Having fulfilled the Forty-eight Vows,

Dharmakara became Amida, the Fully Enlightened;

All who entrust themselves to him

Are assured of birth in the Pure Land. (1)

Those who perform miscellaneous practices cannot be born

In the Unconditioned Land of Reward, Sukhavati;

The Tathagata has chosen the essential method,

And taught us the exclusive practice of Nembutsu. (2)

The merits of the practices for innumerable kalpas

Are all contained in the three syllables, A-MI-DA.

The Name produced after five kalpas' contemplation

Is given us who live in the world of five defilements. (3)

The three kinds of acts of Amida Tathagata

And those of the practicers of Nembutsu

Being united in the Diamond-hard Faith,

We are established in the Certainly Assured State. (4)

Those who learn much or observe the precepts are not especially chosen;

Nor are those who break the precepts and commit evils abhorred.

Only those who mindfully call the Name are transformed

As if tiles and pebbles were turned into gold. (5)

Faith as indestructible as diamond arises in our minds

From the Buddha's continuous remembrance of us;

Without the special means of the Other-Power,

How could we ever attain the Determined Faith? (6)

In the Great Sea of Amida's Vow

Waves of evil passions cease to rise;

Having boarded the ship of Universal Vow,

I leave its course to the wind of Great Compassion. (7)

Ever since I encountered the incomparable Compassionate Vow,

I wonder whether I am still an ordinary man of birth-and-death;

Although my body has not yet been freed of defilements,

My mind takes delight in visiting the Pure Land. (8)

Of the Forty-eight Great Vows,

The Thirty-fifth in particular

Promises that Amida especially

Extends his saving hands to women. (9)

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