Future Buddha

[unspoken]

I recalling that Meitreya Buddha, where the previous Buddha said that he is the Buddha of the future, successor of Gotama Buddha. And I search wiki and plenty of information poped up.

So I wondering, was Meitreya Buddha here? Or yet to come? Because in some online context they say about the future buddha "will be" coming here. But if the buddha haven't arrive here, then why would wiki have so much information and have some sculpture of the buddha's image?

If Meitreya "was" here, then.... AM I TOO LATE? WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN ENLIGHTENED?

[Individual]

It's not important. Who knows when Maitreya might come? Certainly, lots of frauds come and go, and there are lots of people willing to speculate.

If Theravada Buddhism weren't already perfect, one might say that dwelling on Maitreya is something that perhaps ought to be included among the four imponderables.

[bodom]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

[David N. Snyder]

Metteyya comes only when the Dhamma has died out. I think the Mahayana places this at 5,000 years from the Buddha's paranibbana, which would be the year 4517 which is another 2,506 years from now. In the Theravada there is no set date, but the Dhamma has to be gone from the Earth. Since the Dhamma is still here and flourishing to some extent, Metteyya is not here and will not be here for quite some time. Charlatans who claim to be Metteyya are just that; charlatans.

The Buddha Gotama's dispensation is still with us and we can practice and still learn and progress from his teachings.

[Individual]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

Sounds like eternalism.

Don't practice and you won't be reborn in nice places. You won't be reborn with a mind & body that has a capacity for learning -- like an insect.

[David N. Snyder]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

Sounds like eternalism.

Don't practice and you won't be reborn in nice places. You won't be reborn with a mind & body that has a capacity for learning -- like an insect.

I think you are missing Ajahn Chah's point. Sometimes he talks like a Zen master. He is making the point that one should not wait for Meteyya and should practice now, so that one will not have to wander around in samsara for several millennia.

[bodom]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

Sounds like eternalism.

Don't practice and you won't be reborn in nice places. You won't be reborn with a mind & body that has a capacity for learning -- like an insect.

I think you are missing Ajahn Chah's point. Sometimes he talks like a Zen master. He is making the point that one should not wait for Meteyya and should practice now, so that one will not have to wander around in samsara for several millennia.

Exactly right.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

In fact, this is bad advice. It is somewhat like saying, “Don't bother to look after your health and wealth because you will get old and sick whatever you do.” If you don't look after your health and wealth in your youth, you may not even reach old age.

See The Simile of the Birds

If you don't practise in this dispensation you won't meet the Buddha Metteyya at all due to lack of morality, but will be born in one of the eight inopportune places during Metteyya's dispensation. If you cultivate morality, but don't cultivate wisdom, you may meet Metteyya, but you won't be inclined to practise meditation and gain liberation at that time either.

Of course, the best advice is to practise hard so that you gain liberation in this very life, or at least during this Buddha's dispensation — then you won't meet the Buddha Metteyya, but it will only be because you gain parinibbāna before that.

If you practise as hard as you can in this life, but still don't gain liberation in this dispensation, your efforts will stand you in good stead throughout future existences, and if you have enough virtue to meet Metteyya, you will have the ability to gain liberation at that time.

[villkorkarma]

In the scriptes early scripts it said that 2500 years after Siddharta Goutamo start teaching dhamma vipassana that meditationteqnique and dhamma would return to is origncountry india and so it happened of S N goenka and U bah khin.

[Viscid]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

In fact, this is bad advice. It is somewhat like saying, “Don't bother to look after your health and wealth because you will get old and sick whatever you do.” If you don't look after your health and wealth in your youth, you may not even reach old age.

I'm sure Chah had a smile on his face when he said that; it's not meant to be taken as literal advice.

[bodom]

Bhante, you are misrepresenting and misinterpreting the meaning of Ajahn Chah's statement.

Davids response needs to be repeated as it cuts straight to the heart of what Ajahn Chah was saying:

I think you are missing Ajahn Chah's point. Sometimes he talks like a Zen master. He is making the point that one should not wait for Meteyya and should practice now, so that one will not have to wander around in samsara for several millennia.

[Individual]

As Ajahn Chah said if you want to see the future Buddha Metteyya just dont practice. You'll be around long enough to meet him.

Sounds like eternalism.

Don't practice and you won't be reborn in nice places. You won't be reborn with a mind & body that has a capacity for learning -- like an insect.

I think you are missing Ajahn Chah's point. Sometimes he talks like a Zen master. He is making the point that one should not wait for Meteyya and should practice now, so that one will not have to wander around in samsara for several millennia.

[Individual]

Bhikkhu Pesala is conventional.

Ajahn Chah is not.

Both are equally venerable.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I didn't misinterpret anything. I am just saying that in fact it is bad advice not to practise if you want to meet Metteyya Buddha.

[tiltbillings]

I didn't misinterpret anything. I am just saying that in fact it is bad advice not to practise if you want to meet Metteyya Buddha.

If it was meant as advice.

[Individual]

I didn't misinterpret anything. I am just saying that in fact it is bad advice not to practise if you want to meet Metteyya Buddha.

Venerable Bhikkhu Pesala interpreted things correctly. He did not misinterpret anything.

But Venerable Ajahn Chah also did not misinterpret anything. Because he didn't bother with interpretation and misinterpretation.

Jhana monks arguing with Dhamma-devotees. Conventional vs. the ultimate.

[unspoken]

But... I'll still meet other Buddhas in Nibbana? Cool, sorry Meitreya Buddha, I won't wait for you. Let me check on the buddhas that reached Nibbana

[rowyourboat]

Hi Unspoken,

There is no certainty Meteyya Buddha will be here any time soon. So lets focus on practising right now- besides, it is said that only people who meditate will even get to see him in his lifetime.

with metta

Matheesha

[bodom]

I didn't misinterpret anything. I am just saying that in fact it is bad advice not to practise if you want to meet Metteyya Buddha.

If it was meant as advice.

Right. Ajahn Chah was not giving advice. He was giving a warning.

[pilgrim]

I didn't misinterpret anything. I am just saying that in fact it is bad advice not to practise if you want to meet Metteyya Buddha.

This is very similar to another remark Ajahn Chah made to a new monk who asked if he could keep a souvenir of his ex-girlfriend. Ajahn Chah said something like "Sure, keep a little of her faeces in a bottle so that you can take it out and sniff a little everytime you miss her." It is very bad advice, but that's the point - it wasn't meant to be taken literally but it really hits home.