彌勒

Từ Điển Thuật Ngữ Phật Học Hán Ngữ

Maitreya, friendly, benevolent. The Buddhist Messiah, or next Buddha, now in the Tuṣita heaven, who is to come 5,000 years after the nirvāṇa of Śākyamuni, or according to other reckoning after 4,000 heavenly years, i.e. 5,670,000,000 human years. According to tradition he was born in Southern India of a Brahman family. His two epithets are 慈氏 Benevolent, and Ajita 阿逸多 ‘Invincible’. He presides over the spread of the church, protects its members and will usher in ultimate victory for Buddhism. His image is usually in the hall of the four guardians facing outward, where he is represented as the fat laughing Buddha, but in some places his image is tall, e.g. in Peking in the Yung Ho Kung. Other forms are彌帝M075962; 迷諦隸; 梅低梨; 梅怛麗 (梅怛藥 or 梅怛邪); 每怛哩; 昧怛 M067070曳; 彌羅. There are numerous Maitreya sūtras.