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Ërya
Maitreya
Collection:
Spituk monastery
School
of art: Tsang-bris
20th
century
Maitreya
He
is regarded as a future Buddha who will come down in the world to liberate
the sentient beings when á¡kyamuni 's teachings will disappear from the
earth. It is believed that at present, he lives in the TuÀita Loka in the
form of a Bodhisattva. On the humble request of Asa´ga, he composed five
books in order to disclose the implicit contents of the Wisdom Sutra of
á¡kyamuni Buddha. The different stages of the path, viz, the five
spiritual paths and the ten grounds of Bodhisattva are the steps that are
to be traversed from the ordinary level i.e., P¤thakjana stage up to the
Buddhahood. Moreover, he is reported to have held that the sentient beings
are innately endowed with Buddha nature (Tath¡gata- garbha) and
therefore, it is proved that the sentient beings can attain Buddhahood by
eliminating the mental defilements.
Ërya Maitreya is the central figure depicted as sitting in the chair decorated with various precious ornaments. It symbolizes that he is ready to get up from the chair and come down in the world. His hands are in the preaching gesture and hold lotus flowers. He is flanked by his two chief disciples, viz. Avalokite¿vara and Maµju¿r¢ on his right and left respectively. On the lower right is Ati¿a and on the left is Tsongkha. On the bottom right is Brom Stonba, on the left Ngog Legspai Sherab and in the centre is Padmasambhava. In the right corner of the bottom is Pektse and on the left Vajrap¡¸i).
