User:Andries/Share International

Share International, formerly called the Tara Center is an organization, sometimes labeled as a movement, that grew out of the teachings of Benjamin Creme with its main office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. . They believe that a great teacher named Maitreya has returned to the everyday world and is currently living in the Asian community in London, specifically in the Bangladeshi Brick Lane area.

Beliefs and claims
Share International's publications claim that the coming of Maitreya fulfills not only Buddhist prophecies about the appearance of a future great teacher named Maitreya, but also the prophecies of a number of other world religions- including Christianity (the second coming of Christ), Hinduism (the Kalki avatar of Vishnu), Islam (the Imam Mahdi) and Judaism (the Jewish messiah). Creme claims that Maitreya manifested himself as Jesus 2000 years ago. After that Maitreya meditated in the Himalayas and on 8 July 1977 descended from the Himalayas and took on the 19th July 1977 an airplane to Heathrow airport near London and is now living in the Brick Lane area. Journalists had been invited to find the Maitreya in the Brick Lane area but were unable to find him. According to Creme, the Maitreya was responsible for the ending of the cold war, the German reunification, and the ending of apartheid in South Africa

In 1982 Creme placed full page advertisements in newspapers around the world saying, "The Christ is now here". According to Creme the "Christ", whom he also called "Maitreya", would announce his existence on world wide television broadcasts, and that he would do that within several months of the initial newspaper advertisement. This created a sensation within some New Age groups, and even among some Evangelical Christians; but, when the promised television broadcasts of the Maitreya/Christ failed to occur, most of Creme's followers lost interest. Creme, who is independently wealthy, continues to fund newspaper advertisements and press conferences, as well as to fund his journal and websites. According to the religious scholar Gordon J. Melton, Creme's statement served as a catalyst to the assessments by Christian Evangelicals of the New Age movement. A week after these advertisements, other advertisements appeared in the Los Angeles Times accusing Creme of being an instrument of the Antichrist. The Evangelical Christian Constance Cumbey maintains that Creme is the Anti-Christ and that the Share International version of Maitreya is a satanist conspiracy. Other Christian Evangelicals distanced themselves from Cumbey's conspiracy theory.

The beliefs and claims of Creme have been described as fantastic and outlandish by the British journalist Mick Brown.

Share International promote their own form of meditation that they call "Transmission meditation".

Share International claims that Maitreya appeared before a Christian gathering in or near Nairobi, Kenya in June of 1988. This event was widely published among others by CNN and pictures of the Jesus-like apparition were distributed worldwide. .

Share International and Benjamin Creme have been strongly influenced by Alice Bailey's version of theosophy.

Magazine and organization
Share International's headquarters are located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It publishes a monthly magazine, also called Share International. In it, Creme has published a number of articles that he claims were dictated to him telepathically by a Master of Wisdom, an elightened human being. The magazine treats many miracles that they assert appear all over the world.

The organization has branches in Germany, France, Japan, the Netherlands, USA, and several other countries.