Item: Maitreya (Bodhisattva & Buddhist Deity) - Bodhisattva

Maitreya (Tibetan: cham pa. English: Love), the bodhisattva of loving kindness and the Buddha of the next future eon after the age of Shakyamuni Buddha. Maitreya is believed to currently reside in the Tushita Heaven and is typically depicted as having either a Bodhisattva Appearance or Buddha Appearance with all the typical characteristics.

Maitreya belongs to four iconographic groups: the Eight and Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas along with the Buddhas of the Three Times - past, present and future (Dipamkara, Shakyamuni, Maitreya) and the One Thousand Buddhas of this Age.

Tibetan: Jetsun Champa Gonpo (rje btsun byams pa mgon po)

In painting Maitreya is commonly depicted in bodhisattva appearance and is commonly found along with the other Eight Great Bodhisattvas in compositions with either Shakyamuni or Amitabha Buddha as the central figure.

"With the fire of great love burning the fuel of anger, the light of pristine awareness removes the darkness of ignorance; heir to the Conqueror's Dharma, upcoming leader of beings; to the one residing in Tushita, I bow." (Buddhist liturgical verse).

Jeff Watt 2-2002 [image added 2-2014]