Toh 635The Dhāraṇī-mantra of the One Hundred and Eight Names of Maitreya

The Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the 108 Names of Maitreya

Context

This sūtra belongs to the Tantra section of the Kangyur—the treasury of Vajrayāna practice texts. It concerns the bodhisattva Maitreya (Căn Đắc), the bodhisattva who will attain buddhahood in a future dispensation. From the Vajrayāna perspective, however, Maitreya does not belong only to the future; he is vividly present in the practitioner’s mind at every moment throughout the course of practice.

In the Vajrayāna tradition, Maitreya is regarded as an emanation of boundless loving-kindness (maitrī/mettā)—a universal power of compassion that never departs from the wisdom of the six perfections. When activated through the dhāraṇī-mantra, this loving-kindness becomes a direct means of practice. The 108 names symbolize 108 aspects of immeasurable compassion—each name representing a dimension of loving-kindness amid the difficult conditions of conditioned phenomena.

The number 108 has profound significance: it symbolizes the overcoming of 108, or innumerable, obstacles. In Vajrayāna, 108 is also associated with the cycle of saṃsāra and the 108 types of mental habits that must be transformed into wisdom (prajñā).

Principal Content

This sūtra is not a theoretical discourse but a collection of extended incantations—long mantras (dhāraṇīs)—combined with the 108 names of Maitreya. Each name reflects an aspect of the bodhisattva: “The Loving One,” “The Cool One,” “The One Who Has Realized Mind,” “The Conqueror of Afflictions,” and so forth.

This dhāraṇī functions as a key that opens the door of the practitioner’s mind, awakening the latent compassion transmitted to Maitreya by the Buddha. When practitioners repeat it with diligence, the mantra is not merely sound but a stream of transcendent energy (śakti), authenticated by Maitreya and the entire Vajrayāna Sangha.

This mantra was transmitted from the Buddha to the bodhisattva, then to the Indian masters, and finally to Tibet. It is not separate from Maitreya’s manifestation; it is Maitreya himself expressed through sound and meaning.

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