Bodhisattva Maitreya

Maitreya is one of the great bodhisattvas said to reside in the realm of Tushita, where he awaits his time to be born as a human and manifest his life as the future Buddha. As such he is popular in all of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and venerated by monks as well as the laity. He is often depicted as a youth with a stupa in his crown or as one of his attributes. This sculpted image shows him in that youthful appearance and in the attire typical of a bodhisattva, crowned and bejeweled. A small ewer, another of his attributes is set on a lotus, the stem of which he loosely holds with his left hand. That hand is also performing the gesture of meditation.