Religion / idea · deity

Maitreya

Also known as Buddha Maitreya, Maitreya Buddha

Maitreya is the future Buddha of Buddhist tradition, a bodhisattva who will appear on earth to teach the dharma anew when the teaching of Gautama Buddha has been forgotten. He is venerated across Buddhist Asia. In China the expectation of his coming inspired millenarian movements, including the White Lotus sects and the Red Turban rebels who rose against the Yuan dynasty in 1351.

Maitreya
Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Public Domain) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Old TurkicLiterature

Mentioned in 4 state histories

Wu ZhouTaebongHan SongMing Xia

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Maitreya. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/maitreya
MLA
“Maitreya.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/maitreya. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Maitreya.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/maitreya.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Maitreya’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/maitreya (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻