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[GrahamR]

Greetings

My sister in law is quite interested in this 'Buddha'

To me it seem to be something else to obscure Buddha's teaching.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maitreya

What have other people heard, what are your views please?

With metta Graham

[huli]

I believe I heard on this forum from a major contributor, that it is recorded once in the sutras where Buddha himself predicted the coming of this next future Buddha in 5000 years. The quotation is considered suspect by many, since Buddha repeated important teachings over and over, and he was not a prophet who predicted historical events. The story may have been added by someone in antiquity.

I agree with your take on the significance of Maitreya..

Various people have claimed to be Maitreya, or have been proclaimed by others to be Maitreya. For a good while there, many of the Theosophical folks considered Krishnamurti to be Maitreya. He never claimed such a thing, however.

[camerata]

As far as Theravada Buddhism goes, the coming of Metteya (Maitreya is the Sanskrit spelling), the Buddha-to-be, has been emphasized mostly in non-canonical texts aimed mainly at the common people. The idea is that if you do good and make enough merit you will be reborn in the time of the next Buddha and have the direct benefit of his teachings. However, salvation via Metteya seemed to have lost its appeal in the 20th century, possibly as a result of King Mongkut's reforms.