Visiting the Future Buddha in Meditation

CC Liu, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

When will the Future Buddha Maitreya come? When the Dharma is no longer practiced.

Great Himalayan statue of the Future Buddha Maitreya, welcoming him from Tusita

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There are sensual and supersensual heavens.

Tuṣhita (Sanskrit) or Tusita (Pāli) is one of the six sensual worlds of the shining ones (devas) within the Sensual Sphere (kāma dhātu), located between two celestial worlds or heavens called Yāma and the Nirmāṇarati.

• Deva types (Buddhism)

Like the many other heavens, Tuṣita is said to be reachable through meditation (in particular the attainment and mastery of jhana or meditative absorption).

Tusita is the heaven world where the Bodhisattva ("Being-bent-on-supreme*-enlightenment") Śvetaketu (Pāli Setaketu or "White Banner") resided before choosing to be reborn on Earth -- because the circumstances were suitable to continue his mission to find perfect enlightenment (i.e., full awakening with all of the factors necessary for the supreme capacity to teach) as Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, the "Sage of the Scythians" or Shakyamuni.

• *"Supreme" buddhahood (samma-sam-bodhi) refers to the same full enlightenment as disciples of a buddha but with the added psychic powers, knowledges, mastery of language, and abilities to teach and establish the Dharma and a monastic Sangha at a time when these have disappeared from the world. An arahant is a kind of "personal buddhahood," a pacceka buddha has the powers and knowledge of a supreme buddha but not the capacity to effectively teach others a path to awaken. Buddhas of the past differ in their capacity and thus the length of time the Dharma or that Sangha (practicing community, particularly as monastics) endures.

It is, likewise, the heaven where the Bodhisattva Nātha ("Protector") currently resides, who will later be reborn as the next supremely-enlightened teaching buddha, Maitreya (a kind of Messiah or beneficial "friend" in the future).

• Foundation forming absorption: pādaka-jjhana
• Chart: Consciousness States (Buddhist Dictionary)

The Bodhisatta (Setaketu) on throne in Tusita heaven, stone carving, Kushan Dynasty, Pakistan

Most Buddhist literature holds that Queen Maya, the historical Buddha's biological mother, passed away seven days after the birth of her son Prince Siddhartha (who would later become the Buddha).

When this happened, she was reborn in Tusita. [It is said that she was a deva in Tusita when the Bodhisattva was encouraged by the other devas there to take rebirth on Earth, as the circumstances were suddenly suitable, so s/he volunteered to precede him and give birth to him, which is odd because he looked down from Tusita and beheld a woman, Maha Maya Devi or Queen Maya, suitable as a vessel for rebirth).

To thank and repay his mother, the Buddha set an intention to teach her the liberating Dharma. Seven years after the Buddha's great awakening (maha bodhi), she traveled from Tusita down to Tavatimsa (the World of the Thirty-Three), where the Buddha later preached the "Ultimate Doctrine" or Abhidharma to her and the other devas present [1].

Descriptions

Like all heavenly celestial realms in Buddhism, Tuṣita is the residence of divine beings or devas. According to the Visakhuposatha Sutta of the Pali canon [2], time runs much differently in these higher worlds than on Earth:

"Visakha, that which among humans is 400 years is one night and day of the Tusita devas, their month has 30 of those days, their year 12* of those months; the lifespan of the Tusita devas is 4,000 of those heavenly years...

• [*One might think 13, as with the phases of the moon on earth with four weeks per month or moonth for 28 days times 13 full moons = 364 days with one transitional reset day for 365 days for a year, according to Wisdom Quarterly's speculative calculations of earth-time by the moon as its natural moon clock.]

Mahayana view

The Buddha dealing with Mara the Temptor and daughters

In Mahayana Buddhist thought, Tuṣita is where all bodhisattvas destined to reach supreme enlightenment in their next life dwell for a time before taking that final rebirth.

One such reference can be found in the "Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life," an apocryphal Mahayana text:

"Each of these bodhisattvas, following the virtues of the Mahasattva Samantabhadra, is endowed with the immeasurable practices and vows of the Bodhisattva Path and firmly dwells in all the meritorious deeds.

"That person freely travels in all the ten quarters [directions] and employs skillful means of emancipation. One enters the treasury of the Dharma of the Buddhas and reaches the Other Shore [Nirvana].

"Throughout the innumerable worlds one attains Enlightenment. First, dwelling in the Tusita Heaven, one proclaims the true Dharma. Having left the heavenly palace, one descends into a mother's womb."

Tuṣita heaven is therefore closely associated with Maitreya (the Future Buddha), and many Buddhists vow to be reborn there as devas so that they can hear the teachings of the current Bodhisattva residing there and ultimately be reborn with him as humans when he becomes a buddha.

Other bodhisattvas dwell in this heavenly realm from time to time. Tuṣita is part of the same world-system as Earth, so it is relatively close, whereas the Pure Land of Amitabha [Cosmic] Buddha is treated as being in a separate world-system entirely. More