--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, libris <libris@...> wrote:

> Dear Thomas,
>
> Metteyya is only mentioned in the Cakkavatti Sihanada Sutta (D 26)

in the Canon, definitely not in the Sutta Nipata, although there
mught be a disciple whose name is very close,

>

Lamotte's History of Indian Buddhism has a lot of interesting
information about a messianic cult that developed in the central
Asian region, fusing Maitreya, Mithras, and Jesus. Metteyya in the
Sutta Nipata is just the name of a brahman student, but later he
became assimilated to the future Buddha, and a series of later texts
depict him receiving his 'confirmation' from the Buddha. In the
Sutta Nipata, Metteyya appears next to another Brahman called Ajita.
Later, Ajita was depicted as the cakkavattin who would rule in
Metteyya Buddha's time. Eventually, the two were fused, and
became 'Ajita-metteya', a term which is exactly parallel with that
other great saviour, Mithras Invictus.


in Dhamma

Bhante Sujato