UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 74 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on Maitreya Future Buddha
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectArt and Culture
- TopicBuddhism and Jainism
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
With reference to Indian history, who among the following is a future Buddha, yet to come to save the world?
Show answer
Answer: C. Maitreya
Analysis
Maitreya is the future Buddha, so the answer is (c).
The universe of the Great Vehicle contains numerous Bodhisattvas. The gentle Maitreya, the future Buddha, is worshipped as a Bodhisattva and is the one yet to come.
The other three options are not three different figures but essentially one. Avalokiteshvara, the Lord who Looks Down, is also called Padmapani, the Lotus-Bearer, and Lokesvara, the Lord of the World. His special attribute is compassion, and his helping hand reaches even to Avici, the deepest of the Buddhist purgatories. Other important Bodhisattvas include Manjusri, who stimulates understanding and carries a sword and a book, Vajrapani, the stern foe of sin bearing a thunderbolt, and Ksitigarbha, guardian of the purgatories.
Source
A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, chapter on Religion: cults, doctrines and metaphysics, page 276.
How to crack it
The elegant route is to notice that three options are alternative names for the same Bodhisattva, and since a question must have one answer, three synonyms cannot each be it. Whenever an option set contains items you suspect are the same entity under different names, the odd one out is the answer. Learn the Bodhisattvas by attribute and emblem, as Basham's chapter presents them.