One Body, Every Throne of the Three Realms
In one place Sudhana saw Maitreya as a wheel-turning king, transforming the world with the ten wholesome ways; in another, as each of the four heavenly kings, benefiting every sentient being; in another, as Śakra, chastising the five desires; in another, as the lord of the Yāma heaven, praising heedfulness against every laxity; in another, as the lord of the Tuṣita heaven, praising the merit of the one-birth bodhisattva; in another, as the lord of the Nirmāṇarati heaven, praising the dharma of sovereign mastery; in another, as Māra himself, proclaiming the dharma of impermanence; in another, as the lord of the Paranirmitavaśavartin heaven, praising the bodhisattva's own adorned, transformation-body; in another, as Brahmā, praising the four immeasurable minds; in another, as the asura king, taming his own retinue, entering the great ocean of wisdom, fully realizing that every dharma is exactly like an illusion; and in another, as Yama, king of the dead, sending forth great light, universally illuminating every hell, extinguishing every suffering there.
From the Wheel-Turning King to the Lord of the Dead
或見彌勒為轉輪王，十善化世；或為四天王，饒益一切眾生；或為帝釋，訶責五欲；或為夜摩天王，讚不放逸；或為兜率天王，讚歎一生菩薩功德；或為化樂天王，讚自在法；或為魔王，說無常法；或為他化自在天王，讚歎菩薩莊嚴化身；或為梵王，讚歎四無量心；或為阿脩羅王，調伏眷屬，入大智海，了達諸法悉如幻化；或為閻羅王，放大光明，普照地獄，滅一切苦。
In one place he saw Maitreya as a wheel-turning king, transforming the world through the ten wholesome ways; in another, as each of the four heavenly kings, benefiting every sentient being; in another, as Śakra, chastising the five desires; in another, as the lord of the Yāma heaven, praising heedfulness against every laxity; in another, as the lord of the Tuṣita heaven, praising the merit of the bodhisattva bound to a single more birth; in another, as the lord of the Nirmāṇarati heaven, praising the dharma of sovereign mastery; in another, as Māra himself, proclaiming the dharma of impermanence; in another, as the lord of the Paranirmitavaśavartin heaven, praising the bodhisattva's own adorned, transformation-body; in another, as Brahmā, praising the four immeasurable minds; in another, as the asura king, taming his own retinue, entering the great ocean of wisdom, fully realizing that every dharma is exactly like an illusion; and in another, as Yama, king of the dead, sending forth great light, universally illuminating every hell, extinguishing every suffering found there.
This single passage systematically visits every ruling station of the traditional Buddhist cosmos, ascending from the human wheel-turning king through the six heavens of the desire-realm, then Brahmā of the form-realm, before descending through the asura-king and finally to Yama, ruler of hell — a complete survey of every seat of worldly authority. Fazang reads the choice of teaching content assigned to each station as precisely fitted to that station's own characteristic temptation or need: heedlessness answered in the heaven named for laxity, the five desires chastised in Śakra's own heaven of pleasure, impermanence preached by Māra himself (whose own domain depends on beings mistaking the impermanent for permanent), and hell's own darkness answered not with teaching but with light alone — the passage suggests Maitreya's own bodhicitta manifests as whatever remedy each realm specifically requires, rather than a single uniform message repeated everywhere.
Part 388 Complete
Maitreya's manifestation across the thrones of the three realms is now given in full. Part 389 turns to his manifestation among the lower and stranger destinies — feeding hungry ghosts, taking the very form of animals to teach them, and speaking to the retinues of every class of being from the four heavenly kings' own hosts to the assemblies of bodhisattvas at every ground of the path.
Continue to Part 389 →