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41b. Buddha Metteyya
[Mingun Sayādaw did not include a chapter about the coming Buddha
Metteyya. To rectify that omission I include this story compiled by Saya U
Chit Tin in his book on the Coming Buddha Ariya Metteyya. Saya’s
retelling has been modified here to fit in with the vocabulary adopted in
this work, and most of his notes have been omitted.]
Many
[18]
details concerning the coming Buddha can be assembled by
combining Buddha Gotama’s prediction in the Discourse about the
Universal Monarch (
Cakkavatti-sutta
, DN 26), the Lineage in the Future
(
Anāgata-vaṁsa
), the Garland of the Times of the Victor (
Jina-kāla-mālī
),
the Appearance of the Ten Bodhisattas (
Dasa-bodhisattuppatti-kathā
), the
Teaching about the Ten Bodhisattas (
Dasa-bodhi-satta-uddesa
) and the
Book of the Ten Stories (
Dasa-vatthuppakaraṇa
). Further details can be
added from the description by Buddha Gotama of the past Buddha Vipassī
(
Mahāpadāna-sutta
, DN 14), Ven. Ananda’s praise of the Buddha
(
Acchariya-abbhuta-sutta
, MN 123), and the commentary on the
Chronicles of the Buddhas (
Buddha-vaṁsa
). These are our sources for
what follows.
The Bodhisatta Metteyya
Buddha Gotama
[8]
predicted as follows in the Prelude to the Lineage in the
Future (
Anāgata-vaṁsa
):
Uttamo Metteyyo Rāmo, Pasenadi Kosalo ca
Abhibhū Dīghasoni ca, Caṇḍani ca Subho Todeyya-brahmaṇo
Nālāgiri Palaleyyo, Bodhisattā anukkamena
Sambodhiṁ labhanti anāgate.
In the future ten Bodhisattas will attain full awakening in the following
order: the most honourable Ariya Metteyya, King Rāma, King Pasenadi
of Kosala, the Deva Abhibhu, the Asura Deva Dīghasoni, the Brahman
Caṇḍani, the young man Subha, the Brahman Todeyya, the elephant
Nālāgiri, and the elephant Palaleyya.
The
[11]
Great Bodhisattas are confirmed in their aspiration by many Buddhas.
A sixteenth-century Pāḷi text from Thailand, the Garland of the Times of the
Victor (
Jina-kāla-mālī
) says that Bodhisatta Metteyya received his prediction of
future Buddhahood from Buddha Mahutta. This would then be the first