The age of Maitreya has arrived

However, this Buddha's teaching actually lasted 2,000 years. But with the baramee (reserved power and dignity) of Ananda, who was a faithful disciple and the closest aide of the Buddha, Buddhism was extended by another 500 years. When we reached the year 1957, or BE 2500, we were at the midpoint of the Buddhist Era. At that time, Phutthamonthon was built in Nakhon Chaisri, Nakhon Pathom, to celebrate the midpoint of the era and also to lay the foundations for Buddhism to prosper over the next 2,500 years. Presiding over Phutthamonthon is a huge statue of the Walking Buddha. The next 50 years after the mid-point of the Buddhist Era up until 2007, or BE 2550, represented the Age of Phaya Mara. Since 2007 we have been in the Age of Maitreya, or the Buddha of the Future.

The world system will decline after the passing of one Buddha and then gradually improve before the arrival of the next Buddha. Maitreya will come into this world over the next 2,500 years or so to seek enlightenment before teaching the wisdom of the Dharmma. Many other religions also share this belief in the coming of a messiah to lead mankind to redemption.

As we are in the Age of Maitreya, we have indeed witnessed a decline of a world system infected by greed, hatred and delusion. Many people are also afraid that we could go through prolonged periods of famine, disease and warfare. Catastrophe could plunge people into despair and result in the death of millions. Then human beings will start to realise that the roots of all suffering arise from their greed, hatred and delusion. Many will go back to embrace the old Dharma. The conditions of the world will then improve. Thereupon, Maitreya will appear to lead people further to redemption.

Then the people "will lose their doubts, and the torrents of their cravings will be cut off: free from all misery, they will manage to cross the ocean of becoming; and, as a result of Maitreya's teachings, they will lead a holy life. No longer will they regard anything as their own, they will have no possessions, no gold or silver, no home, no relatives! But they will lead a holy life of chastity under Maitreya's guidance. They will have torn the net of passions, they will manage to enter into trances, and theirs will be an abundance of joy and happiness, for they will lead a holy life under Maitreya's guidance."

The Buddha Sakayamuni spoke about the Buddha of the Future, who would follow him, as follows:

"He will have a heavenly voice which reaches far; his skin will have a golden hue, a great splendour will radiate from his body, his chest will be broad, his limbs well developed, and his eyes will be like lotus petals. His body is eighty cubits high, and twenty cubits broad. He will have a retinue of 84,000 persons, whom he will instruct in the mantras. With this retinue he will one day go forth into the homeless life. A dragon tree will then be the tree under which he will win enlightenment; its branches rise up to fifty leagues, and its foliage spreads far and wide over six kos. Underneath it, Maitreya, the best of men, will attain supreme enlightenment - there can be no doubt on that. And he will win his enlightenment the very same day that he has gone forth into the homeless life.

"And then, a supreme sage, he will with a perfect voice preach the true Dharmma, which is auspicious and removes all ill, the origination of ill, the transcending of ill, and the holy eightfold path which brings security and leads to Nirvana. He will explain the four Truths, and those who have listened to his Dharmma will thereupon make progress in the religion. They will be assembled in a park full of beautiful flowers, and his assembly will extend over a hundred leagues. Under Maitreya's guidance, hundreds of thousands of living beings shall enter upon a religious life."

The next 2,500 years will be a long time to come. But in Buddhist terms, this represents only a fraction of time. As we go through the cycle of birth and death, through eons and eons, 2,500 years could mean only two and a half minutes. We could be born a thousand times in different realms, depending on our karma, before we might be born within the time of Maitreya, who will lead the world to the new light of the true Dharmma and start a new cycle.

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