[1] The painting features the Bodhisattva Maitreya,[2] a future Buddha who is foretold to appear on Earth in order to help humans achieve enlightenment through the teachings of dharma.

[4] The famed painter and Buddhist monk, Zhu Haogu (朱好古), along with his pupil Zhang Boyuan (張伯淵), created the dry fresco painting on the southwestern portion of the Xinghua Si (興化寺) monastery during China's Yuan dynasty.

Fearing The Paradise of Maitreya was in danger of theft, the monks of Xinghua Si removed the work from the wall and partitioned it into 63 pieces so that it could be securely stored and hidden in Taiyuan.

Over the following 5-year period, the piece was shipped from Taiyuan to Tianjin, then taken via American Express to Boston, and from there was taken to Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum by train.

[2] While the painting suffered notable damage following its removal from the Xinghua si monastery, restoration efforts made by the ROM have led The Paradise of Maitreya to become one of the best preserved pieces from the Yuan dynasty.

[5] As part of a museum-wide restoration effort put on by the ROM in 2005, The Paradise of Maitreya received further attention addressing surface and structural issues.

A team of students commissioned by White discovered the painting appeared to bear an inscription dictating it was completed on the 14th day of the mid-autumn moon of qingshen.