Maitreya Statues
Maitreya is the Buddha of Loving Kindness who is predicted to descend from Tushita Pure Land to turn the wheel of dharma as the fifth universal Buddha at a time of great degeneration on Earth. He is pictured seated with his legs uncrossed, ready to spring to the aid of sentient beings. The Buddha Maitreya’s name is derived from the Sanskrit maitri.
The very name maitri – that’s “loving-kindness”. Now in today’s world we really need the promotion of Maitreya, loving-kindness.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Lama Yeshe’s wish was to build a large Maitreya statue in order to inspire the qualities of loving-kindness and compassion in the world.
The main Maitreya statue here at Tushita is a small scale version of the huge statues being built in the holy places of Kushinagar and Bodhgaya in north India.
The statue at Kushinagar is being built by Maitreya Project. More information about both statues can be found here: https://fpmt.org/centers/india/
Maitreya Project’s vision is to affect peace through the practice of loving-kindness at every level of society: peace within the individual, the family, the community, and the world.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Spiritual Director of the Maitreya Project, has said that the construction of the statue itself is not the goal–it is simply the method for achieving the goal. “The goal is to benefit as many people as possible for as long as possible.”