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Lord Maitreya: Difference between revisions
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== The historical Maitreya == | == The historical Maitreya == | ||
Maitreya is worshiped in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Japan and throughout Asia, where he is revered by Buddhists as “the Compassionate One” and as the coming Buddha. While Maitreya is accepted by all Buddhists, he does take on a variety of roles in different cultures and religious sects. These roles include the guardian and restorer of the Dharma; intercessor and protector; a guru who personally communes with, initiates and teaches his devotees; a messiah who descends when the world is in turmoil; a messenger sent by the Divine Mother to rescue her children; and the Zen Laughing Buddha. | Maitreya is worshiped in [[Tibet]], Mongolia, China, Japan and throughout Asia, where he is revered by Buddhists as “the Compassionate One” and as the coming Buddha. While Maitreya is accepted by all Buddhists, he does take on a variety of roles in different cultures and religious sects. These roles include the guardian and restorer of the Dharma; intercessor and protector; a guru who personally communes with, initiates and teaches his devotees; a messiah who descends when the world is in turmoil; a messenger sent by the Divine Mother to rescue her children; and the Zen Laughing Buddha. | ||
Buddhist scholar Evans-Wentz describes Maitreya as the “Buddhist Messiah, who will regenerate the world by the power of divine love, and inaugurate a New Age of Universal Peace and Brotherhood. He is at present in the Tushita Heaven, whence He will descend and be born among men and become the future Buddha, to reveal anew, as did Gautama and the long Dynasty of past Buddhas, the Path leading to the Great Liberation.”<ref>W. Y. Evans-Wentz, ed., ''The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1954) p. xxvii.</ref> | Buddhist scholar Evans-Wentz describes Maitreya as the “Buddhist Messiah, who will regenerate the world by the power of divine love, and inaugurate a New Age of Universal Peace and Brotherhood. He is at present in the Tushita Heaven, whence He will descend and be born among men and become the future Buddha, to reveal anew, as did Gautama and the long Dynasty of past Buddhas, the Path leading to the Great Liberation.”<ref>W. Y. Evans-Wentz, ed., ''The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1954) p. xxvii.</ref> | ||