觀彌勒上生兜率天經贊 1.11

1.11

「仙發誓言：『願我世世不起殺想，恒不噉肉，入慈三昧，乃至成佛制斷肉戒。』語已投火而死，與菟母子併俱時命終。地六種振動。天神之力樹有光明，金色晃曜照千國土，眾生見光尋光來至。見仙與菟俱死火中，得所說偈并佛經已，持還上王。王遺遍宣令，聞皆發大菩提心。」佛告梵志：「時菟王者，今我身是。其菟兒者，羅睺羅是。誦經仙人者，今彌勒是。五百菟者，大迦葉等五百人是。山樹神者，舍利弗、目揵連等二百五十人是。時千國王者，今跋陀波羅等千菩薩是。彼國眾生得聞法者，賢劫佛所得道者是。由是菩薩乃至成佛猶名彌勒，其所說經亦名慈三昧光大悲海雲。」此說初時，《賢愚經》說弗沙佛時，乃近代也。欲顯生生常習慈行，相師立名遠符往性，今古合稱故名彌勒。若依此，姓名為慈者，應云梅呾利曳那。梅呾利那是男聲，自性修慈故稱男也。婆羅門種姓有眾多，其此慈者，父王本姓。父姓母姓俱有慈故，名為慈氏。又有云：慈氏本姓頗羅墮，字阿氏多。又王姓頗羅墮，字阿氏多。字理無差，姓成乖角。其彌勒者，母及自性俱行慈愛，因以為名，由是得號。是心行性，亦種姓也。如釋迦是姓，牟尼是號，一切義成是名，憍答摩是皇，如此立姓之所生聖也。是名第二慈性所因。

"The ṛṣi made a vow, saying: 'May I, life after life, never give rise to thoughts of killing, never consume meat, enter the loving-kindness samādhi, and even, upon attaining Buddhahood, establish the precept prohibiting meat.' Having spoken, he threw himself into the fire and died, his life ending at the very same time as that of the hare mother and child. The earth shook in six ways. Through the power of the heavenly deities, the trees radiated bright light, dazzling in golden colour and illuminating a thousand kingdoms. Sentient beings saw the light and followed it to the place. Seeing that the ṛṣi and the hares had both died in the fire, and having obtained the verse spoken as well as the Buddha's scriptures, they carried them back and presented them to the king. The king sent [messengers] to proclaim them everywhere, so that all who heard generated the great mind of bodhi." The Buddha told the ascetics: "The hare king of that time was my own self. That hare child was Rāhula. The ṛṣi who recited the scriptures was this Maitreya. The five hundred hares were the five hundred individuals such as Mahākāśyapa. The mountain and tree deities were the two hundred and fifty individuals such as Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana. The kings of the thousand kingdoms of that time were the thousand bodhisattvas such as Bhadrapāla. The sentient beings of those kingdoms who were able to hear the Dharma were those who have attained the Path under the Buddhas of the Fortunate Kalpa. It is for this reason that this Bodhisattva, even up to his attainment of Buddhahood, is still called Maitreya, and the sūtra he will expound is also called *The Light of Loving-Kindness Samādhi and Ocean-Cloud of Great Compassion*." This recounts the initial period; as for the time of Puṣya Buddha recounted in the *Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish*, that belongs to recent times. Wishing to make manifest that he constantly practiced the conduct of loving-kindness life after life, the physiognomist's bestowal of the name distantly corresponded to his past disposition; because ancient and modern coincide, he is named Maitreya. If based on this, the surname meaning 'Loving-Kindness' should be Maitreya (Maitreyeṇa). 'Maitreyeṇa' is a masculine form, named as masculine because of his practice of loving-kindness by his own disposition. Brahmin clans are numerous; this 'Loving-Kindness' was originally his father the king's clan. Because both the paternal and maternal clans possessed loving-kindness, he was named Maitreya. There is also an explanation stating: Maitreya's original clan was Bhāradvāja, and his courtesy name was Ajita. Another says the royal clan was Bhāradvāja, and his courtesy name was Ajita. There is no discrepancy in the courtesy name, but the clans conflict. As for 'Maitreya', both his mother and his own nature practiced loving-kindness, and he was named after this, obtaining this title on this basis. This is a disposition of mental conduct, and also a clan name. Just as Śākya is the clan, Muni is the title, Sarvārthasiddha is the given name, and Gautama is the imperial lineage, so too is a sage born of such an established clan. This is the second [section], 'the origin of the disposition of loving-kindness.'