Maitreya Bodhisattva is also Ajita. Maitreya is his family name, Ajita his given name. Maitreya means Compassionate
Ajita also means “invincible”. Perhaps you have seen images of a fat monk in the dining hall in Buddhist temples. Maitreya is that monk. Maybe this Bodhisattva liked to eat good things and got fat that way. He also liked to laugh, but his laugh was not a coarse “Ha! Ha! Ha!” Rather, he always had a big smile on his face. He enjoyed playing with children, and so the children were all fond of him in turn. He was always surrounded by them.
After Shakyamuni Buddha retires as the Teaching Host of this world, Maitreya Bodhisattva will take over the position. Shakyamuni Buddha is known as the Red-Yang Buddha. When Maitreya Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, he will be the White-Yang Buddha. This means that when Maitreya Bodhisattva comes to the world as a Buddha, people’s blood will be white, not red. People are red-blooded now because of the Red-Yang Buddha.
When will Maitreya Bodhisattva come into the world? It sounds like a long time when you describe it, but it is not actually so long, because from a Bodhisattva’s point of view it is but the blink of an eye. How long a time will it be? At present, people’s average life-span is about sixty years. Every hundred years people’s lifespan decreases one year and their average height decreases one inch.
When these have decreased to the point that people’s lifespan is around thirty years, there will be a pestilence. People will die very quickly from the disease, even to the point that they will be dead an hour after they contract it. One may call for a doctor, but the doctor will die along with the rest. Fifty percent of the entire population will succumb to the disease. When the lifespan of the remaining fifty percent reaches twenty-five years, there will be another calamity. Why must these people die? Because by that time, people’s minds will be thoroughly decadent. There will be too many bad people, so heaven and earth will have to eliminate these incorrigibles. They will be unacceptable and will have to be traded in for better ones. In the first plague, then, fifty percent of the people will die.
Fire burns the first dhyana: When the average life-span has declined to twenty-five years, there will be a devastating fire. Not only will people allover the earth be burned, but even those in the First Dhyana Heavens will perish. All over the world the seas will be burned dry. Uncountable people will die in the fire. Even so, a few people will escape the holocaust.
Water drowns the second dhyana: When the lifespan of the remaining people reaches about twenty years, there will be a disaster of water.
Wind in the Third Dhyana Heaven: When the lifespan of those who are left is just about twenty, there will be a disaster of wind, which will blow through the Third Dhyana Heaven. Wind rips up the third dhyana.
Once the three disasters are over, people’s lifespan will decrease to ten years. At that time, people will only reach the height of the dogs of the present day. They will be completely corrupt and act just like horses, cows, and pigs, in that they will have desire from the moment they are born. They will also be able to speak as soon as they are born. They will be capable of sexual desire because, People’s nature flows into emotion; Emotion flows into desire.
By that time, people will have totally abandoned themselves to desire. They will marry by the time they are two or three years old, have children, and die by the time they are ten years old. But when the lifespan of people reaches only ten years, an increase will begin. The proportions will be the same: in every century a year will be added to their lifespan and an inch to their average height. It will increase until the lifespan of people reaches 84,000 years. Then a decrease will begin again, and when the lifespan has decreased to 80,000 years, Maitreya Bodhisattva will come into the world and accomplish Buddhahood. Some religious sects say that Maitreya Bodhisattva has already come to become a Buddha. These are words spoken in a dream; basically, those people don’t understand the Buddha Dharma. Maitreya’s coming will happen in a certain way.