Notes

n.1For detailed information about the career of the bodhisattva Maitreya as it is presented in the different Buddhist traditions, see Jaini 1988.

n.2See Sponberg 1988.

n.3See Bhaiṣajya­vastu Translation Team, trans., The Chapter on Medicines (Bhaiṣajya­vastu, Toh 1, ch. 6), 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

n.4See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharma­puṇḍarīka, Toh 113), 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018b.

n.5See Robert A. F. Thurman, trans., The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīṛti­nirdeśa, Toh 176), 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2017.

n.6See Dharmasāgara Translation Group, trans., The Rice Seedling (Śālistamba, Toh 210), 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.

n.7See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, Toh 44-45), 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

n.8See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The King of Samādhis Sūtra (Samādhirāja­sūtra, Toh 127), 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018a.

n.9See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Sūtra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy , Toh 199 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.10It seems that this text was considered apocryphal in India but was later included within the sūtra section of some Tibetan (Peking and Narthang) and Chinese collections. It is, however, not found in the Degé Kangyur (see Hartmann 2006 and Levi 1932).

n.11Roberts, Peter Alan. trans., The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (1–3), three versions found in Toh 555, Toh 556, and Toh 557 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023–24).

n.12Interestingly, the bodhisattva qualities listed in Maitreya’s Setting Out are comparable to those found in The Question of Maitreya and The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities (Toh 86). See Liljenberg 2016a and 2016b.

n.13Note that the explanation of why the Buddha gained awakening faster than Maitreya, although he had originally given rise to the mind set on awakening only after Maitreya had done so, differ from what is recounted in The Question of Maitreya (Toh 85).

n.14The Denkarma catalogue is dated to c. 812 ᴄᴇ. Denkarma, 298.a.5. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 76–77, no. 140.

n.15Lit. “cotton fabrics worth ninety-nine trillion.”

n.16Lit. “worth a trillion.”

n.17Lit. “cotton fabrics worth ninety-nine trillion.”

n.18Lit. “worth a trillion.”

n.19At this point in the text, the king Golden Color answers by giving rise to the mind set on awakening, and we are then back to listening to the narration of the Buddha. Although the Buddha Pure Golden Light has concluded his verses, the text continues in a verse format.

n.20Comparable lists of bodhisattva qualities are found in The Question of Maitreya and The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities . There, Maitreya himself asks the Buddha to teach on these qualities. See Liljenberg 2016a and 2016b.

n.21Lit. “cloths worth ninety-nine trillion.”

n.22This is a tentative translation based on the general context of the verse. We have not been able to make sense of the Tibetan, which reads yon tan mnga’ ba grags chen ’dra ba ni / lha mi gzhan la bdag gis dbang ma mchis.