The Sutra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy

The Sutra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy (Tib. བྱམས་པ་དགའ་ལྡན་གནམ་དུ་སྐྱེ་བ་བླངས་པའི་མདོ།, Wyl. byams pa dga’ ldan gnam du skye ba blangs pa’i mdo) takes place in Shravasti and features the Buddha and his retinue. Among them are Maitreya (then known as Ajita) and Upali, who asks about Ajita’s future awakening as Maitreya. The Buddha answers that he will be reborn in the Heaven of Joy. He proceeds to describe its wondrous qualities and the causes of being reborn there. At the conclusion of the discourse, all those present in the retinue rejoice and make aspirations to be reborn in the Heaven of Joy.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 199. It is one of the many sutras in the Kangyur to have been translated into Tibetan from Chinese. This is immediately clear from the original title of the text, which is transcribed from Chinese rather than Sanskrit, and from the colophon, which indicates that the translation was produced based on a Chinese manuscript.

• English translation: The Sutra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy