ma tre ya
Maitreya is the next Buddha. He is currently waiting in the Tushita heaven for his time on earth which will be 5,670,000,000 years after the death of Śakyamuni. Afer this period the Buddhadharma will have completely died out, and Maitreya will 'rediscover' it just as all previous Buddhas have done so. Maitreya's emblem is the stupa, sometimes sitting on a lotus, as in this image, and his mudra is the wheel turning, or teaching mudra. He is sometimes shown as sitting in a chair western style.
Buddhists can sometimes be heard to pray: "Come Maitreya, come!"
Seed Syllable
Maitreya's seed syllable is maiṃ, which rhymes with the English word "sign". As in many cases this is the first syallble of Maitreya's name with an anusvāra.
Siddhāṃ or 
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Tibetan
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maiṃ
Mantra
Siddhaṃ
Tibetan - Uchen
Transliteration
oṃ mai tri ma hā mai tri mai tri ye svā hā
oṃ maitri mahāmaitri maitriye svāhā
Notes
The word maitri means friendly, amicable, benevolent, affectionate. The Pāli equivalent is metta. mahāmaitri is greatly friendly, and maitriye is the dative form of the word and therefore means "to or for the friendly one".
Maitri is related to the word mitra. Mitra was a Vedic god whose function was, along with Varuna, the protector of ṛta, the cosmic order.
Last updated: 11:53 22/04/2008