M
Figure of Buddhism
Maitreya — the one to come.
Buddhism's open future: the next Buddha, waiting — the guarantee that the path never closes behind the last teacher.
Names & titlesMaitreya
DomainThe Buddha to come
RelationsSuccessor-designate of Gautama, waiting in the Tushita heaven
Depicted asSeated Western-style, ready to stand — or as the laughing fat monk of Chinese gates
StandingThe tradition's promise that awakening is not finished with history
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held
Maitreya is Buddhism's open future: the next Buddha, currently waiting in the Tushita heaven, who will appear when the current teaching has been forgotten entirely. The doctrine has a quiet radicalism — it concedes that this dispensation will be lost — and a long history of political use, since claiming to be Maitreya or his herald has launched rebellions across Chinese history. In East Asia he is folded into Budai, the laughing fat monk at temple gates, which is a very different feeling from the Indian original.
The same ground, other faiths
claims that share this one's ideas
Every soul is already omniscient.
Jainism · core tenet
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The messianic age is still ahead.
Judaism · core tenet
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In Jesus, God became human.
Christianity · core tenet
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I
Isa — the messiah who was not crucified.
Islam
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Liberation happens while you are alive.
Sikhism · core tenet
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Knowledge liberates.
Advaita Vedānta · core tenet
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