Makna Simbol Lao Mu dan Rupang Buddha Maitreya dan Pengaruhnya terhadap Pola Hidup Vegetarian Umat di Maha Vihara Maitreya Cemara Asri

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how Maitreya Buddhists interpret and internalize the significance of the Lao Mu symbol and the Maitreya Buddha statue, while also examining their influence on the adoption of a vegetarian lifestyle at Maha Vihara Maitreya Cemara Asri in Percut Sei Tuan District, Deli Serdang Regency. The study employs a qualitative field research method, utilizing Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology as the primary theoretical framework and Clifford Geertz’s theory of symbolic meaning as a supporting framework. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. Informants were selected using purposive sampling based on specific criteria; the group consisted of seven individuals, including religious leaders (Pandita), administrators, and lay practitioners who actively participate in worship and have taken a vow of vegetarianism. The findings reveal that the Lao Mu symbol is perceived as the embodiment of the "Universal Mother" or "Creator," symbolizing boundless love and the source of life, while the smiling, large-bellied Maitreya Buddha statue symbolizes magnanimity, peace, and universal loving-kindness (metta). This internalization occurs deeply through the Bhakti Puja ritual, transforming spiritual belief into a guide for ethical living (a "model for reality"). Such inner realization provides a powerful transformative impetus for practitioners to consistently adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. Vegetarianism is practiced not merely as a plant-based diet but as a tangible manifestation of loving-kindness, refraining from harming other living beings which positively impacts the practitioners' inner peace, emotional control, and physical health.