三彌勒經疏 1.43

1.43

「『作此語已，自投火坑，與菟併命。地動天振，神力故樹放光，金色白光曜照千國土。眾生見光尋來至，見仙與菟俱火中死，及得所說偈并佛經已，持還上王，王宣令皆發大菩提心。』佛告梵志：『時菟王者，今我身是。其菟兒者，羅睺羅是。誦經仙人，今彌勒是。五百菟者，大迦葉等五百人是。山樹神者，舍利弗、目連等二百五十人是。時千國王者，今跋陀波羅等千菩薩是。彼國眾生得聞經者，賢劫佛所得道者是。』」以此定知，初逢彌勒佛發決定心，故名彌勒。然《賢愚經》約後位故，說弗沙佛時也。

" 'Having spoken these words, he threw himself into the fire pit, sharing his life with the hares. The earth moved and the heavens shook. Through spiritual power, the trees emitted light; golden and white light shone upon a thousand lands. Sentient beings saw the light, followed it and came to the place; they saw that the ṛṣi and the hares had both died in the fire, and after obtaining the verses spoken and the Buddhist sūtras, they brought them back and presented them to their king. The king made a proclamation, and all gave rise to the aspiration for great bodhi.' The Buddha told the brahmacārins: 'The king of hares at that time was my own body now. That hare's child was Rāhula. The ṛṣi chanting the sūtras was Maitreya now. The five hundred hares were the five hundred people including Mahākāśyapa. The spirits of the mountain and trees were the two hundred and fifty people including Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana. The kings of the thousand lands at that time were the one thousand bodhisattvas including Bhadrapāla now. The sentient beings of those lands who heard the sūtras were those who attained the Path under the Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa.' By this it is definitely known that he first met Maitreya Buddha and generated the resolute aspiration, and therefore was named Maitreya. However, because the *Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra* refers to a later stage, it speaks of the time of Puṣya Buddha."