Maitreya. From the DU lobby ad, third down on the left...

[Strong Atheist]

http://www.theemergence.org/du/

http://www.share-international.org/maitreya/Ma_main.htm

[Dogmudgeon]

1. I thought that L. Ron Hubbard was Maitreya ("Mettaya" in Pali)

I know, I just haven't keen keeping up ...

--d!

[Strong Atheist]

2. I have no idea. First I have heard of this... nt.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Here's a bit from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maitreya">Wikipedia - Maitreya.

There is a section on self-proclaimed Maitreyas. Raël also has claimed aitreya-hood.

In Buddhist theology (though it really isn't all that theistic), Maitreya was/is/will be a Boddhisatva, the next one after Gautama/Sakyamuni, and possibly lead all Humanity to Enlightenment. Most Buddhists, though, think it isn't going to happen any time soon.

--d!

[Strong Atheist]

4. Thank you. nt.

[FirstLight]

5. ...can I say this out loud and avoid flaming...?

I don't believe any ONE person will usher in an awakening... I DO believe it will be and HAS to be a collective thing. (100th monkey/critical mass sort of thing...)


And while I have agreed for many years that most spiritual practices in ther better forms can foster growth and credibility in living from the heart and that Humanity as a whole could possibly achieve it, and live in harmony with the planet and eachother.

Lately, I've been seriously questioning even THAT possibility


:banghead:

[trotsky]

6. No flaming, but the "100th monkey" thing is a myth.

http://www.skepdic.com/monkey.html

It makes for a cute story, but it isn't true. At least, the part about spontaneous transmission of a cultural trait across space without contact is not true. There really were some macaque monkeys who washed their sweet potatoes. One monkey started it and soon others joined in. But even after six years not all the monkeys saw the benefit of washing the grit off of their potatoes by dipping them into the sea. Watson made up the part about the mysterious transmission. The claim that monkeys on other islands had their consciousness raised to the high level of the potato-washing cult is a myth (Amundson 1985, 1987; Pössel and Amundson, 1996).

[Strong Atheist]

7. Thanks for the info. I had NO idea what 100th monkey meant... nt.

[ironbark]

8. Looks like

they have pinched, appropriated, adopted the Baha’i teachings and claims word for word line for line.

The notion of the ‘World Teacher’ first came to prominence in the West through the Theosophists. Through their study of the worlds religions (and under the motto ‘There is no religion higher than truth) they came to conclude that every major living religion had prophecies regarding the return of a central figure. They concluded that these propercies would be fulfilled by one figure- a World Teacher…and rather than wait they went out to get one ;-)

They chose a twelve year old Indian boy called Jiddu Krishnamurti and raised him for the role. They established ‘The Order of The Star’ to facilitate his role and thousands flocked to it. Everthing was going great untill Jiddu turned 21 and before five thosand devotees declared- “I aint the one’ (or words to that effect ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti

I’ve always admired him for that alone…it takes courage to turn down the role of Messia and the perks and retirement fund that come with it.

Since then there have been a string of claimants to the role- Sai Baba, Rael ect.

The Baha’is remain (to my knowledge) the first to articulate such claims and from my perspective the most interesting.

In the early 1800s the bible student/scholar William Miller looked at Christian prophecy re the second coming and concluded it would occur in 1844. Come that year no one descended on an escalator of clouds and they (the ‘Millerites’) declared it the ‘Year of the Great Disappointment’.

Same year the Baha’i faith sprang up in Persia (now Iran) with the central figure claiming to be the fulfilment of all the ‘return’ expectations of the worlds faiths.

The Baha’is claim some 5-6 million adherents…I don’t know of any of the subsequent claimants that have done as well.

Will wait and see how the latest ‘Maitreya’ goes.

[Strong Atheist]

9. Thanks for the info. nt.