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33 chapter two The Cult of Maitreya I f there were just one cult that could be said to characterize Buddhist practice on the Korean peninsula during the beginnings of the religion, it would have to be that of Maitreya (Mirŭk, Chassi). The veneration of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the future Buddha, is a practice common throughout the Buddhist world and is probably the first personality cult that emerged historically after that of Śākyamuni. The worship of Maitreya was also the first Buddhist cult in which Silla elites and aristocrats actively participated in the sixth century after its introduction from China, where it was in vogue during the Northern dynasties period. The cult entered Silla through the medium of its sister Korean states Koguryŏ and Paekche. All three states exercised influence on the contemporary Japanese Maitreya cult during the Asuka and Nara periods (552–794).1 From the sixth through the eighth centuries, the Maitreya cult was inextricably linked to the task of projecting and legitimating royal and aristocratic power in Silla.2 During the ninth and tenth centuries, however, the cult underwent a period of transformation, being assimilated gradually into the rising Hwaŏm tradition . When the declining Silla domain was divided with the rise of the Later Three Kingdoms, the political and millenarian aspects of the cult were redeployed by would-be kings seeking to reunify the peninsula. The Veneration of Maitreya in Medieval Northeast Asia The Origins of the Cult in China under the Northern Dynasties The cult of Maitreya in medieval China was originally associated with the vows of monastic exegetes to be reborn in Tuṣita Heaven (Doushuaitian , Kor.Tosolch’ŏn).This heaven is connected to our realm of existence and is where Maitreya waits to be reborn into our world. Adherents also  Domesticating the Dharma vowed to be reborn in Ketumati ( Jitoumo, Kor. Kyeduma, or Chitoumo, Kor. Sidumal), the pure land created by Maitreya when he is born on earth in the distant future. In this case aspirants hoped to be among the three assemblies of beings that will attend Maitreya’s future preaching of the Buddhadharma. The goal for both monastics and laypeople in either case was that they might hear the Buddhist teaching directly from the mouth of the future Buddha Maitreya and thus attain buddhahood. These elite monks, and the aristocrats and royalty who patronized them, commissioned images of Maitreya, both standing and seated in meditation , as objects of worship and as aids for visualization and contemplation . Standing images of Maitreya were indicative of his preaching in Ketumati; seated images, usually in the so-called half-seated pensive pose ( Jpn. hankashiyui-zō), portrayed Maitreya’s waiting in Tuṣita. Both styles of Maitreya are found closely connected in the art of the Northern dynasties and demonstrate that these two aspects of the cult of Maitreya were interrelated in early China.3 Because many sūtras about Maitreya prophesy that he will descend from Tuṣita to inaugurate a peaceful Buddhist millennium after years of warfare and the decline of the Dharma (Ch. mofa, Kor. malbŏp), worship of Maitreya began to spread throughout Chinese society in the Northern dynasties because of the frequent warfare between the northern Chinese states that had been founded by the invasions of Turko-Mongol tribal peoples. The sūtras associated with the cult of Maitreya describe both devotional and meditative practices to be reborn in the presence of Maitreya. The sūtras encourage people to do one or more of the following: (1) visualize themselves in the presence of Maitreya in Tuṣita now, (2) make vows to be reborn in Tuṣita later (at their death), (3) make vows to be reborn on earth when Maitreya comes later, (4) perform devotional practices in order to see incarnations of Maitreya here on the earth.4 All of these practices were popular among the elites during the Northern dynasties, and at the height of the cult in the sixth century, they were transmitted to Silla. The cult of Maitreya in China emerged in connection with the practices promoted by Shi Daoan (312–385). Prophecies of Maitreya’s presence in Tuṣita Heaven and of his future descent to the world had begun to emerge in the Buddhist literature of the period.5 One aspect of the cult for Daoan was his desire to be reborn in Tuṣita Heaven in the presence of Maitreya so that his doubts concerning the Buddhist scriptures could be resolved. Daoan’s...

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