Maitreya (Share International)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since January 2006. (help, talk) |
Rahmat Ahmad, better known by the adopted name of Maitreya, referred to by his supporters as "the Lord Maitreya", describes himself as the World Teacher, and is promoted by Benjamin Creme through the organisation, Share International. According to Creme, Maitreya says he does not come to start a new religion, but rather to aid humanity with our problems, to inspire us to share, to implement justice, freedom, and ultimately create world peace. He also says that he will inaugurate the new time by teaching us who we really are, about our past and future, and about the art of self-realisation.
Many major religions expect the return of a religious teacher, who will inaugurate a new time and/or religion. Hindus await the coming of Kalki avatar or Krishna, shia Muslims the Imam Mahdi, Jews the Messiah, Christians the Christ, Zoroastrians the Peshotan, and the Buddhists expect the Maitreya ("The Buddha of the Future.") . Benjamin Creme claims that these are one and the same person, namely Maitreya the World Teacher.
Contents |
[edit] Maitreya in Esoteric Teaching
Though Benjamin Creme has been promoting Maitreya's emergence into the world since 1972, he was not the first Western author to do so. Maitreya has long been known to esotericists as the head of the Hierarchy of Masters, or Masters of Wisdom, through the writings of a handful of authors of the "ancient wisdom teachings", most notable among them, Alice Bailey, and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. As early as the 1945, Alice Bailey announced Maitreya's intention to work openly in the world, which she suggested might begin in about 30 years, which seems to agree with Benjamin Creme's claim that Maitreya returned to the world in July of 1977.
[edit] World Teacher
Share International claims Maitreya prefers to be known as the World Teacher and that he is what all major religions have been expecting to return. Share International literature says he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Maitreya Buddha or the Imam Mahdi depending on religious view, and that all of these different prophecies or expectations of a future great teacher are actually all about one teacher and that he is that teacher.
Share International writes:
- "[...] Although the names are different, many believe that they all refer to the same individual: the World Teacher, whose personal name is Maitreya (pronounced my-tray-ah).
- Preferring to be known simply as the Teacher, Maitreya has not come as a religious leader, or to found a new religion, but as a teacher and guide for people of every religion and those of no religion.
- At this time of great political, economic and social crisis Maitreya will inspire humanity to see itself as one family, and create a civilization based on sharing, economic and social justice, and global cooperation.
- He will launch a call to action to save the millions of people who starve to death every year in a world of plenty. Among Maitreya's recommendations will be a shift in social priorities so that adequate food, housing, clothing, education, and medical care become universal rights.
- Under Maitreya's inspiration, humanity itself will make the required changes and create a saner and more just world for all. [...]"
[edit] Anti-Christ?
There are some religious leaders who see Maitreya as the anti-Christ.
Pastor Harry Walther, of the Church of Philadelphia - Internet speculated on June 6, 2006 that the Share International version of Maitreya would be the antichrist of Christian eschatological prediction. He wrote an entire page on this speculation, basing himself on Bible codes about the supposed seven versions of "Maitreya" in Hebrew. As of June 6, 2006, he has predicted that Maitreya will unite all the world's religions, so his claim should be easy to verify or disprove.
While not claiming Maitreya to be the anti-Christ, Irvin Baxter of Endtime Ministries has mentioned him as a "false Christ" in some of his prophecy instruction materials.
