弥勒

彌勒

Mí lè

Meanings

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Mí lè

1.Maitreya, the future Bodhisattva, to come after Shakyamuni Buddha

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Wiktionary

1.(Buddhism) Maitreya
2.Mile (a county-level city of Honghe prefecture, Yunnan, China)

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Etymology

From early Middle Indo-Aryan in forms like *Metreka, due to alternation of -k- and -y- that can be found in Middle-Indic languages such as Gandhari and Ashokan Prakrit. Ji (1998v11) considers the most likely direct ancestor to be Tocharian A Metrak, which also gave rise to Tocharian B Maitrāk. Cf. Bactrian Μητραγα (Mētraga) (Karashima, 2010); connected to the Gandhari 𐨨𐨅𐨟𐨿𐨪𐨅𐨩 (metreya) and Sanskrit मैत्रेय (maitreya). However, the frequently-cited form Maitreya is not a direct ancestor. Ji (ibid.) further finds the root of both the word and the religious figure in Sanskrit मैत्री (maitrī, “goodwill; close union; friendship”) and related to मित्र (mitra, “Mitra”).

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