Back to the future or to the past? On the Former Buddhas and the Buddhist messiah, Maitreya, in the Konjakumonogatarishū

Abstract

The historical figure of Gautama Buddha was exalted by his followers. The interpretation that he had understood the Dharma gave rise, even before our era, to the cult of the Seven Former Buddhas (過 去仏) in Indian Buddhism. These served to sanctify the figure of the historical Buddha. Some of them are described in the medieval Japanese text Konjakumonogatarishū (KON), an anthology with a marked Buddhist catechetical intent. This work analyzes the narrative of the Seven Former Buddhas present in the KON, with the aim of understanding why their presence is so limited in the Japanese religious context. The results show the transmission of the Indian narrative about the Former Buddhas, as well as a paradigm shift—through contact with the religions of Central Asia—that enshrined the hope of future salvation in the figure of the Buddhist ‘messiah’: Maitreya. This temporal leap in the KON reflects the progressive loss of prominence of the Former Buddhas, among whom Gautama Buddha himself was relegated over time.