觀彌勒上生兜率天經贊 1.11

1.11

"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.'