On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c17.s3.64

v2.c17.s3.64

The story of Mahā Māyā coming down from her place in Paradise to weep over her dead son the Buddha, is told in several Buddhist treatises. Yuan-chuang had evidently read it in the "Mahāmāyā-ching" with the account in which his largely agrees.¹ Some of his expressions such as "the happiness of men and devas is exhausted", "the world's eye is extinguished", occur in that treatise. It also gives Ānanda's question as to how the occurrence was to be described for the benefit of posterity and the Buddha's reply. It is to be noted that the older Nirvāṇa treatises such as the "Mahā-Parinibbāna-sutta", the "Ta-pan-nie-p'an-ching", and the "Fo-pan-ni-huan-ching", do not make any mention of Mahā Māyā coming down to weep over her dead son.