CHAPTER I: Bodhisattva Maitreya's Past Incarnations
THE FOUNDING MASTER SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA
Altar of the Dharma Constitution
The Founding Master Shakyamuni Buddha, before His entrance into Nirvana, ordained that, later in the Dharma-Ending Age, Bodhisattva Maitreya would return to the human world to fulfill His great compassionate vow to completely save all living beings. Bodhisattva Maitreya would attain the supreme accomplishment that is the level of Buddha and become the fifth Buddha to succeed Shakyamuni Buddha. He would restore the Buddha’s Tao and maintain the immortal True Dharma of all Tathagata Buddhas for 5,000 years.
CHAPTER I: Bodhisattva Maitreya's Past Incarnations
According to the Buddhist calendar, the current year is over 2500, and there have been three times in recorded history when Lord Maitreya returned to the human world to open Tao Dharma. These events have been known by a great number of Buddhist followers. The Lord returned three more times, but He kept silent during these periods, and thus almost nobody knew about it. The Lord was, in one incarnation, the national chief advisor; in another, the Lord was the king. Both of these were in China. The Lord was also the teacher of Tao Dharma in Tibet in another incarnation. These events will be recounted more fully in the following pages.
Fudaishi
(497–569)
From phapthihoi.org
1. Fudaishi
In one of His former lives, Bodhisattva Maitreya returned to China with the name Fudaishi[2]. It was not until after His passing that secular people would know that Fudaishi was actually the incarnation of Lord Maitreya.
2. Most Venerable Budai
Also, in China, at the time of Liang dynasty, Bodhisattva Maitreya had appeared again in this world with the title of Most Venerable Budai. His body differed from that of secular people. His forehead was wrinkled, His abdomen was enlarged, and the trunk of His body was portly. When departing from life, He sat to meditate without any illness and passed away while still in meditation. By that time, secular people knew that Most Venerable Budai was actually Bodhisattva Maitreya who had come back to this human world.
Most Venerable Budai
(?–916 or 917 CE), noted by wikipedia.com
Nagarjuna
Image from quangduc.com
[c. 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)], noted by wikipedia.com
3. Nagarjuna
In another past life, when Bodhisattva Maitreya had returned to the world in India, the Lord bore the name Nagarjuna. At His passing, secular people realized that Lord Nagarjuna Himself was the incarnation of Lord Maitreya. Whenever the Lord appeared in this human world, He always did numerous beneficial deeds for living beings, following His firm vows.
From the end of the Second World War to now, most monks and nuns, including Most Venerables, Venerables, and Highly Virtuous Ones, believed that this was not yet the incarnation time of Lord Maitreya. They believed, and still do, that the Lord remains in the Tusita Heaven, so there will be many more lifetimes before the Lord will appear and come into the human world to continue the True Dharma of The Founding Master Shakyamuni Buddha.
On the other hand, in Southern Vietnam, there were a lot of religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Caodaism, Tây An Buddha Master, and Hoà Hảo Buddhism, and even erudite people and superhumans, along with the Oracle Scriptures, that predicted and prophesied that Lord Maitreya had returned to Vietnam but still secluded Himself away from the world.
They firmly believed that Lord Maitreya had already come to life in Vietnam—but nothing happened. Time passed, and nobody could hear or see the appearance of strange phenomena that would allow them to perceive the Lord in person, according to the Oracle Scriptures. Gradually, many people became more and more anxious, and that gave rise to doubt. According to the Great Collection Sutra, the 2500th year after Shakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana signals the beginning of the Dharma-Ending Age and Lord Maitreya’s reincarnation. But it is now the year 2538 of the Buddhist calendar, and Lord Maitreya still has not yet appeared in the world—a fact that has made scholars and faithful Buddhist disciples more doubtful.
[2] Phó Đại Sỹ in Vietnamese.