Toh 149The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Question of Maitreya”

Summary

The bodhisattva Maitreya approaches the Buddha on Vulture Peak Mountain and asks him to explain the karmic results of
teaching the Dharma. The Buddha responds by comparing the merit gained by a person who makes an unfathomably enormous
material offering to the buddhas, to the merit gained by another person who teaches a single verse of Dharma, declaring
that the merit of the latter is far superior.

Acknowledgements

This sūtra was translated by the Kīrtimukha Translation Group. Celso Wilkinson, Laura Goetz, and L.S. Summer translated the
text from the Tibetan and Sanskrit.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

On Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, the bodhisattva Maitreya arises from an audience of monks and bodhisattvas and asks the
Buddha to explain the karmic results of teaching the Dharma. The Buddha responds by comparing the merit gained by a
person who makes an unfathomably enormous material offering to the buddhas, to the merit gained by another person who
teaches a single verse of Dharma, declaring that the merit of the latter is far superior. The Buddha then concludes with
a two-verse summary of his pithy explanation.

This very brief sūtra, found in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section of the Degé Kangyur,
is not to be confused with two other sūtras from the Ratnakūṭa (dkon brtsegs)
collection of the Kangyur called The Question of Maitreya (Toh 85) and The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities (Toh 86), which are longer and differ thematically from this
sūtra.

While the longer Question of Maitreya is well known and has been the subject of several
commentaries in the Tibetan tradition, this text seems to have been less utilized. We were only able to locate a few
references to it, one of which is in a Prajñāpāramitā commentary by the Indian scholar Dharmamitra (twelfth century) on
the Abhisamayālaṅkāra, located in the Tengyur. This shorter Question of Maitreya
is cited among a series of scriptural quotations regarding how bodhisattvas should not conceal teachings from students
but offer them freely out of compassion.

There was no known Sanskrit original of The Question of Maitreya available until recently, when
a manuscript containing a collection of twenty sūtras was found in the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā published
a critical edition and English translation of this collection in the series Sanskrit Texts from the Autonomous Region
(2010). Unfortunately, due to the inaccessibility of the manuscript collection and because it is missing a final
colophon, its origin and date are currently unknown. There seems
to be a thematic connection among these twenty sūtras: Vinītā notes that moral discipline (śīla) is a recurrent theme in the manuscript, and we can likewise identify the prevalence of themes of karmic cause and effect and, as in
the case of The Question of Maitreya, the hierarchy of merit. In our translation, citations of the Sanskrit are given using Vinītā’s emendations of the
handwritten manuscript.

While the Sanskrit manuscript is entitled Āryamaitreyaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra, the Degé
edition gives the transliterated Sanskrit title Āryamaitriparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra,
a variation on the name of the bodhisattva Maitreya. Other Tibetan editions give similar variants, such as maitre, metre, or mitri. We have chosen to adopt the more familiar rendering (maitreya) for the title.

In addition to the Degé Kangyur, we have consulted the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and several other
editions, including those from Tshalpa, Thempangma, and independent lines, to compare and record variant readings. These
editions are generally consistent and closely match the Sanskrit text. There is no known Chinese translation of this
sūtra.

There are three sūtras entitled The Question of Maitreya listed in the imperial catalogs, but
judging by this sūtra’s length it likely corresponds to the “small” (chung
ngu) Question of Maitreya recorded in both the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) and Phangthangma (’phang thang
ma) catalogs. This
suggests that the sūtra was translated into Tibetan by the early ninth century at the latest, as the Denkarma catalog is
thought to be dated to 812 ce. The sūtra lacks a translator’s colophon, so it is not possible to identify its translators or more precisely determine the context of its transmission to Tibet.

In addition to the English translation found in Vinītā’s critical edition of the Sanskrit manuscript, there is also a recent English
translation by Peter Skilling, with helpful notes, in his 2021 anthology Questioning the Buddha:
A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras.

We have based our translation primarily on the Degé edition of the Tibetan Kangyur, but we consulted the Sanskrit and other
Kangyur editions in the case of questionable terms or passages, to establish the most plausible and accurate readings of
the text. Any instance where we have diverged from the Degé has been noted, and any significant differences found in the
various versions of the sūtra are recorded in the notes.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra

The Question of Maitreya

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Rājagṛha, on Vulture Peak Mountain, together with a
great saṅgha of monks and a great saṅgha of bodhisattvas.

On that occasion the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya rose from his seat, draped his shawl over one shoulder, and knelt on his right knee.
Joining his palms and bowing to the Blessed One, he spoke these words: “Blessed One, what are the karmic results
of bestowing the Dharma?”

The Blessed One replied to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, “Maitreya, suppose one person filled as many great
trichiliocosms as there are grains of sand in the river Ganges with the seven precious substances and offered
them to the tathāgata, arhat, truly perfect buddhas, and another person, out of compassion, established a single
verse of the Dharma in the mindstream of another. Maitreya, the former mass of merit would not even come close
to a hundredth of this latter mass of merit. Nor could it be compared to even a thousandth, a
hundred-thousandth, a ten-millionth, a hundred-sextillionth,
or any other portion, fraction, enumeration, or example.”

After the Sugata had said this, the Teacher furthermore declared:

“Consider one who has caused as many world realms as there are sand grains in the Ganges

To be filled to the brim with an abundance of riches

And offered these to the victors with a joyful mind,

And another who has bestowed a single verse to a sentient being—

“If that exceedingly vast gift of riches

Does not equal any fraction or portion

Of cultivating compassion and then bestowing a single verse,

How could one fathom the ripening of giving a verse twice, or three times?”

When the Blessed One had spoken, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, the other bodhisattvas and the monks, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras,
and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

This completes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Question of Maitreya.”

Notes

Abbreviations

Degé
Degé (sde dge) Kangyur

Stok
Stok Palace (stog pho brang bris ma) Kangyur

Sanskrit
Sanskrit manuscript found in the Potala Palace (see introduction and bibliography)

Bibliography

Source Texts

Secondary Literature