Notes

n.1See Silk 2019.

n.2For more on the translation of this text from Chinese, see Li 2016.

n.3The first five of these are also sometimes grouped as the three most central Maitreya texts: Taishō 452, Taishō 453–55 (counted as one), and Taishō 456 (translated in Iida and Goldstone 2016). For an overview of the Maitreya sūtras in the Chinese canon, see Iida and Goldstone 2016, 5–6. See also Mai 2009, 157–62.

n.4For example, Mai remarks that “the author/authors of some of the fifth-century guan texts deliberately used the term in an imprecise way, more to invoke the cultural and religious prestige of the word guan than to describe a specific technique of meditation” (Mai 2009, 164n13).

n.5These two points may seem at odds‍—affinity with indigenous Chinese meditation manuals, on one hand, and Turfan origins, on the other. It should be noted, however, that many Chinese meditation manuals have Central Asian origins (Yamabe 1999, 59ff.; also Mai 2009, 166–67).

n.6Yamabe 1999, 42–44. However, Silk (2019, 234) claims that it is “attributed wrongly to Juqu Jingsheng 沮渠京聲; this is rather a Central Asian composition.”

n.7Pelliot Chinois 3093; see Mai 2009, 159n6.

n.8The exact relationship between the Tibetan text and Taishō 452 deserves further study. Most discrepancies in the body of the text appear to us to be explicable in terms of translation choices (syntax, grammar, etc.) and occasionally what seem to be misunderstandings of the source (such as the failure to recognize a reference to the title of another Chinese sūtra, or a Sanskrit word that was rendered phonetically in Chinese).

n.9The phrase “…along with a great congregation of monks and many bodhisattva great beings” is missing in the Chinese.

n.10The Chinese reads 舉身 (“whole body”).

n.11Rather than “made contact with” (Tib. ’od kyis reg par byas) the Chinese has simply 照 (“illuminate”).

n.12The Chinese version reads differently here: （光）照須達舍 , 亦作金色 (“the light illuminated Sudatta’s house, which also turned golden in color”).

n.13The Chinese version has 有金色光，猶如段雲，遍舍衛國; 處處皆雨金色蓮花 (“The cloud-like golden light filled Śrāvastī in its entirety; everywhere there was a shower of golden lotuses”). Note that “filled the sky” is missing in the Chinese.

n.14The Chinese reads 摩訶波闍波提比丘尼，與其眷屬千比丘尼俱 (“the nun Mahāprajāpatī with a retinue of one thousand nuns”).

n.15The Chinese has 須達長者與三千優婆塞俱 (“the elder Sudatta with three thousand lay practitioners”).

n.16The Chinese reads 毘舍佉母與二千優婆夷俱 (“Viśākhā with two thousand lay women”).

n.17Here the Chinese has 復有菩薩摩訶薩，名跋陀婆羅，與其眷屬十六菩薩俱 (“also the bodhisattva great being named Bhadrapāla with a retinue of sixteen bodhisattvas”).

n.18The Chinese reads 文殊師利法王子，與其眷屬五百菩薩俱 (“the Dharma prince Mañjuśrī with the five hundred bodhisattvas”).

n.19The Chinese instead has 乾闥婆 (“gandharvas”).

n.20The Chinese gives a different sense: 皆說清淨諸大菩薩甚深不可思議諸陀羅尼法 (“taught the profound and unimaginable dhāraṇīs of the pure, great bodhisattvas”).

n.21The Chinese indicates that the Blessed One alone is speaking here: 世尊以 … 說陀羅尼門。 (“…the Blessed One spoke billions of such dhāraṇī gateways”).

n.22Here the Chinese version is more specific about the sources: 於毘尼中及諸經藏中 (“in the Vinaya and various sūtras”).

n.23Ajita is none other than Maitreya in a life prior to his awakening.

n.24The Chinese contains an additional phrase: 此人命終當生何處 (“…so when this person dies, how on earth could that be his next life?”).

n.25The Chinese reads differently: 今於此眾 … 記 (“I am prophesying to this retinue”).

n.26“We have heard the prophecy that” is absent in the Chinese text. Instead, it reads simply 此人 (“this person”).

n.27The phrase 我於彼佛莊嚴國界得受記者 (“as we have received the assurance of attaining buddhahood in that buddha’s ornamented realm….”) is absent in the Tibetan.

n.28Instead of “seven parks,” the Chinese has 七重垣 (“seven successive [encircling] walls”), indicating that the palace is spacious.

n.29The Chinese here reads 垣墻 (“wall”).

n.30Rather than “each palace,” the Chinese has 此垣 (“these walls”).

n.31The Chinese reads 行樹 (“rows of trees”).

n.32This name in the Tibetan text is transliterated from the Chinese 牢度跋提. We have been unable to determine the meaning of this name or a Sanskrit equivalent. Kitsūdo (2011, 338) hypothesizes that the Chinese 牢度跋提 is a transliteration from a Uighur transliteration of Skt. Rḍḍhibhadra. The first two characters 牢度 could also be either Rudra or Raudra, just like 牢度叉 Raudrākṣa, while the latter two characters 跋提 could be Skt. bhadrika, pati, or vati. In the Chinese sūtra, this figure (like the five kings below) is also described as a “great god” rather than a “great king.”

n.33The Chinese offers more detail here: 如紫紺摩尼表裏暎徹 (“just like a violet gem whose color is reflected inside and out”).

n.34The Chinese also includes 八色具足 (“possessing eight hues”).

n.35The Chinese version gives more detail: 其水上湧游梁棟間 (“…that spouted up from below and moved in between the pillars”).

n.36The Chinese has 若有往生 (“Any being that is reborn…”).

n.37The Chinese has 梵摩尼珠以為交絡 (“…the Brahmā gems intertwined and draped between them”).

n.38We have translated this as singular, although the Tibetan has the plural marker de dag.

n.39Here (and below with the second and fourth kings), la is read as las, which also agrees with the Chinese.

n.40The Chinese here reads 花德 (“Quality of Flowers”).

n.41The Chinese has 宮墻 (“walls of the palace”).

n.42Rather than “Maitreya’s awakening,” the Chinese reads 菩提意者 (“those with a mind set upon awakening”).

n.43The Chinese reads 正音聲 (“Correct Voice”).

n.44Here the Chinese reads simply 玉女 (“beautiful goddesses”).

n.45The Chinese has 此名兜率陀天十善報應勝妙福處。 (“This is called the Heaven of Joy, the place which consists of the results of ten virtues and great wonders”).

n.46The Chinese here has 佛告優波離 (“The Blessed One spoke to Upāli”) and does not include the name Upāli in the quotation.

n.47This most likely refers to the five vows of a layperson (abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxication) as well as the additional three vows (thus making eight in total) of abstaining from eating after noon, indulging in entertainment, and sleeping on beds.

n.48A Brahmin who sent his sixteen students, including Ajita, to visit the Buddha. On Ajita and Maitreya, see also Karashima 2018.

n.49On the possible name of this village, see Lamotte 1988, 700–701 and Yamabe 1999, 45.

n.50Here the Tibetan is rnam par thar pa gsum, while the Chinese is sanmei 三昧, which is a common Chinese translation of the Sanskrit samādhi. The usual Chinese term for “threefold liberation” (Skt. trivimokṣa) is san jie tuo 三解脫. We have chosen to follow the Tibetan in translating this as “threefold liberation.”

n.51The Chinese specifies the color of the beryl: 紺瑠璃色 “the color of blue beryl.”

n.52The Chinese reads differently and adds more detail here: 一一相好艶出八萬四千光明雲。與諸天子各坐花座。 (“Each major and minor mark shines forth an orb of eighty-four thousand clouds. Maitreya and each god sit on their lotus seats”).

n.53The Chinese reads 經一時中成就五百億天子 (“he will aid fifty billion gods in an instant to accomplish their aims…”).

n.54The Chinese has 說此法，度諸天子 (“explain this Dharma and liberate all the gods”).

n.55Here, we have opted for faithfulness to the Tibetan translation, although it seems to have overlooked an intertextual reference in the Chinese sūtra. The latter actually makes two separate claims: first, that after fifty-six trillion years have passed, Maitreya will leave Tuṣita to take birth in Jambudvīpa; and second, that this fact was taught in a text entitled the Sūtra on the Descent of Maitreya. That text (its title in Chinese is 彌勒下生經) may refer to the earliest of the Maitreya sūtras, translated in 303 ᴄᴇ by Dharmarakṣa (Taishō 453), which goes by this name. The similarly-titled Sūtra on the Descent and Enlightenment of Maitreya (彌勒下生成佛經) was translated by Kumārajīva (Taishō 454). In sum, either the Tibetan translators were not familiar with this Chinese sūtra or were working from a source manuscript with another reading.

n.56The Chinese here has 佛告優波離 (“The Blessed One spoke to Upāli”) and does not include the name Upāli in the quotation.

n.57Here the Chinese version adds 入正受 (“enter into a state of complete concentration”).

n.58The Chinese includes an additional clause here: 雖不斷結如得六通 (“even though they have not completely broken away from the afflictions, it is as if they have acquired the six superknowledges”).

n.59We here are translating de bzhin gshegs pa’i sku gzugs byed pa as “make statues of the thus-gone ones,” though the Chinese gives a different sense: 應當繫念念佛形像 (“they ought to harness their minds to a single point of remembering the image of the Blessed One…”).

n.60Rather than “purified all misdeeds,” the Chinese reads 修諸淨業 (“practiced pure deeds”).

n.61The Chinese reads 今此天主名曰彌勒，汝當歸依 (“The lord of this heaven is called Maitreya, and you should take refuge in him”). Note that in the Chinese version, the speech given by the gods ends here, and what follows is a continuation of the Buddha speaking to Upāli.

n.62In the Chinese version of this sūtra, the six practices (六事法) appear to refer to (1) accumulating merit, (2) maintaining a proper way of conduct, (3) sweeping the ground around stūpas, (4) offering numerous wondrous incenses and beautiful flowers, (5) practicing the threefold concentration and entering into a state of complete concentration, and (6) reading and reciting sūtras. The corresponding list of practices given in the Tibetan above is longer.

n.63The Chinese here has 佛告優波離 (“The Blessed One spoke to Upāli”) and does not include the name Upāli in the quotation.

n.64The Chinese also includes 優婆塞、優婆夷 (“laymen and laywomen”).

n.65This clause is absent in the Chinese.

n.66The Chinese instead reads 聞 (“hears”).

n.67The Chinese here has 造立 (“produces”).

n.68The Chinese here has 佛告優波離 (“The Blessed One spoke to Upāli”) and does not include the name Upāli in the quotation.

n.69The Chinese here again has 佛告優波離 (“The Blessed One spoke to Upāli”) and does not include the name Upāli in the quotation.

n.70The Chinese offers additional detail: 合掌恭敬 (“join their palms together and show respect”).

n.71The Chinese reads a little differently here: 設不生天，未來世中龍花菩提樹下亦得值遇發無上心 (“Even if they will not be reborn in heavenly realms, they will meet [Maitreya] and generate the excellent mind set upon awakening under the flower of the nāgas, the bodhi tree, in future rebirths”).

n.72The Chinese reads 說是語時 (“When the Blessed One spoke thus…”).

n.73The Chinese reads 他方來會 (“who had arrived from other directions”).

n.74Tentative translation from the Chinese: 他方來會十萬菩薩。得首楞嚴三昧.