Introduction

i.1The Question of Maitreya (Maitreya­paripṛcchā), like most of the sūtras that comprise the Ratnakūṭa collection, was translated into Tibetan from a Sanskrit original that is now lost, but that may have dated back as far as the first or second centuries ᴄᴇ, i.e., several centuries before the collection itself was compiled. Apart from the Tibetan Kangyur version, translated in the ninth century, and a fragment in Sanskrit found in Central Asia, the sūtra is extant only in an earlier Chinese translation.

i.2Both the work translated here and the work that follows it in the collection, The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities, focus on the important figure of the bodhisattva Maitreya, who is generally accepted as destined to be the future Buddha of this world-system.

i.3In The Question of Maitreya, the Buddha predicts that Maitreya will attain enlightenment due to having applied the skillful means of the Bodhisattva Vehicle (Bodhisattvayāna), a synonym for the Mahāyāna. This vehicle, its entry, and its path are described as “easy,” in contrast to the difficulties encountered by the Buddha himself. His hardship is detailed in a passage that is unusual for its portrayal of the harsh rejection of the Buddha and his teachings by some of his contemporaries.

i.4The sūtra’s stories of the Buddha’s great sacrifices in three of his former lives derive from earlier Jātaka literature. Although influential to some extent in forming the ideal of the bodhisattva, such supreme heroic acts were doubtless too daunting for most people. The reader is led to infer that by following the example of Maitreya future bodhisattvas will be able to attain enlightenment with relative ease. Thus, the sūtra implicitly promotes the Mahāyāna, without devaluing earlier Buddhist traditions.

i.5The sūtra is probably best known for an aspiration prayer in verse that, the Buddha tells Ānanda, was used by Maitreya six times daily as he was training on the bodhisattva path (1.­67–1.­90). This prayer is widely known as The Prayer of Maitreya (byams pa’i smon lam) or The Sovereign Prayer of Maitreya (Maitreya­praṇidhana­rāja, byams pa’i smon lam gyi rgyal po); at least in Tibetan Buddhism, its importance as a general Mahāyāna aspiration prayer is perhaps second only to Samantabhadra’s Prayer of Good Action (bzang spyod smon lam, from the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra), and it is recited daily in many monasteries. The verses are also found as an independent text (but with this sūtra mentioned in the colophon as their source) both in the Dhāraṇī section of the Kangyur (Toh 1096), and in the Tengyur (Toh 4378). Although no Indian commentaries on this prayer are known, it seems to have been recognized as a distinct feature of the sūtra at least as far back as the early translation period, as evidenced by the sūtra’s description in the Phangthangma catalogue (dkar chag ’phang thang ma) as “the longer Noble [Sūtra] of the Question of Maitreya containing the aspiration” (’phags pa byams pas zhus pa chen po smon lam can). It is also, presumably, the “Former Prayer that is Truly Noble” that the Buddha gives Ānanda as an alternative title for the sūtra (see 1.­96). The prayer is the topic of several commentaries in the Tibetan literature, notably those of Shākya Chokden (shA kya mchog ldan, 1428-1507); Drukpa Padma Karpo (’brug pa pad ma dkar po, 1527-1592); Tāranātha (tA ra nA tha, 1575-1634), who adds comments on the significance of the whole sūtra; Choné Trakpa Shedrup (co ne grags pa bshad sgrub, 1675-1748); Ngulchu Dharmabhadra (dngul chu dhar ma bha dra, 1772-1851); and Kyedor Khenpo Ngawang Khedrup (kye rdor mkhan po ngag dbang mkhas grub, 1779-1838).

i.6It is difficult to determine the precise historical relationship of The Question of Maitreya with the much shorter sūtra that follows it, The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities (Toh 86). Their themes are closely linked‍—in both, Maitreya questions the Buddha about the bodhisattvas’ qualities. However, their geographic settings differ: The Question of Maitreya is delivered in a relatively obscure location, Mount Śuśumāra in the country of the Bhargas, while The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities is set on Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha, like many other Ratnakūṭa sūtras. The two texts also have different colophons. The translation of the longer sūtra is attributed to Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, under the editorial supervision of Yeshé Dé, which would date its Tibetan translation to the early ninth century. The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities, however, is said to have been translated by Jinamitra and Danaśila, while Yeshé Dé is said to have corrected it using the revised terminology (skad gsar). This may imply a slightly later date for this translation, but could also indicate the existence of an earlier Tibetan translation of The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities which required updating in its terminology.

i.7Other sūtras in which previous lives of Maitreya are recounted include the Saddharma­puṇḍarīka (Toh 113), Maitreya­praṣṭhāna (Toh 198), and Suvarṇaprabhāsa (Toh 556-7). The story of his obtaining the prophecy of his future buddhahood (vyākaraṇa) at the time of the Buddha Ratnaśikhin is told in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (in the Bhaiṣajyavastu, the sixth chapter of the Vinayavastu, Toh 1)‍—the same account being found in the non-canonical Divyāvadāna collection‍—and in the Maitreya­vyākaraṇa, a text found in several Sanskrit manuscripts, in a Chinese translation, and in a Tibetan version in the Peking (P 1011) and Narthang Kangyurs, but not included in the Degé Kangyur.

i.8These two sūtras in the Ratnakūṭa, which are both often simply called The Question of Maitreya, are not to be confused with a third sūtra of the same name in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section, Toh 149, a short work also set in Rajagṛha in which Maitreya asks a quite different question.

i.9The main Tibetan text used for the present translation was the Degé edition of the Kangyur. Other Tibetan editions were also consulted but no significant variations were found except for the single one noted.