas of the present Worthy Kalpa are Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa, and Śākyamuni.
The Buddhist cosmology divides the bhūmaṇḍala (circle of the earth) into three separate levels: Kāmadhātu (Desire realm), Rūpadhātu (Form realm), and Ārūpyadhātu (Formless realm). In the Kāmadhātu is located Mount Sumeru which is said to be surrounded by four island-continents. "The southernmost island is called Jambudvīpa". The other three continents of Buddhist accounts around Sumeru are not accessible to humans from Jambudvīpa. Jambudvīpa is shaped like a triangle with a blunted point facing south. In its center is a gigantic Jambu tree from which the continent takes its name, meaning "Jambu Island".
Maitreya is typically pictured seated, with either both feet on the ground or crossed at the ankles, on a throne, waiting for his time.
Bodhisattva Maitreya (Chin: Mileh-fo) is often depicted as a fat, laughing monk whose belly some considered auspicious to rub.He is also referred to as The Monk with the Cloth Bag.
Who has heard the names of Buddhas and made obeisance and offerings, one’s karma hindrances will all be annihilated. If one has also heard of Maitreya Buddha’s great lovingkindness, one will achieve a pure mind. You all should join your palms single-mindedly and take refuge in the great loving-kind, compassionate one to come.the center of 84,000 small cities made of treasures, which serve as its satellites