some notes on WŌNHYO ON MAITREYA MEDITATION

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Leo Rivers
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some notes on WŌNHYO ON MAITREYA MEDITATION

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WŌNHYO

some notes on
WŌNHYO ON MAITREYA MEDITATION pages 1 and 2 of 8

An extended citation specifically modified for introducing non-academic practitioners to practice.

from:
SPONBERG, Alan. 2010. “Wŏn-Hyo on Maitreya Visualization.” In Maitreya, the Future Buddha, edited by Alan SPONBERG and Helen HARDACRE, 94–109. Cambridge University Press.


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Three specifically Maitreya Sūtras are commented on by Wōnhyo of Silla (617-86)

1. the Sūtra on Maitreya's Rebirth Above (T 452),
2. the Sūtra on Maitreya's Rebirth Below [on Earth](T 453),
3. and the Sūtra on [Maitreya Achieving Buddhahood (T 456).

in his Doctrinal Essentials of the Sūtra on Maitreya's Rebirth Above [in Tuṣita Heaven]
Wōnhyo (617-86)

Wōnhyo is credited with two Maitreya works, a Commentary on the Maitreya Sūtra, which has not survived, and the Doctrinal Essentials of the Sūtra on Maitreya's Rebirth Above [in Tuṣita Heaven] which is a commentary on all three Maitreya Sūtras

The full title of the Maitreya Sūtra commented on here by Wōnhyo is in fact the Sūtra Taught by the Buddha on Visualizing Maitreya Bodhisattva's Rebirth Above in Tuṣita Heaven.

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Wōnhyo mentions the goals [in ascending order] of

(1) ameliorating the negative karma accrued as the result of past sins,
(2) avoiding undesirable rebirths in the future,
(3) being reborn in Tuṣita Heaven as a bodhisattva, and
(4) attaining the degree of non-relapse on the bodhisattva path.

Although there is clearly a hierarchy here, the four levels do not appear to be necessarily sequential. In other words, one can aspire directly to the highest result even from one's current state, and it is precisely that goal that is brought about by visualization as the preeminent practice.

The interesting thing about the fourth and highest level of aspiration is that the ultimate goal is to ensure non-relapse from supreme, perfect enlightenment (anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi), the goal already long established as the summum-bonum of Mahayana Buddhism. For Wōnhyo the value of rebirth in Tuṣita Heaven lies in the fact that close association with Maitreya speeds one's progress on the bodhisattva path. Thus rebirth in Tuṣita is not strictly speaking an end in itself, especially when we take into account the fact THAT THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC OF SUPREME, PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT IS ITS EFFICACY IN WORKING FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHER BEINGS, AT ALL LEVELS OF THIS WORLD.


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“THE HIGHEST GRADE of people are those who either cultivate the Samādhi of Buddha visualization or who take repentance as their method of practice. p.99

In their present body they will succeed in seeing Maitreya.16 According to the quality of their mind the image they see will be either great or small. This is as is taught in

The two works that Wōnhyo cites as sources for the highest grade of Maitreya practice are

the Sūtra on the Sea of the Samādhi of Buddha Visualization (T 643) translated by Buddhabhadra between 398 and 421. This work is, in Soper's opinion, probably the earliest of the visualization series.

and the Expanded Dhāraṇi Sūtra (T 1339).17 This work does appear to be, at least in part, a recension of the Pratyutpanna-buddha-sammukhāvastita-sāmadhi sūtra,

a text better known in China as
the Samādhi Sūtra of Bhadrapala (T 416, 417, 418, 419).

It is the latter recension of the work that became the most popular, and in that form it is recognized as a text associated with the visualization tradition. Soper includes [this] in his list, pointing out that it is even more closely related to the Sūtra on Visualizing Amitāyus than is the Sūtra on Buddha Visualization.27 *

[6 more to coem if there is interest] :namaste:
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