The Benefits of Building Maitreya Statues

Inspiration

“Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us.”
— His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

For thousands of years the world’s enduring monuments have provided us with powerful symbols, reminders of the values different cultures have treasured most. During the 20th century most of the world’s new buildings and public development projects were ‘monuments’ to commercial interests: high-rise business buildings, airports and entertainment centres. The Maitreya Buddha statue will provide the world with a much-needed and enduring 21st century monument to universal spiritual and humanitarian values.

According to Buddhist tradition, sacred objects such as statues provide a uniquely powerful means by which we can bring to mind the positive attitudes that are essential to the development of loving-kindness.

Buddhists do not worship statues and religious artefacts. A buddha’s image is used as an inspiration for creating and spreading positive human qualities – for instance, loving-kindness and peace.

World focus, inspiration, and the Buddhist tradition of building very large buddha statues are the reasons for the size of the Maitreya statue. The more notable a statue is, the more people will hear of it, see it, and have the chance to benefit from it.

Increasing our store of positive potential

Maitreya Buddha In common with other spiritual paths, Buddhists wish to purify their negative past actions and develop their positive potential for future actions, so they can be of greater benefit in the world.

By providing inspiration, sacred objects make it so easy for this to happen. Thus, it is very important to have sacred objects around us in our everyday life. Just by seeing them, they make it very easy to stay focused on the goals of creating this store of positive potential, enabling us to bring benefit and peace into our own lives and the lives of those around us. Eventually, they help us to achieve enlightenment.

In the Sutra of the Mudra Entering Developing the Power of Faith, the Buddha said, “If any young man or woman should give food of a hundred flavours to as many arhats (those who have a direct understanding of the nature of reality) as there are particles of dust in all the universe, and should do so every day for as many ages as there are grains of sand in the banks of the river, Ganges – if another young man or woman should merely see the painted image of the Buddha, this would produce infinitely greater merit (positive potential) than that. How much more merit, then, would be produced by pressing one’s hands together in reverence before such a Buddha image, or offering it a flower, incense, perfume or light? The merit produced by these acts would be infinitely greater still.”

Helping the teachings of the historical Buddha to last longer

"Relying on certain Mahayana Buddhist citations and quotations, we believe that in this fortunate aeon one thousand buddhas will appear. This is the time of the fourth buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni, whose teaching is still existing, and the fifth Buddha will be Maitreya Buddha."
— His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama

When depicting Maitreya Buddha in sacred art, there are several aspects which can be shown. One is the simple Nirmanakaya aspect, which is the form of the main Maitreya Buddha statue to be built in Kushinagar. Another aspect is the ornate Sambogakaya aspect, which is the form of the statue to be built in the Maitreya Temple inside of the large statue in Kushinagar. Building the Sambogakaya aspect helps the teachings of the Buddha last longer. This is because the attributes of the Sambogakaya particularly benefit the Mahayana Buddhist teachings.

Shortening the time of darkness before Maitreya Buddha comes

After Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings end in this world there will be an aeon of weapons, so many millions of millions of people will die; then there will be an aeon of sickness – so many millions of millions of people will get sick and die; then there will be an aeon of famine and poverty when all over the world so many people will die and suffer inconceivably. Then after that Maitreya Buddha will descend to the Earth. By building more Maitreya Buddha statues those aeons of incredible suffering are shortened and Maitreya Buddha’s teachings will arise earlier.
— Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of Maitreya Project

Ancient Mahayana Buddhist cosmology explains that our world system is constantly evolving within an almost unimaginably long, recurring cycle of development and decline.

According to this view, we are living in a “fortunate aeon” during which 1,000 buddhas will appear one by one on the Earth to lead people from the sufferings of uncontrolled rebirth to the lasting happiness of enlightenment.

At the present time, we are fortunate to have available to us the teachings and example of the fourth buddha, the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. However, when the teachings of Shakyamuni disappear from this world, a long period of decline will follow during which negativity and misfortune will grow. This will be followed by an interim period of terrible darkness and suffering. At the end of this dark period, Maitreya Buddha will manifest in our world as a radiant spiritual teacher inspiring people to practice the path of virtue, especially loving-kindness. This will begin the next cycle of development.

According to a text by Kaching Yeshe Gyaltsen, one of the tutors to the 8th Dalai Lama, by building Maitreya Buddha statues now, we can shorten the period of terrible darkness and suffering between the times of the Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha.

By developing now the universal spiritual and humanitarian qualities of kindness, generosity, protecting life, etc, we create the causes to avoid the sufferings of the interim period of terrible darkness and bring the next cycle of happiness into the world sooner. Thus, the Maitreya Buddha statues will be great beacons of hope for the world, both now and in the far distant future.