Maitreya Buddha Project in Kushinagar
According to Buddhist scriptures, Maitreya will be the next Buddha and will embody and teach the path of loving-kindness. Maitreya Buddha Project is based on the premise that loving-kindness is the cause of peace and that “inner peace” within individuals is the direct cause of “outer peace” among families, communities and nations. The Maitreya Buddha statue will be the centre piece of a landscaped park which will contain halls for prayer and meditation and shrine rooms filled with spiritual art. Surrounding the Maitreya Buddha Project site, the State Government of Uttar Pradesh has set up the Kushinagar Special Development Area Authority to support the planned development of the area around the Project. Within the Kushinagar Special Development Area, Maitreya Buddha Project has already begun a mobile healthcare initiative. This will provide healthcare services, particularly for the underprivileged in Kushinagar and surrounding villages. Maitreya Buddha Project’s vision integrates spiritual, educational, healthcare and economic benefits with technological advancement and environmental responsibility. The project is being designed and built to international standards of “best practice” and aspires to become a model of socially responsible and sustainable development. As the project and its spiritual and social work are planned to thrive and continue developing for at least 1000 years, the Maitreya Buddha Project holds the potential to bring incalculable and sustainable benefit. Who is Maitreya Buddha? Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will appear on Earth in the future and is regarded as a future Buddha of this world. He is also known as Ajita Boddhisattva. Maitreya has promised that “anyone keeping just one vow of moral discipline purely during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings will become my personal disciple when I appear, and all such disciples I shall liberate.” Ven. Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
