Maitreya Skt. (Jap. Miroku), lit. “Loving One”; in the teaching of the five earthly buddhas, already present in the Hīnayāna but first fully developed by the Mahāyāna, the embodiment of all-encompassing love. He is expected to come in the future as the fifth and last of the earthly buddhas. The cult of Maitreya is very widespread in Tibetan Buddhism. His Heaven (Pure Land) is tushita (“the joyful”), after which the Tibetan saint Tsonghkapa named the first monastery he founded. As the world teacher to come, Maitreya is expected to appear in around 30 thousand years.
He is depicted iconographically on a raised seat with his feet resting on the ground as a sign of his readiness to arise from his seat and appear in the world. If the five earthly buddhas (Krakuchchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāshyapa, Shākyamuni, and Maitreya) are seen as analogous to the five buddha families (buddhakula), then Maitreya’s qualities correspond to those of the karma family of all-accomplishing wisdom.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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