佛說彌勒下生成佛經

The greatly wise Śāriputra, a mighty general in the Dharma of the Buddha, one who followed the World-Honored One in turning the wheel of the Dharma, out of compassion for sentient beings addressed the Buddha:

– World-Honored One! According to the sequence taught in the sūtras, the Bodhisattva Maitreya will descend to be born as a Buddha. We wish to hear the World-Honored One explain clearly the adornment of his land and the spiritual power and merit of the Buddha Maitreya. How should sentient beings practice giving? How should they keep the precepts, and what wisdom should they attain in order to meet the Buddha Maitreya?

The Buddha said to Śāriputra:

– Now I shall explain this matter in full. Listen with single-minded attention.

Śāriputra! When the waters of the four great oceans recede a little, leaving but three thousand yojanas, at that time the land of Jambudvīpa will be ten thousand yojanas long and eight thousand yojanas wide, level and even like a mirror, called Flower-Soft. Grass will cover the whole surface of the earth, and the various trees, flowers, and fruits will be truly luxuriant.

The trees here will all be thirty li tall, the cities will adjoin one another, so that a chicken could fly back and forth between them, and the human lifespan will be eighty-four thousand years. The people will possess majestic virtue, wisdom, and the strength of complexion in peace and joy. There will be only three afflictions: 1.

Defecation and urination. 2. Eating and drinking. 3. Aging and decline.

The women here will marry only at five hundred years of age.

At that time there will be a great city called Ketumatī, twelve yojanas long and seven yojanas wide, exceedingly clean, orderly, and fine. The people dwelling within this city will be replete with merit, and by virtue of that merit they will be very wealthy, joyful, and at peace. This city will have the seven treasures, and its towers, pavilions, great gates, windows, and balustrades will all be fashioned from the seven treasures, with nets of pearls draped over them above.

The roads will be twelve li wide, kept swept and clean. There will be a great and powerful dragon king named Tālaśikhin. The pool and palace of the dragon king will be near the city.

At midnight, in this pool there will regularly fall a fine drizzle to settle the dust, so that the surface of the earth will be moist and glistening as though smeared with oil, and travelers on the road will not be soiled by dust. This is because of the merit of the people that it will be so. Throughout the roads everywhere there will be pillars of bright luminous pearls, ten li tall, whose light radiates throughout day and night issuing from these pillars, so that there is no need to rely on the light of lamps or torches.

From the roads to the houses and walled towns there will be not a single small clod of earth; the surface of the ground will be covered entirely with golden sand, and there will be mounds of gold and silver everywhere. There will be a great yakṣa spirit named Bhadrapālaśasaka who constantly guards and sweeps clean within the city. If there are any filthy things or excrement, the surface of the earth will split open to receive those filthy things, and afterward close up again as before.

Whoever is about to die will of his own accord go to the midst of the graveyard and there pass away. Life will be truly peaceful and joyful, without the calamities of theft, robbery, or enmity. In the villages and towns no one will close their doors, nor will there be sorrow over the calamities of warfare, water, fire, poison, or famine and thirst.

People will live together with hearts of loving-kindness, reverence, and harmony. They will subdue the faculties and speak with humility.

Śāriputra! I shall tell you in brief of the peace, joy, and wealth of the cities and towns in that land. In the pools, springs, gardens, and groves there, water of the eight virtues will naturally arise, and over the surface of the pools will be spread lotus flowers of every color—blue, pink, red, and white intermingling most beautifully; on the four sides of the pools will be four flights of steps made of jewels and treasures.

Many kinds of birds will gather and dwell at the pools, warbling and singing to create wondrous sounds—such as swans, mandarin ducks, peacocks, kingfishers, parrots, śāri birds, kuṇāla birds, jīvaṃjīvaka birds... and still other kinds of birds singing exquisitely, beyond all counting. The land will be full of fragrant trees and sweet fruits. At that time within Jambudvīpa there will constantly be an exquisite fragrance, like a mountain of incense, flowing forth with sweet and delicious flavors that dispel illness.

The rains will moisten and soak according to the seasons, so that the rice will flourish, no weeds will arise but only a single fine kind of rice, requiring very little labor yet yielding a great harvest, and those who eat it will find it fragrant and delicious, greatly increasing their vital energy.

In the land at that time there will be a Wheel-Turning King named Śaṅkha, possessing the four kinds of troops, yet having no need to use force to govern the people. The king will have a thousand sons, robust and valiant, who shatter foes and enemies. The king will have the seven treasures: the golden-wheel treasure, the elephant treasure, the horse treasure, the pearl treasure, the woman treasure, the treasure-steward treasure, and the troop-commander treasure.

This land will have a terrace of the seven treasures, all of it a thousand zhang tall, with a thousand heads and a thousand wheels, and sixty zhang wide. There will be four great treasure-stores, and each great treasure-store will in turn have four koṭis of small treasure-stores surrounding it. The Iḍapatra treasure-store will be in the land of Gandhāra, the Pāṇḍuka treasure-store in the land of Mithilā, the Piṅgala treasure-store in the land of Surāṣṭra, and the treasure-store of King Śaṅkha in the land of Vārāṇasī.

These four great treasure-stores will have a circumference of one thousand yojanas, filled to the brim with precious treasures. Each great treasure-store will in turn have four koṭis of subsidiary small treasure-stores. There will be four great dragons that guard the treasure-stores.

The four great treasure-stores and the small treasure-stores will of themselves spring forth in the shape of lotus flowers, and countless people will come together to behold them. These treasure-stores will have no keepers to watch over them, and those who behold them will give rise to no greedy attachment, casting them away upon the ground like tiles, stones, grass, trees, or clods of earth... All who behold the precious treasures will give rise to a heart of weariness and disgust, thinking thus: "In times past, sentient beings, because of these precious treasures, harmed and destroyed one another, and further deceived, swindled, and plundered one another, thereby increasing the sins that bind them upon the path of birth and death."

The city of Ketumatī will be covered all over above by nets of jewels and treasures and adorned with precious wind-bells, so that whenever a gentle breeze stirs them, they ring out soft, low, lingering tones like bronze bells. Within the city of Ketumatī there will be a chief, a great brahmin named Subrahmā. The brahmin woman will be named Brahmavatī.

The Bodhisattva Maitreya will be born as the son of these two brahmins. He will have a body of pure gold and the thirty-two excellent marks; sentient beings who behold him will gaze without ever tiring, his spiritual power immeasurable and inconceivable, his radiance shining forth penetrating all things, eclipsing the light of the moon, the sun, and fire-pearls. The body of the Bodhisattva will be a thousand chi tall, his chest thirty zhang broad, and his face twelve zhang four chi long.

His body will be wholly upright and proper, beyond all comparison. He will be accomplished in the excellent marks like an image of pure gold, his fleshly eyes pure and able to see ten yojanas afar, constantly radiating light on the four sides for a hundred yojanas, so that the light of the moon, the sun, and fire-pearls cannot appear. Only the radiance of the Buddha will be the foremost in beauty and subtlety.

The Bodhisattva Maitreya will be moved with the deepest compassion when he contemplates how the life of the five desires brings about many calamities and drowns countless sentient beings in the great ocean of birth and death. For this reason he will, with right mindfulness, reflect, and take no delight in dwelling in household life. King Śaṅkha together with his great ministers will bring forth this jeweled terrace and offer it to the Bodhisattva Maitreya.

Having received it, the Bodhisattva will give it to the brahmins. Having received it, the brahmins will straightaway demolish and disperse it entirely. The Bodhisattva Maitreya, seeing this fine jeweled terrace rendered impermanent in but a moment, and perceiving that all things that exist are likewise subject to ruin and destruction, will cultivate the contemplation of impermanence and go forth from home to study the Way.

The Bodhisattva will sit beneath the Nāgapuṣpa (Dragon-Flower) Bodhi tree, whose leaves, branches, and trunk are fifty li tall. On the very day the Bodhisattva goes forth from home, he will attain the fruit of Supreme Perfect Enlightenment (anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi). At that time, the devas and the dragon-spirit kings will conceal their bodies and pour down flowers and incense to make offerings to the Buddha.

The three-thousand-great-thousandfold world will all be greatly shaken. The Buddha will emit a radiance shining throughout immeasurable lands, and all those who have the affinity to be liberated will be able to behold the Buddha.

At that time everyone will think to themselves: "Even though one were to enjoy the pleasures of the five desires for a thousand myriad koṭis of years, one still could not escape the suffering of the three evil paths; wife, children, and wealth still cannot save us. Life is fragile, and the human lifespan is hard to preserve for long; now we ought to cultivate the holy life within the Dharma of the Buddha." Having thought thus, they will ask to go forth from home and study the Way.

At that time, King Śaṅkha together with eighty-four thousand great ministers, reverently surrounding the Buddha, will ask to go forth from home and study the Way. Eighty-four thousand brahmins of great wisdom and intelligence will together ask to go forth within the Dharma of the Buddha. The elder Sudatta, who is now the elder Sudatta, together with eighty-four thousand people, will all ask to go forth from home.

There will be the brothers Raudradatta and Pūrṇa, together with eighty-four thousand people, who will ask to go forth from home; and there will be two great ministers, one named Candana and one named Sumanas, whom the king loves and esteems and employs, who together with eighty-four thousand people will likewise ask to go forth within the Dharma of the Buddha. The jewel-woman of King Śaṅkha, named Śāmavatī, who is now Viśākhā, together with eighty-four thousand court ladies, will all ask to go forth from home.

The crown prince of King Śaṅkha, named Devarūpa, who is now Devala, together with eighty-four thousand people, will all ask to go forth from home. Sumati, the son of a brahmin who is a kinsman of the Buddha Maitreya, possessing wisdom and keen faculties, who is now Uttara, together with eighty-four thousand people, will ask to go forth within the Dharma of the Buddha. This immeasurable thousand myriad koṭi great assembly, because they see the sufferings and afflictions of life, will wish to go forth within the Dharma of the Buddha Maitreya.

The Buddha Maitreya, knowing the thoughts and intentions of the great assembly, will say:

– Now you do not come to me for the pleasures of being born in the heavens, nor for the pleasures of the present life, but solely for the sake of the causes and conditions of Nirvāṇa—the permanent and the blissful. People such as these have planted many roots of goodness within the Dharma of the Buddha, entrusted and handed over to me by the Buddha Śākyamuni. Therefore, today you come to me, and I receive you. These people, because they recited, analyzed, and resolutely cultivated the Abhidharma piṭaka, the Dṛḍha-vinaya, and cultivated the various merits, have come to me. Or, because they offered food and clothing to those of wisdom who keep the precepts, by cultivating these merits they have come to me. Or, because they offered banners, pennants, flowers, and incense to the Buddha, by cultivating this merit they have come to me. Or, because they gave alms, kept the days of fasting and the precepts, and cultivated the heart of loving-kindness, by practicing this merit they have come to me. Or, because of the suffering and affliction of sentient beings, wishing to bring them peace and joy, they cultivated this merit and have come to me. Or, because they kept the precepts, practiced patience under insult, and cultivated pure wisdom, by this merit they have come to me. Or, because they offered food, made offerings to the Saṃgha, offered food for festivals, and expounded the sūtras, by cultivating this merit they have come to me. Or, because they kept the precepts, heard much, and cultivated meditative concentration and undefiled wisdom, by this merit they have come to me. Or, because they built stūpas and made offerings to relics, by this merit they have come to me. Excellent is the Buddha Śākyamuni! He has thus skillfully taught and transformed a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of sentient beings, causing them to come to me.

The Buddha Maitreya will three times praise the Buddha Śākyamuni, and thereafter he will expound the Dharma, saying thus:

– Those sentient beings who, in this evil and wicked world, full of greed, desire, anger, hatred, foolishness, delusion, and confusion, and with short lifespans, are yet able to do what is difficult to do—such as cultivating practice, keeping the precepts, and performing the various merits—these are truly rare. At a time when there are sentient beings who do not recognize father and mother, śramaṇas and brahmins; who do not know the Way and the Dharma; who consort with weapons of war, bandits, and robbers, slaying and harming one another, indulging in the five desires, jealous, deceitful, and crooked; depraved, false, and turbid, without hearts of love and affection, drinking blood, eating flesh, and performing deeds of killing and harm—those who, in such a place, are able to cultivate practice and do good deeds are truly rare.

Excellent is the Buddha Śākyamuni! He has bestowed and spread the heart of great compassion upon all suffering and afflicted sentient beings with words of admonition that are utterly true. And he has instructed me in the teaching and salvation of you all in the time to come. A teacher such as this is truly hard to encounter. In the depths of his heart he ever held in compassionate remembrance the sentient beings of this evil and wicked world. He rescued and helped them to escape from suffering and brought them to peace and security. The Buddha Śākyamuni, for your sake, gave away his head, ears, nose, hands, feet, and body... He endured boundless suffering and affliction in order to bring benefit and joy to you all.

The Buddha Maitreya will console immeasurable sentient beings with such words of admonishing the Way, causing them to be utterly joyful. Only thereafter will he expound the Dharma. Among these sentient beings there will be those replete with merit, who reverently believe, accept, and thirstingly long for the great master; wishing to hear the Dharma, they will think: "The root and source of all suffering lies in the five impure desires. We ought to cast off worry, sorrow, suffering, and affliction, and know that the dharmas of suffering and joy are alike impermanent."

The Buddha Maitreya will contemplate that the minds of the great assembly at that time are all pure and well-matured. He will expound the Dharma of the Four Truths, and those who hear it will simultaneously attain the path of Nirvāṇa.

At that time the Buddha Maitreya will be in the Flower-Grove Garden. This garden will be one hundred yojanas in area, and the great assembly will fill the whole garden. At the first assembly for expounding the Dharma, ninety-six koṭis of people will attain the fruit of arhat. At the second great assembly for expounding the Dharma, ninety-four koṭis of people will attain the fruit of arhat. At the third assembly for expounding the Dharma, ninety-two koṭis of people will attain the fruit of arhat.

After the Buddha Maitreya has turned the wheel of the Dharma and delivered the devas and humankind, he will lead his disciples into the city to beg for alms. An immeasurable host of devas of the Pure Abodes (Śuddhāvāsa), reverently following the Buddha, will enter the city of Ketumatī. As they enter the city, they will manifest countless spiritual powers and immeasurable transformations. Śakra Devānām-indra together with the devas of the realm of Desire, and the Brahmā Heaven King together with the devas of the realm of Form, will strike up a hundred thousand kinds of music in praise of the merit of the Buddha, and will rain down heavenly flowers and the fragrant powder of candana to make offerings to the Buddha.

They will set up banners and pennants and canopies along all the roads, and burn various kinds of fragrant incense, the smoke gathering like clouds.

When the World-Honored One enters the city, the Great Brahmā Heaven King and Śakra Devānām-indra, with palms joined in reverence, will speak verses of praise:

– The Rightly and Universally Knowing One, the Honored among Two-Legged Beings,

Whom none among devas, humans, or the world can match,
The World-Honored One of the Ten Powers, most rare,
A field of merit, supremely high and boundless.
Whoever makes offerings to the Buddha is born in the heavens;
With reverence we bow our heads to the One of Diligence.

At that time, devas, humans, rākṣasas... beholding the vast and great power of the Buddha conquering all, the thousand myriad koṭis of immeasurable sentient beings will all be greatly joyful. With palms joined they will praise:

– Most rare! Most rare! The merit and spiritual power of the Tathāgata are perfect and complete, beyond all conceiving.

The devas and humans will take lotus flowers of every color intermingled and Mandārava flowers and scatter them upon the ground of the Buddha. The flowers will pile up as high as the knees. The devas in the empty sky will strike up a hundred thousand musics in praise of the merit of the Buddha. From the beginning of the night until the end of the night, the Demon King will continually rouse everyone, saying:

– You have obtained a human body and met with an excellent time; do not sleep and rest the whole night through, letting your minds grow dull and deluded. Whether standing or sitting, you must also strive diligently to maintain right mindfulness, contemplating rightly upon the five aggregates as impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self. Practice according to the Buddha's teaching; do not be heedless. If anyone gives rise to evil karma, hereafter it will surely lead to remorse.

Then along the roads, men and women will all imitate and repeat:

– Practice according to the Buddha's teaching; do not be heedless. If anyone gives rise to evil karma, hereafter he will surely come to remorse. Strive with skillful means, diligently seek the Way, and do not lose the beneficial Dharma by racing along the path of birth and death. How hard it is to encounter such a teacher of the Way, who rescues sentient beings from suffering and affliction! Through a heart of firm and persevering diligence, one will attain the permanent bliss of Nirvāṇa.

The disciples of the Buddha Maitreya will all be complete in dignified deportment, their bodies upright and proper. They will be weary of birth, aging, sickness, and death; learned and widely heard, they will guard the treasury of the true Dharma, having forsaken the desires like a bird released from its cage.

At that time the Buddha Maitreya, wishing to go to the place of the elder Mahākāśyapa, together with the four assemblies will gather and proceed to Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, and all will behold the great Kāśyapa upon the summit of the mountain. In the depths of their hearts the great assembly will be utterly astonished. The Buddha Maitreya will praise him:

– The Bhikṣu Mahākāśyapa is a great disciple of the Buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha Śākyamuni, in the midst of the great assembly, often praised and extolled him as foremost in the dhūta practices. He has thoroughly mastered the samādhi of meditative concentration and liberation; although he possesses great spiritual powers, his heart is not lofty or arrogant, and he yet causes sentient beings to gain much joy. He ever holds in compassionate remembrance those sentient beings who are poor, lowly, and afflicted, and rescues and helps them to be wholly free from suffering and affliction and to attain peace and joy.

The Buddha Maitreya will praise the fleshly body of Mahākāśyapa:

– Excellent, Mahākāśyapa! Great disciple of Śākyamuni, the one of great spiritual virtue, you have been able, in this evil and wicked world, to keep your mind and cultivate practice. When everyone sees the Buddha Maitreya praise Mahākāśyapa, a hundred thousand koṭis of people, by this cause, will grow weary of life and attain the Way. They will think: "The Buddha Śākyamuni, in this evil and wicked world, taught and transformed immeasurable sentient beings, causing them to be complete in the six supernatural powers and to accomplish the fruit of arhatship." The place of awakening where the Dharma is expounded will be eighty yojanas wide and one hundred yojanas long. Those within this place of awakening, whether standing or sitting, whether near or far, will each see the Buddha right before their faces and expounding the Dharma to them alone. The Buddha Maitreya will abide in the world for sixty thousand years. Out of compassion for sentient beings, he will cause them to attain the eye of the Dharma. After he passes into extinction, the true Dharma will likewise abide in the world for sixty thousand years. You ought to strive diligently to give rise to a pure mind and to set in motion the various wholesome karmas, so as to meet the Buddha Maitreya, like the bright lamp of the world—of this there is surely no doubt.

When the Buddha had finished teaching this sūtra, the Venerable Śāriputra and the others all joyfully received and upheld it, bowed their heads to the Buddha, and withdrew.

THE SŪTRA ON THE DESCENT AND BIRTH OF MAITREYA

The End