Our world is in trouble. Our modern institutions are failing us, as humanity faces the greatest existential threat it has ever faced — the progressive destruction of our planet’s life systems that we all rely on to live. Now more than ever we need extraordinary wisdom and support — and we have it in Maitreya, the World Teacher.

A modern man

Maitreya is a modern man, concerned with the world’s most pressing, modern problems. While he looks like any one of us, and sees himself as one of us, he also has extraordinary, divine capacities that we can only imagine. His divinity enables him to reach deep into the hearts of all humanity, all at once. He experiences the tremendous suffering of every human being, anywhere in the world, at any given moment. And he is here now to help us to recognize that humanity is one global family.

The Teacher expected by all the major religions

The World Teacher has been expected for generations by all of the world’s major religions. Christians know him as the Christ; Jews await him as the Messiah; Hindus look for the coming of Krishna; Buddhists await Maitreya Buddha; and Muslims expect the Imam Mahdi. Although the names are different, they all refer to the same individual: the World Teacher, whose personal name is Maitreya.

Not a religious leader

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 all people irrespective of background or belief. He comes as an educator in the broadest sense — pointing the way out of humanity’s most critical problems. At this time of great political, economic, social and environmental crisis, Maitreya will inspire humanity to see itself as one family, and to create a civilization based on sharing, economic and social justice, and global cooperation.

A modern man concerned with modern world problems

As a modern man concerned with today’s modern problems — political, economic, social and environmental — Maitreya has worked on many levels since his return to the everyday world in 1977 to prepare humanity for his outward presence. The outpouring of his extraordinary energy has been the stimulus for dramatic and positive changes on many fronts, including the end of the Cold War and the rapprochement between East and West, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the growing strength of the people’s voice in many countries, and the worldwide focus on preserving the environment.

Maitreya’s priorities

Under Maitreya’s inspiration, humanity itself will make the needed changes and create a saner and more just world for all. His first priorities will be to help us solve the climate crisis, and to address the plight of 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, shelter, education, and medical care become universal rights. He wisely counsels: without sharing, there can be no justice, and without justice, no peace.

Maitreya’s teachings

Maitreya is here to show us that we ourselves are God in potential. He will teach the art of Self-realization which gives every human being the tools they need to develop their own consciousness so they can realize the God they are in potential. It is not an ideology or a religion, but benefits people of all religions as well as those who profess to have no religion. He says, “I have not come to found a new religion. … I seek to express that which I am through you; for this I come.” (See: Maitreya’s Teachings)

Presenting Himself as a man among men, Maitreya will make no claims, demand no allegiance. Simple and direct will be His approach, moderate and calm His manner. His clarity of mind will arrest attention. His wisdom will overcome men’s fears. His sincerity of utterance will melt men’s hearts and remove the burden of hate and greed. Thus will men experience a new appearance of divinity, one which includes them in its manifestation, and sees no distance or separation.
As the Embodiment and Agent of cosmic power and love, Maitreya will open the hearts of all who can respond, and, turning men from the fear and division of the past, ready them for the glory of the future. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, Maitreya’s task, published in Share International magazine, March 2005, and reprinted in A Master Speaks, Volume 2)