Maitreya-nātha (c. 270–350 CE) is a name whose use was pioneered by Buddhist scholars
Erich Frauwallner
Erich Frauwallner (December 28, 1898 – July 5, 1974) was an Austrian professor, a pioneer in the field of Buddhist studies.Walter Slaje: Rezensionen, Stuchlik, Jakob: Der arische Ansatz. Erich Frauwallner und der Nationalsozialismus, Asiatisc ...
,
Giuseppe Tucci
Giuseppe Tucci (; 5 June 1894 – 5 April 1984) was an Italian orientalist, Indologist and scholar of East Asian studies, specializing in Tibetan culture and the history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian fascism ...
, and
Hakuju Ui to distinguish one of the three founders of the
Yogācāra
Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...
school of
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...
, along with
Asanga
Asaṅga (Sanskrit: असंग, , ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') (fl. 4th century C.E.) was one of the most important spiritual figures of Mahayana Buddhism and the founder of the Yogachara school.Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva P ...
and
Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; floruit, fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Indian bhikkhu, Buddhist monk and scholar. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary on the Abhidharma, from the perspectives of th ...
. Some scholars believe this Maitreya to be a historical person in India who authored various Yogācāra texts known as the Maitreya corpus. The traditions themselves have held that it is referring to the
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
Maitreya
Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pali), is a bodhisattva who is regarded as the future Buddhahood, Buddha of this world in all schools of Buddhism, prophesied to become Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha.Williams, Paul. ''Mahayana Buddhism: Th ...
, the
future buddha.
Academic views
Scholars are divided in opinion whether the name refers to a historical human teacher of Asaṅga or to the bodhisattva Maitreya. Frauwallner, Tucci and Ui proposed this as a possibility, while Eric Obermiller and
Fyodor Shcherbatskoy doubted the historicity of this figure.
Modern scholars argue that many of the various texts traditionally attributed to Maitreya (and supposedly revealed to
Asanga
Asaṅga (Sanskrit: असंग, , ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') (fl. 4th century C.E.) was one of the most important spiritual figures of Mahayana Buddhism and the founder of the Yogachara school.Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva P ...
) like the ''
Abhisamayalankara
The "Ornament of/for Realization , abbreviated AA, is one of five Sanskrit-language Mahayana sutras, Mahayana śastras which, according to Tibetan tradition, Maitreya revealed to Asanga, Asaṅga in northwest India circa the 4th century AD. ...
'' and the ''
Ratnagotravibhaga'' are actually later post-Asanga texts.
[D'amato, M. “Three Natures, Three Stages: An Interpretation of the Yogācāra Trisvabhāva-Theory.” ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', vol. 33, no. 2, 2005, pp. 185–207. ''JSTOR'', http://www.jstor.org/stable/23497001. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.] However, some scholars like
Gareth Sparham use the name Maitreya to refer to the author of "three Maitreya texts", all which seem to be by the same author.
[Sparham, Gareth. ''Ocean of Eloquence: Tsong kha pa's Commentary on the Yogācāra Doctrine of Mind'', p. 5. SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1993.] This Maitreya Corpus comprises the following texts:
* the ''
Mahāyānasūtrālamkārakarika'' (''Verses on the Ornament of the
Mahāyāna Sūtras
The Mahayana sutras are Buddhist texts that are accepted as wikt:canon, canonical and authentic Buddhist texts, ''buddhavacana'' in Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist sanghas. These include three types of sutras: Those spoken by the Buddha; those spoke ...
'') and its commentary,
* the ''
Dharmadharmatāvibhāga'' (''Distinguishing
Dharmata from the dharmas'')
* the ''
Madhyāntavibhāga'' (''Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes'')
Paul Williams writes that "it is quite possible that these other three
extsdo have a single author" and cites
Frauwallner who also thought these three texts were similar.
Mario D'amato who also agrees that these texts likely share one author, dates these three "Maitreya" texts to a phase after the completion of the ''Bodhisattvabhumi'', but before the composition of
Asanga's ''
Mahāyānasaṃgraha
The Mahāyānasaṃgraha (MSg) (Sanskrit; zh, t=攝大乘論, p=Shè dàchéng lùn, Tibetan: ''theg pa chen po bsdus pa''), or the Mahāyāna Compendium/Summary, is a key work of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy, attri ...
'' (which quotes the ''Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra'' as an authoritative text).
[D'amato, M. “Three Natures, Three Stages: An Interpretation of the Yogācāra Trisvabhāva-Theory.” ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', vol. 33, no. 2, 2005, pp. 185–207. ''JSTOR'', http://www.jstor.org/stable/23497001. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.]
Traditional view

The Buddhist traditions themselves have always held that Asaṅga received the "Maitreya" texts from the
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
Maitreya directly. Asaṅga is said to have spent many years in intense meditation, during which time tradition says that he often visited
Tuṣita
Tuṣita (Sanskrit and Pāli) or Tushita is one of the six Deva (Buddhism), deva-worlds of the Buddhist Desire realm (Kāmadhātu), located between the Yāma heaven and the heaven. Like the other heavens, Tuṣita is said to be reachable throu ...
to receive teachings from the Maitreya. Heavens such as Tuṣita are said to be accessible through
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...
.
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...
tells the account of these events:
Confusion over the idea of "supernaturally" visiting heavens may be due to the unfamiliarity of scholars with the Indian concept of heavens as being accessible through
samādhi
Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh
''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...
. Other advanced meditators recorded similar experiences of visiting Tuṣita Heaven at night. One such example of this is
Hanshan Deqing during the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
. In his autobiography, Hanshan describes the palace of Maitreya in Tuṣita, and hearing a lecture given by Bodhisattva Maitreya to a large group of his disciples.
Attributed works
The number of works attributed to him vary in the traditions of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
and
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...
. In the Tibetan tradition the "five Dharmas of Maitreya" are:
* the ''
Yogācārabhūmi śāstra'', the encyclopedic and definitive text of the Yogacara school
* the ''
Mahāyānasūtrālamkārakārikā'', which presents the Mahāyāna path from the Yogācāra perspective
* the ''
Dharmadharmatāvibhāga'', a short Yogācāra work discussing the distinction and correlation (''vibhāga'') between phenomena (''dharma'') and reality (''dharmatā'')
* the ''
Madhyāntavibhāgakārikā'', 112 verses that are a key work in Yogācāra philosophy
* the ''
Abhisamayalankara
The "Ornament of/for Realization , abbreviated AA, is one of five Sanskrit-language Mahayana sutras, Mahayana śastras which, according to Tibetan tradition, Maitreya revealed to Asanga, Asaṅga in northwest India circa the 4th century AD. ...
'', which summarizes the
Prajnaparamita
file:Medicine Buddha painted mandala with goddess Prajnaparamita in center, 19th century, Rubin.jpg, A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala
Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Trans ...
sūtras, which the
Mādhyamaka
Madhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ་ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Bud ...
school regards as presenting the ultimate truth
* the ''
Ratnagotravibhāga
The ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' (Sanskrit, abbreviated as RGV, meaning: ''Analysis of the Jeweled Lineage, Investigating the Jewel Disposition'') and its ''vyākhyā'' commentary (abbreviated RGVV to refer to the RGV verses along with the embedded comm ...
'', also known as the ''Uttāratantra śāstra'', a compendium of the
Buddha-nature
In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature ( Chinese: , Japanese: , , Sanskrit: ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within ...
literature
The Chinese tradition meanwhile maintains that the five revealed scriptures are: the ''
Yogācārabhūmi, *Yogavibhāga''
ow lost',
Mahāyānasūtrālamkārakā,
Madhyāntavibhāga'' and the ''Vajracchedikākāvyākhyā.''
[Brunnholzl, Karl'', When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra,'' Shambhala Publications, 2015, p. 81.]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maitreya-natha
3rd-century Buddhist monks
4th-century Buddhist monks
Indian scholars of Buddhism
Yogacara scholars
Year of birth uncertain
350 deaths
Maitreya