Who is Maitreya/Mile/Miroku?

Bright on Buddhism Episode 36 - Who is Maitreya/Mile/Miroku? What are some stories about him? What sort of devotional texts/rituals are there for him? Resources: Kevin Trainor: Buddhism: An Illustrated Guide; Donald Lopez: Norton Anthology of World Religions: Buddhism; Chan Master Sheng Yen: Orthodox Chinese Buddhism; The Bodhisattva Vow: A Practical Guide to Helping Others, page 1, Tharpa Publications (2nd. ed., 1995) ISBN 978-0-948006-50-0; Flanagan, Owen (2011-08-12). The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized. MIT Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-262-29723-3.; Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Routledge, 2008.; Robert Buswell, Encyclopedia of Buddhism - Maitreya, Alan Sponberg; Horner, IB, ed. (1975). The minor anthologies of the Pali canon. Volume III: Buddhavaṁsa (Chronicle of Buddhas) and Cariyāpiṭaka (Basket of Conduct). London: Pali Text Society. ISBN 0-86013-072-X.; Mipham, Jamgon; Maitreya; Shenga, Khenpo; Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2013). Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham. Snow Lion. ISBN 978-1-55939-502-1.; Iida, Shōtarō; Goldston, Jane, trans. (2016). Descent of Maitreya Buddha and his Enlightenment, (Taishō Volume 14, Number 454), Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.; Mipham, Jamgon; Maitreya; Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2021). Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham. Snow Lion. ISBN 978-1-55939-501-4.; Hurvitz, Leon. 1976. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. New York:  Columbia University Press.; Kato, Bunno. 1971. The Threefold Lotus Sutra: Innumerable Meanings, The Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, and Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. Tokyo:  Kosei Publishing Company.; Kern, H. 1884. 1963. Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka or The Lotus of the True Law. London:  New York:  Clarendon Press. Dover Publications. The Sacred Books of the East, Volume XXI; Kubo, Tsugunari and Akira Yuyama. 1993. The Lotus Sutra: The White Lotus of the Marvelous Law. Tokyo and Berkeley:  Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.; Murano, Senchū. 1974. 1991. The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Tokyo:  Nichiren Shu Shimbun.; Reeves, Gene. 2008. The Lotus Sutra. Boston:  Wisdom Publications.; Soothill, W.E. 1930. The Lotus of the Wonderful Law or The Lotus Gospel: Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, Miao-fa Lien Hua Ching. Oxford:  Clarendon Press.; Watson, Burton. 1993. The Lotus Sutra. New York:  Columbia University Press.; Kitagawa, Joseph M. “The Career of Maitreya, with Special Reference to Japan.” History of Religions 21, no. 2 (1981): 107–25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062220.; McBride, Richard D. “The Cult of Maitreya.” In Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaom Synthesis in Silla Korea, 33–61. University of Hawai’i Press, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqmqr.7.; Gold, Jonathan C. “VASUBANDHU’S YOGĀCĀRA: Enshrining the Causal Line in the Three Natures.” In Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu’s Unifying Buddhist Philosophy, 128–75. Columbia University Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/gold16826.9.; https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/miroku.shtml Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at [email protected], or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host