Notes

n.1In D this title, included within the text, is preceded by this introductory sentence: “From The Noble Dharma Discourse, the Great Heap of Jewels in one hundred thousand sections, section 41: ‘The Noble Elucidation of the Question of Maitreya’ in one fascicle” (’phags pa dkon mchog brtsegs pa chen po’i chos kyi rnam grangs le’u stong phrag brgya pa las le’u bzhi bcu rtsa gcig pa ste / ’phags pa byams pas zhus pa lung bstan pa / bam po gcig pa).

n.2A fragment of the Stein collection, published in 1911 by Louis de La Vallée Poussin, was identified as part of this sūtra (corresponding to D, F.108.b–110.a) by Hisashi Matsumura in 1993 (see bibliography).

n.3They are sūtra numbers 41 and 42 in the Tibetan version of the Ratnakūṭa collection, but are numbered 85 and 86 respectively in the Tōhoku catalogue of the Degé Kangyur as a whole.

n.4The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, 1.­87–1.­88 (translated 2018).

n.5Maitreya’s Setting Out (translated 2021).

n.6The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (2), chapter 26, and The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (3), chapter 18 (both translated 2024). In both versions Maitreya is revealed toward the end of the chapter to have been Mahāpraṇāda in a previous life.

n.7The Chapter on Medicines, 3.­175 (translated 2021).

n.8The Question of Maitreya (3) (Maitreya­paripṛcchā, Toh 149, translated 2021).

n.9This inclusion of Indradeva and Varuṇadeva, Vedic deities, among the assembly of attendant bodhisattvas is unusual. It is, however, paralleled in another Ratnakuṭa sūtra, the Tathā­gata­cintya­guhya­nirdeśa (Toh 47).

n.10These eight, of course, comprise the noble eightfold path.

n.11This section outlines the system of the eight meditative absorptions (Skt. dhyāna; Pali jhāna), which are progressively deeper states of meditation. The first four are termed “form” (rūpa) jhānas because the absorption takes place within the fine material sphere (Skt. rūpadhātu; Pali rūpaloka). The final four are called “formless” (arūpa) because they take place in the formless spheres (Skt. arūpyadhātu; Pali arūpaloka), and are also known as the four attainments (samāpatti). For a presentation of the jhāna system followed in the present-day Theravāda, see Gunaratana (1988 pp. 9-20.)

n.12This is a citation from the Aṣṭā­daśa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom in 18,000 Lines), (Toh 11, vol. 29, F.162b). The preceding passage is also found there.

n.13This is a fifth accomplishment sometimes added to the four formless absorptions.

n.14This odd, seemingly culturally Himalayan simile does not appear to be due to any corruption in the text: N and H merely offer yul ring(s) instead of D yun ring. Indeed, the same simile is found in other Kangyur texts, again in the context of guarding moral conduct.

n.15The Sanskrit name of this tathāgata is attested in the Sanskrit fragment mentioned in the introduction (see also Matsumura 1993). The name is also a component of the names of two of the 35 “tathāgatas of confession,” found in a liturgy much used in the Tibetan tradition and extracted from the Vinaya­viniścayopāli­paripṛcchā (Toh 68); the Tibetan of the equivalent part of the names in the latter text is slightly different, ’od zer rnam par rol pa mngon par mkhyen pa (see Python 1973, pp. 34 and 100).

n.16This translation of bzod pa zad kyis gtugs pa is tentative.

n.17The Tibetan terms provisionally translated here as “set in place” and “protect” are bkod pa and yongs su gzung ba.

n.18We have not found the phrase theg pa bde ba ’jug pa bde ba lam bde ba attested elsewhere.

n.19las rnam pa gsum, “the three [kinds of] actions” is interpreted by Dharmabhadra and Ngawang Khedrup to mean meritorious actions of body, speech, and mind, but by Padma Karpo to be meritorious actions causing rebirth as a human, meritorious actions causing rebirth as a god, and “non-transferring” actions (mi g.yo ba’i las) causing rebirth in the two higher realms (of form and no-form).

n.20“Person” here is a translation of gso ba.

n.21The commentaries differ considerably in their interpretations of these two lines, with Padma Karpo emphasizing simply the inanimate nature of the four elements, and most of the others detailing particular qualities of patience for which each of the four is a simile. Despite the syntax, most agree that “not dwelling” (mi gnas pa) refers principally to the wind element. The translation here is an attempt to remain open to more than one interpretation.

n.22D and most other Kangyurs have bzod pa’am here in Toh 85, but bzod pa’ang in the versions in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 1096) and in the Tengyur (Toh 4378), which makes more sense; S has simply bzod pa.

n.23According to Tāranātha’s commentary, the threefold knowledge (rig pa gsum) comprises (1) knowledge of the whole of the past (sngon gyi mtha’ rig pa), (2) knowledge of the whole of the future (phyi ma’i mtha’ rig pa), and (3) knowledge of the exhaustion of defilements (zag zad rig pa); the other commentaries, however, take the three kinds of knowledge as knowledge of the minds, mental events, and their causes, of all sentient beings in the past, present, and future.

n.24One such story is recounted in The Śrīgupta Sūtra (dpal sbas kyi mdo, Toh 217), 1.­105–1.­129.