Guān Mílè shàngshēng Dōushuài tiān jīng zàn 觀彌勒上生兜率天經贊
Praise-Commentary on the Sūtra of Contemplating Maitreya’s Ascent to Tuṣita Heaven by 窺基 Kuījī (撰)
About the work
The Guān Mílè shàngshēng jīng zàn is a two-fascicle “praise-commentary” (zàn 贊) on the Guān Mílè shàngshēng jīng (KR6i0031, T452) by 窺基 (632–682 CE), the principal disciple of 玄奘 Xuánzàng and founder of the Fǎxiàng (Yogācāra / Wéishí 唯識) school. The commentary is organized in five major sections — (1) whether the Buddha’s teaching is expedient or ultimate; (2) the causal basis of Maitreya’s name (Císhì 慈氏, “Lord of Compassion”); (3) the temporal gap before Maitreya’s coming; (4) the relative ease or difficulty of rebirth in Tuṣita heaven; (5) questions and answers on the text’s main teachings — followed by a verse-by-verse commentary (shìjīng 釋經) on the body of T452.
Prefaces
The first fascicle opens with an ornate prose preface by 窺基 himself.
Abstract
窺基’s commentary on T452 is the most authoritative exegesis of the Shàngshēng sūtra from a Yogācāra perspective. For the Fǎxiàng school, Maitreya was theologically central: the tradition claimed that the bodhisattva Asaṅga received the five yogācāra texts directly from Maitreya in the Tuṣita Inner Court, and his teacher 玄奘 aspired — and is said to have vowed — to be reborn in Tuṣita. His personal Maitreya devotion is therefore inseparable from his doctrinal and institutional commitments. His commentary situates the Shàngshēng sūtra firmly within the Yogācāra doctrinal framework, treating Maitreya’s Tuṣita palace as a figure for the ālayavijñāna (storehouse-consciousness) and the various bodhisattvas assembled there as embodiments of Yogācāra virtues.
The zàn commentary format (literally “praising”) combines rhetorical and exegetical elements, with prose commentary and occasional verse — a genre associated with the Xuánzàng school’s output.
Translations and research
- Weinstein, Stanley. Buddhism under the T’ang. Cambridge: CUP, 1987. — Chapter on the Fǎxiàng school and 窺基.
- Cook, Francis Dojun. Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. Penn State University Press, 1977. — Comparative doctrinal context.