The Sūtra of Immeasurable Life

Taishō no. 360
Translated into Chinese by the Indian Trepiṭaka Saṅghavarman during the Cao Wei Dynasty in 252
Translated into English by Shaku Shingan
Completed on 16 August 2026

Preface: the assembly

[1] Thus have I heard: At one time, the Buddha was dwelling on Mount Vulture Peak in the city of Rājagṛha, together with a great assembly of twelve thousand bhikṣus. They were all great sages who had already attained supernormal powers. Their names were: the Venerable Ājñātakauṇḍinya, the Venerable Aśvajit, the Venerable Vāṣpa, the Venerable Mahānāman, the Venerable Bhadrajit, the Venerable Vimala, the Venerable Yaśodeva, the Venerable Subāhu, the Venerable Pūrṇaka, the Venerable Gavāṃpati, the Venerable Uruvilvā Kāśyapa, the Venerable Gayā Kāśyapa, the Venerable Nadī Kāśyapa, the Venerable Mahākāśyapa, the Venerable Śāriputra, the Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana, the Venerable Kapphiṇa, the Venerable Mahākauṣṭhilya, the Venerable Mahākātyāyana, the Venerable Mahācunda, the Venerable Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, the Venerable Aniruddha, the Venerable Revata, the Venerable Kimpila, the Venerable Amogharāja, the Venerable Pārāyaṇika, the Venerable Vakkula, the Venerable Nanda, the Venerable Svāgata, the Venerable Rāhula, and the Venerable Ānanda. These were all of the leaders.

He was also together with a saṅgha of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas: Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, and all the other bodhisattvas of this Bhadra Kalpa. Moreover, there was Bhadrapāla and the other sixteen excellent personages: Sumati Bodhisattva, Śraddhāmati Bodhisattva, Śūnyatā Bodhisattva, [1-0016] Abhijñāpuṣpa Bodhisattva, Prabhāśrī Bodhisattva, Jñānottara Bodhisattva, Jñānaketu Bodhisattva, Śāntendriya Bodhisattva, Praṇidhimati Bodhisattva, Gandhahastin Bodhisattva, Ratnaketurāja Bodhisattva, Madhyasthita Bodhisattva, Niyatacarya Bodhisattva, Vimukti Bodhisattva.

The virtues of the bodhisattvas of the assembly

[2] They all follow the virtues of the Mahāsattva Samantabhadra, fully possessing the immeasurable practices and vows of all bodhisattvas, and abiding firmly in the dharmas of all meritorious virtues. Roaming through the ten directions and practising skilful means, entering the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma and reaching the ultimate other shore, manifestly attaining perfect awakening in innumerable worlds.

Dwelling in Tuṣita heaven and broadly proclaiming the True Dharma, then departing from that heavenly palace and descending as a deva into the mother’s womb. Born from the right side, manifesting the taking of seven steps, with brilliant radiance shining universally throughout the ten directions, and innumerable buddha-lands shaking in the six ways. Raising his voice, he declares: “I shall be in this world the unsurpassed and venerable one.” 

Śakra and Brahmā attend upon and serve him, and devas and humans look up to him with reverence. Manifesting the appearance of the mastery of calculation, literary arts, archery and chariot-driving, broadly mastering technical and occult arts, thoroughly versed in the various classics and texts, roaming the rear gardens to practise martial arts and test his skills, and manifesting dwelling amid the pleasures of form and taste within the palace.

Seeing old age, sickness, and death, he awakens to the impermanence of the world, abandons his kingdom, wealth, and rank, and enters the mountains to train in the Path. Wearing his regalia and riding the white horse, with his jewelled crown and precious necklaces, he sends them back. Casting off his precious garments and putting on the Dharma robes, shaving off his beard and hair, sitting upright beneath a tree, strenuously practising austerities for six years, and conducting himself as is fitting and proper. Manifesting in the world of the five degenerations and adapting to living beings, he manifests the appearance of having dust and impurity upon him, and bathes in a golden stream. A deity presses down a tree branch, and he is able to grasp it and climb out of the pool. Auspicious birds flank and follow him as he proceeds to the bodhimaṇḍa. Svāstika, perceiving the portent, extols his merit and destined accomplishment. Compassionately accepting the grass he offers, he spreads it beneath the bodhi tree and sits in the cross-legged posture, radiating great brilliance, causing Māra to become aware of him. Māra leads his retinue to press and test him; he restrains them with the power of wisdom, causing them all to submit and be subdued. Attaining the subtle and wondrous Dharma, he accomplishes the supreme right awakening.

Śakra and Brahmā earnestly entreat and request the turning of the Wheel of the Dharma; proceeding with a buddha’s playful tread, he roars with the lion’s roar of a buddha. Striking the Dharma drum, blowing the Dharma conch, wielding the Dharma sword, [1-0017] raising the Dharma banner, sounding the Dharma thunder, flashing the Dharma lightning, pouring down the Dharma rain, expounding the Dharma gift, and always awakening all worlds by means of the sound of the Dharma. His radiance shines universally upon innumerable buddha-lands, and all worlds shake in the six ways. Completely subduing the realm of Māra and shaking the palaces of Māra, the host of māras, struck with dread and terror, all submit and are subdued. Tearing apart the net of heterodox views, eliminating all wrong views, dispersing all defilements and toils, and demolishing the trenches of desire. Strictly guarding the citadel of the Dharma and opening the Dharma gates, washing away filth and defilement and revealing what is pure and unstained. Brilliantly pervading the Buddha-Dharma and proclaiming and spreading right transformation.

Entering the country on alms rounds, receiving abundant and fine offerings of food, accumulating merit and manifesting as a field of merit; when wishing to proclaim the Dharma, manifesting a joyful smile, and healing and relieving the three sufferings by means of the various medicines of the Dharma. Manifesting bodhicitta and immeasurable meritorious virtues, conferring predictions upon bodhisattvas, and accomplishing perfect right awakening. Manifesting the appearance of parinirvāṇa, saving and delivering beings without limit. Eliminating all effluents, planting the roots of the many merits, and fully possessing meritorious virtues subtle and difficult to measure.

Sporting through the various buddha-lands and universally manifesting the teaching of the Path. Their practice is pure and without defilement. Just as a master magician manifests various and different forms, as male or as female, transforming into anything without exception, their foundational training being clear and thorough, acting as the mind directs, these bodhisattvas are likewise thus.

Having studied all dharmas, threading through and thoroughly mastering them, abiding in stillness and truth, and bringing about transformation without exception.

Universally manifesting throughout innumerable buddha-lands, never arrogant or self-indulgent, compassionately pained on behalf of sentient beings. Fully possessing all such dharmas, thoroughly penetrating the essential and wondrous meaning of the bodhisattva sūtras and scriptures, their renown reaching universally, guiding and directing throughout the ten directions. Innumerable buddhas all together protect and hold them in mind. That in which buddhas abide, they have all already come to abide in; what the great sages have established, they have all already established. Each is able to proclaim and spread the Tathāgata’s guidance and transformation to all bodhisattvas, serving as great teachers and opening up and guiding the multitude of people by means of profoundly deep dhyāna and prajñā. Penetrating the nature of all dharmas, thoroughly understanding the characteristics of sentient beings, clearly knowing the various lands, and making offerings to all buddhas. Manifesting their bodies through transformation, just like a flash of lightning. Skilfully mastering the net of fearlessness, [1-0018] thoroughly understanding the dharmas of illusion and transformation, breaking apart and rending the net of Māra, and releasing all bonds and fetters.

Transcending the stages of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, attaining the samādhis of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, they skilfully establish expedient means to reveal the three vehicles. Among the middling and inferior, they manifest passing into nirvāṇa, yet they perform no deeds and possess nothing. Neither arising nor ceasing, they attain the dharma of equality, fully accomplishing innumerable dhāraṇīs, hundreds of thousands of samādhis, and the faculties and wisdom. With vast, universal, and serene concentration, they profoundly enter the Dharma treasury of the bodhisattvas, attaining the Buddha’s flower garland samādhi to proclaim and expound all the sūtras. Dwelling in the profound gates of meditation, they completely perceive the limitless buddhas of the present, and in the space of a single thought-moment, there is nowhere they do not pervade.

Rescuing those in severe hardship and those in the various leisured and unleisured states, they analytically reveal the limit of reality. Attaining the wisdom of the eloquent abilities of the tathāgatas, they enter into the speech and sounds of the multitudes to awaken and transform all. Surpassing all dharmas possessed by the world, their minds constantly and truthfully dwell in the path of delivering the world. Regarding all myriad things, they are freely unhindered at will, acting as the unsolicited friends for all the multitudes of beings, shouldering the heavy burden for the sake of the flocks of beings.

Receiving and maintaining the tathāgatas’ extremely profound Dharma treasury, they protect the lineage of the buddhas, constantly ensuring it is not cut off, arousing great compassion to pity sentient beings, expounding with compassionate eloquence, bestowing the Dharma eye, blocking the three lower realms, and opening the wholesome gates. Giving the unsolicited Dharma to the multitudes, they are like purely filial children who love and respect their parents. They view all sentient beings as if they were themselves.

With all wholesome roots entirely crossing over to the other shore, they completely acquire the limitless merits of the buddhas. Their wisdom and sage-like brilliance are inconceivable. Such bodhisattva mahāsattvas as these, incalculable in number, assembled together at that time.

The Bhagavān's radiant countenance; Ānanda's question

[3] At that moment, the Bhagavān, his faculties joyful and serene, had a pure complexion and a radiant face that was majestic. The Venerable Ānanda, receiving the Buddha’s noble intent, immediately rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt upright, joined his palms, and said to the Buddha, “Today the Bhagavān’s faculties are joyful and serene, his complexion [1-0019] is pure, and his radiant face is majestic, like a bright, clear mirror reflecting unimpeded inside and out. His majestic appearance is resplendent, surpassing all limit. Never before have I beheld him as exceptionally marvellous as now. Indeed, Great Sage, in my mind I thought, ‘Today the Bhagavān dwells in a rare and extraordinary dharma. Today the World Hero dwells where the buddhas dwell. Today the World Eye dwells in the practice of a guide. Today the World Eminence dwells in the most supreme path. Today the Deva-Honoured One practises the virtue of a tathāgata. The buddhas of the past, future, and present mutually contemplate one another. Could it be that the present Buddha is contemplating the buddhas? For what reason is his majesty so brilliant as this?’”

Thereupon the Bhagavān told Ānanda, “How is it, Ānanda? Did the devas instruct you to come and ask the Buddha, or do you ask about my majestic countenance by your own wise perception?”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “There are no devas who came to instruct me. I merely ask about this matter by what I have seen myself.”

The Buddha said, “Sādhu, Ānanda, what you ask is excellent indeed. You have brought forth profound wisdom and truly marvellous eloquence, asking about this wise matter out of pity and concern for sentient beings. The tathāgata pities the three realms with an unsurpassed great compassion. The reason he appears in the world is to brilliantly elucidate the path’s teachings, desiring to rescue the flocks of beings and bestow upon them true and real benefit. In limitless koṭis of kalpas, it is difficult to encounter and difficult to see him, just like an udumbara flower, which only appears from time to time. What you ask today will bring much benefit, awakening and transforming all the devas and humans.

“Ānanda, you should know that a tathāgata’s true awakening has wisdom that is difficult to measure, guiding and steering the multitudes. His wise perception is unhindered, with nothing that can obstruct or cut it off. With the strength of a single meal, he can sustain his lifespan for hundreds of thousands of koṭis of kalpas, innumerable and limitless, and even beyond this. His faculties would remain joyful and serene, not being damaged or impaired. His complexion would not change, and his radiant face would not alter. For what reason? Because a tathāgata’s concentration and wisdom thoroughly pervade without limit, and regarding all dharmas, he attains sovereign mastery. Ānanda, listen closely; I will now explain this to you.”

He replied, “Indeed. I joyfully wish and desire to hear.”

The fifty-three buddhas of the past

[4] [1-0020] The Buddha told Ānanda, “In the past, a limitless, inconceivable, and innumerable kalpas ago, the Tathāgata Dīpaṃkara appeared in the world, teaching, transforming, and delivering limitless sentient beings, causing them all to attain the path, and then he passed into nirvāṇa.

“Next there was a tathāgata, named Far-Reaching Light. Next was one named Moonlight. Next was one named Candana Fragrance. Next was one named Wholesome Mountain King. Next was one named Sumeru Deva Crown. Next was one named Sumeru-Like Brilliance. Next was one named Moon Colour. Next was one named Right Mindfulness. Next was one named Free from Defilement. Next was one named Non-Attachment. Next was one named Nāga Deva. Next was one named Night Light. Next was one named Peaceful Bright Crest. Next was one named Immovable Ground.

“Next was one named Marvellous Beryl Flower. Next was one named Beryl Golden Colour. Next was one named Golden Treasury. Next was one named Flaming Light. Next was one named Flaming Root. Next was one named Earth Shaking. Next was one named Moon Image. Next was one named Sun Sound. Next was one named Liberation Flower. Next was one named Adorned Light. Next was one named Ocean Awakening Supernormal Power. Next was one named Water Light. Next was one named Great Fragrance. Next was one named Free from Dust and Defilement. Next was one named Relinquishing Aversion. Next was one named Jewelled Flame. Next was one named Marvellous Crest. Next was one named Heroic Standing. Next was one named Merit Maintaining Wisdom. Next was one named Outshining Sun and Moon Light. Next was one named Sun and Moon Beryl Light. Next was one named Unsurpassed Beryl Light.

“Next was one named Supreme Head. Next was one named Bodhi Flower. Next was one named Moon Brightness. Next was one named Sun Light. Next was one named Flower Colour King. Next was one named Water Moon Light. Next was one named Dispelling the Darkness of Delusion. Next was one named Crossing over the Hindrances Practice. Next was one named Pure Faith. Next was one named Wholesome Constellation. Next was one named Authoritative Power. Next was one named Dharma Wisdom. Next was one named Phoenix Sound. Next was one named Lion Sound. Next was one named Nāga Sound. Next was one named Dwelling in the World. All such buddhas as these have completely passed away.

Lokeśvararāja Buddha and the bhikṣu Dharmākara

[5] “At that time, there was next a buddha, named Lokeśvararāja, the Tathāgata, Arhat, Perfectly Awakened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Sugata, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, and Bhagavān.

“At that time, there was a king. Hearing the Buddha expound the Dharma, his mind harboured joy and serenity. [1-0021] He quickly gave rise to the aspiration for the unexcelled and true path. Abandoning his kingdom and renouncing the throne, he became a śramaṇa and was named Dharmākara. Possessing superior talent and courageous wisdom, he was transcendent and peerless in the world. He went to the presence of the Tathāgata Lokeśvararāja, prostrated at the feet of the Buddha, circumambulated him three times to the right, knelt with his palms joined, and praised him with a verse, saying:

The Verses in Praise of the Buddha (讃佛偈, Sanbutsuge)

“‘Your face is majestic and bright,

And your dignity is boundless.

The effulgence of your great light

Is unequalled and is peerless.

“‘Even the great brilliant light

Of the sun, maṇi gems, and moon,

Is made hidden and out of sight

As if ink were over them strewn.

“‘The Buddha’s shining appearance

Is beyond compare everywhere.

The sound of his voice finds clearance

In ten directions through the air.

“‘Your virtue, learning, and vigour,

Your wisdom and meditation

In no living thing are bigger:

There is no approximation.

“‘With clear mindfulness of great depth

Of Buddha-Dharma’s ocean vast,

You know its deepness and its breadth,

And reach its farthest end at last.

“‘Ignorance, greed, and anger too

Are fully absent in your mind;

You are like a brave lion who

Has countless virtues refined.

“‘Your noble achievement is vast,

Your wisdom is deep and supreme;

The light that your glory does cast

Shakes worlds up, below, and between.

“‘To become a buddha, I vow,

Equal to you, the Dharma’s king,

And beings in saṃsāra now

I shall to awakening bring.

“‘My giving and my morals too,

My patience and resolution,

Meditation and wisdom true,

Shall be best with no dilution.

“‘When I am a buddha, I vow,

This promise I shall then fulfil,

And to all dwelling in fear now

In great peace I shall then instil.

“‘Even though buddhas are many

As endless koṭis and thousands,

Or great sages legendary

As many as the Gaṅgā’s sands,

[1-0022] “‘I shall make offerings endless

To all these buddhas without bound;

Nothing passes my tremendous

Resolve to seek the Way they found.

“‘Even though there are buddha-lands,

More than sands’ accumulation,

And other uncountable lands,

Beyond any calculation,

“‘I shall illumine with my light

All of those lands, which are countless;

I shall exert effort and might

That my power may be boundless.

“‘When buddhahood I have attained,

My land will be most dignified;

Those there will be best and unstained,

On the best throne shall sit their guide.

“‘Like nirvāṇa I shall fashion

My land of best aspiration.

Out of pity and compassion,

I shall bring all to salvation.

“‘Those who come from ten directions

With joyful hearts, their stress will cease;

Once born there, by the ten sections,

They shall dwell in bliss and in peace.

“‘O Buddha, be my witness, please;

Attest to my vow’s truthfulness.

I have thus made vows such as these,

And will bring them to their fullness.

“‘The bhagavāns of everywhere

Are infinitely kind and wise;

May each of them, beyond compare,

Know my intents with no disguise.

“‘Even if I have to endure

Many kinds of pain and torment,

Still practising forevermore,

I would never have discontent.’”

Dharmākara's resolve and his contemplation of the buddha lands

[6] The Buddha addressed Ānanda, “After the bhikṣu Dharmākara spoke this verse, he addressed the Buddha, saying: ‘Indeed, O Bhagavān! I arouse the aspiration for unexcelled perfect awakening. I pray that the Buddha will widely proclaim the sūtras and Dharma for me. I shall practise to accumulate a buddha-land, a pure, adorned, and immeasurably wondrous land. May I quickly attain perfect awakening in the world, and uproot the source of the painful toils of saṃsāra.’”

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “At that time, the Buddha Lokeśvararāja told the bhikṣu Dharmākara, ‘As for the practices for adorning a buddha-land, you should know this for yourself.’ The bhikṣu addressed the Buddha, ‘The meaning of this is vast and deep; it is not within my ken. I only pray, O Bhagavān, that you widely expound for me the practices for the pure lands of the buddha tathāgatas. [1-0023] Having heard this, I shall practise according to your words, and fulfil my vows.’

“At that time, Lokeśvararāja Buddha, knowing that his high and brilliant aspirations were deep and broad, then for the bhikṣu Dharmākara, spoke a sūtra, saying, ‘Just as with the great ocean, if one person were to measure it out with a pint measure over the course of kalpas, they could still reach the bottom and obtain its wondrous jewels. If a person with a sincere mind diligently seeks the path without ceasing, they are bound to attain the fruit. What vow could they not achieve?’

“Thereupon Lokeśvararāja Buddha, then extensively described for him the wholesomeness and unwholesomeness of the devas and humans in the two hundred and ten koṭis of buddha lands, and the coarseness and wondrousness of those lands, and in accordance with his mind’s vow, manifested all of them for him. At that time, that bhikṣu, having heard what the Buddha said, and having entirely seen the majestic and pure lands, outstandingly brought forth the supreme and pre-eminent vow. His mind was tranquil, and his aspirations were without attachment. Among all those in the world, there was none who could equal him. For a full five kalpas, he contemplated and grasped the pure practices for adorning a buddha land.”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “What was that Buddha’s lifespan in that land?” 

The Buddha said, “The lifespan of that Buddha was forty-two kalpas.”

“At that time, the bhikṣu Dharmākara grasped the pure practices of the wondrous lands of two hundred and ten koṭis of buddhas. Having cultivated in this manner, he went to the presence of that Buddha, bowed his head to his feet, circumambulated the Buddha three times, stood with joined palms, and addressed the Buddha, saying, ‘O Bhagavān! I have already grasped the pure practices for adorning a buddha land.’ The Buddha told the bhikṣu, ‘You may now speak. You should know, this is the time. Arouse and delight the entire great assembly. When the bodhisattvas have heard this, they will cultivate this Dharma, and thereby fulfil their immeasurable great vows.’ The bhikṣu addressed the Buddha, ‘May you deign to listen and examine. I shall fully speak of my vows just as they are.’”

The forty-eight vows

[7] (1) If, when I attain buddhahood, there should be hell, hungry ghosts, or animals in my land, may I not attain perfect awakening.

[1-0024] (2) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, at the end of their life, should again arise in the three evil realms, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(3) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should not all be of true golden colour, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(4) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should vary in form and colour such that there are the beautiful and the ugly, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(5) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should not possess knowledge of past lives, down to not knowing the events of hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(6) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should not attain the divine eye, down to not seeing hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha lands, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(7) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, should not attain the divine ear, down to hearing that which is spoken by hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddhas, and not completely take up and bear it, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(8) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, should not obtain the knowledge of the minds of others, down to not knowing the mental thoughts of the sentient beings in hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha lands, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(9) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, should not obtain the supernormal power [of unhindered movement] in a single moment of thought, down to being unable to traverse beyond hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha lands, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(10) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, should give rise to thoughts of greedily clinging to their bodies, may I not attain perfect awakening.

[1-0025] (11) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should not dwell in the determined group, and inevitably reach parinirvāṇa, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(12) If, when I attain buddhahood, my light should be limited, down to not illuminating hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha lands, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(13) If, when I attain buddhahood, my lifespan should be limited, down to hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(14) If, when I attain buddhahood, the śrāvakas in my land could be calculated, down to the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas in a cosmos of three thousand great thousand worlds, over hundreds of thousands of kalpas, all calculating together, knowing their number, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(15) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land have lifespans that are immeasurable. Excepted are those whose original vows allow them to lengthen or shorten them freely.1 If it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(16) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should even hear the name of what is unwholesome, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(17) If, when I attain buddhahood, the immeasurable buddhas in the worlds of the ten directions, should not all praise and proclaim my name, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(18) If, when I attain buddhahood, the sentient beings of the ten directions, with sincere mind, entrusting themselves in joy, and desiring to be born in my land, even down to ten thoughts,2 should not be born there, may I not attain perfect awakening. Excluded are those who commit the five heinous crimes and slander the true Dharma.

(19) If, when I attain buddhahood, the sentient beings of the ten directions arouse bodhicitta, cultivate various merits, and sincerely make vows, wishing to be born in my land, and when their lives are about to end, I do not appear before them surrounded by a great assembly, may I not attain perfect awakening.

[1-0026] (20) If, when I attain buddhahood, the sentient beings of the ten directions, having heard my name, fix their thoughts upon my land, plant various roots of virtue, and sincerely dedicate them, wishing to be born in my land, and should not fulfil their aim, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(21) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should not all fully possess the thirty-two marks of a great man, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(22) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the buddha lands of other directions, who come to be born in my land, will ultimately and inevitably reach the position of being bound to one more birth, with the exception of those who, because of their original vows, freely manifest, for the sake of sentient beings, don the armour of vast vows, accumulate roots of virtue, liberate all, journey to buddha lands, cultivate bodhisattva practices, make offerings to the buddhas and tathāgatas of the ten directions, awaken immeasurable sentient beings numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, causing them to be established in the supreme, true, and real path, transcend the ordinary courses of practice of the various grounds, and presently cultivate the virtues of Samantabhadra—if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(23) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land, receiving the Buddha’s supernormal power to make offerings to the buddhas, should be unable to reach countless and immeasurable nayutas of buddha lands in the time it takes to eat a meal, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(24) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land, before the buddhas, manifesting their roots of virtue, regarding all the implements of offering they desire, should they not be according to their wishes, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(25) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land should not be able to expound upon all knowledge, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(26) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land should not obtain the vajra-like body of Nārāyaṇa, may I not attain perfect awakening.

[1-0027] (27) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, and all the myriad things, majestic, pure, bright, and beautiful, their forms and colours outstanding and special, profoundly subtle and ultimately wondrous, should be impossible to assess or measure, and if among those sentient beings, even those who have attained the divine eye, there should be any who can clearly distinguish their names and numbers, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(28) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land, even those with little merit, should be unable to know and see the bodhi tree of that bodhimaṇḍa, with its immeasurable luminous colours and height of four million leagues, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(29) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land, if, having taken up, read, chanted, upheld, and expounded the sūtras and the Dharma, should not obtain eloquence and wisdom, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(30) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land should have their wisdom and eloquence limited, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(31) If, when I attain buddhahood, my land, being pure, should not everywhere reflect all the immeasurable, innumerable, and inconceivable buddha worlds of the ten directions, just as a bright mirror reflects the image of one’s own face, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(32) If, when I attain buddhahood, from the ground upwards to the empty sky, the palaces, pavilions, ponds and streams, and flowering trees, and all the myriad things in my land, should not all be composed together of immeasurable assorted jewels and a hundred thousand kinds of fragrance, adorned with a marvellousness surpassing that of devas and humans, their fragrance universally perfuming the worlds of the ten directions, so that the bodhisattvas who smell it all cultivate the practice of a buddha, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(33) If, when I attain buddhahood, the classes of sentient beings in the immeasurable and inconceivable buddha worlds of the ten directions, who are touched upon [1-0028] their bodies by my light, should not become gentle and supple in body and mind, surpassing devas and humans, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(34) If, when I attain buddhahood, the classes of sentient beings in the immeasurable and inconceivable buddha worlds of the ten directions, having heard my name, should not attain the bodhisattva’s forbearance3 of the non-arising of dharmas and the various profound dhāraṇīs, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(35) If, when I attain buddhahood, in the immeasurable and inconceivable buddha worlds of the ten directions, should there be women who, having heard my name, rejoice and entrust themselves in faith, arouse bodhicitta, and loathe their female bodies, and who after the end of their lives should again take female form, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(36) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the immeasurable and inconceivable buddha worlds of the ten directions, having heard my name, should not, after the end of their lives, constantly practise the brahma life until they attain the buddha path; if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(37) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and people in the immeasurable and inconceivable buddha worlds of the ten directions, having heard my name, prostrate themselves with the five parts of the body, bow their heads in reverence, rejoice and entrust themselves in faith, and cultivate bodhisattva practices, and there should be any among the devas and people of the world who do not revere them, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(38) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land, wishing to obtain clothing, should not have it come at once in accordance with their thought, so that the wondrous robes fitting for the Dharma, such as the Buddha has praised, are spontaneously upon their bodies, and if there should be any cutting and sewing, pounding and dyeing, or washing, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(39) If, when I attain buddhahood, the devas and humans in my land should not receive pleasure like that of a bhikṣu whose effluents are exhausted, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(40) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land, wishing at will to see the immeasurable, majestic, and pure buddha lands of the ten directions, should not behold them all at that very moment, in accordance with their wish, within the [1-0029] jewelled trees, just as a bright mirror reflects the image of one’s own face, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(41) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should, up until the attainment of buddhahood, have faculties that are defective, inferior, or incomplete, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(42) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should not all attain the samādhi of pure liberation, and dwelling in that samādhi, in the space of a single arising of thought, make offerings to immeasurable and inconceivable buddha bhagavāns without losing their concentration, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(43) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should not, after the end of their lives, be born into noble and honoured families, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(44) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should not rejoice and leap for joy, cultivate bodhisattva practices, and fully possess the roots of virtue, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(45) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should not all attain the samādhi of universal equality, and dwelling in that samādhi, until they attain buddhahood, constantly behold all the immeasurable and inconceivable buddhas, if it were not so, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(46) If, when I attain buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land should not spontaneously hear whatever Dharma they wish to hear, in accordance with their aspirations, if it were not so, [1-0030] may I not attain perfect awakening.

(47) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should not immediately reach the stage of non-retrogression, may I not attain perfect awakening.

(48) If, when I attain buddhahood, the multitudes of bodhisattvas in the lands of other quarters, having heard my name, should not immediately reach the first, the second, and the third forbearances, and should not be able immediately to reach non-retrogression regarding the dharmas of the buddhas, may I not attain perfect awakening.

The Verses Reiterating the Vows (重誓偈, Jūseige)

[8] The Buddha told Ānanda, “At that time, when the bhikṣu Dharmākara had spoken these vows, he spoke a verse, saying:

“‘I have set up vows surpassing the world, 

And surely shall attain the highest path; 

Should these my vows not come to fulfilment, 

I vow not to attain to buddhahood.

“‘Should I, through kalpas beyond measuring, 

Not become the great lord of almsgiving, 

Saving all those in poverty and want, 

I vow not to attain to buddhahood.

“‘When I attain and reach the buddha path, 

Should my name not reach the ten directions 

And be, in the very end, nowhere heard, 

I vow not to attain to buddhahood.

“‘Freed from desire, in deep right mindfulness, 

With pure wisdom I keep the brahma life, 

Aspiring to seek the unsurpassed path, 

Teacher of the devas and of humans.

“‘Supernormal power sends forth great light, 

Shining upon the lands without limit, 

Wiping out the darkness of the three stains, 

Widely saving the many in distress.

“‘I shall open there the eye of wisdom, 

And extinguish here this blinding darkness, 

Closing and blocking the evil pathways, 

And opening the gate to wholesome realms.

“‘My merit and blessing shall be fulfilled, 

My splendour shall light the ten directions; 

The sun and moon shall veil their doubled light, 

And heaven’s brightness be hidden, unseen.

“‘For beings I unlock the Dharma store, 

And broadly give the jewels of merit; 

Always amid the great assembly there, 

Expounding Dharma with the lion’s roar.

[1-0031] “‘I shall make offerings to all buddhas, 

Possessing in full the roots of virtue; 

When vow and wisdom are wholly fulfilled, 

I shall become the hero of three realms.

“‘As buddhas’ wisdom is unobstructed, 

Penetrating all, illumining all, 

May my power of merit and wisdom 

Equal this most supreme and honoured one.

“‘Should these my vows come to their fruition, 

Let the great thousand worlds respond and quake; 

And devas and humans in empty space 

Shall rain down precious and wondrous flowers.’”

Dharmākara's practice of the bodhisattva path

[9] The Buddha told Ānanda, “When the bhikṣu Dharmākara had spoken this verse, at that very moment the whole earth shook in the six ways. Wondrous flowers rained down from the heavens and were scattered upon him. Spontaneous music sounded, and a voice in the sky praised him, saying, ‘You will assuredly attain unsurpassed perfect awakening.’ Thereupon the bhikṣu Dharmākara fully cultivated and fulfilled such great vows as these, which were sincere and true and not empty. He transcended the world and deeply delighted in stillness and cessation.

“Ānanda, at that time, that bhikṣu, in the presence of that Buddha, and amid the great assembly of devas, māras, Brahmās, and the eight classes of nāgas and spirits, brought forth these vast vows. Having established these vows, he single-mindedly and exclusively devoted his will to adorning a wondrous land. The buddha land he cultivated was expansive and vast, surpassingly excellent and uniquely wondrous. Once established, it was ever thus, without decline and without change. Through inconceivable, incalculable, and everlasting kalpas, he accumulated and planted the immeasurable virtuous practices of a bodhisattva.

“He gave rise to no thoughts of desire, anger, or harm, and aroused no notions of desire, anger, or harm. He was unattached to form, sound, scent, taste, touch, or dharmas. Accomplishing the power of forbearance, he took no account of the many sufferings. Having few desires and knowing contentment, he was without defilement, hatred, or delusion. His samādhi was constantly serene and his wisdom unobstructed. He had no mind of falsehood, flattery, or crookedness. With a gentle countenance and loving words, he anticipated others’ intentions and enquired after them. Valiant and diligent, he was never weary in his aspirations and vows. He sought the pure and spotless Dharma exclusively and, with it, benefited the flocks of beings. He revered the three treasures and served his teachers and elders. With great adornment, he fully accomplished the many practices, causing all sentient beings to bring their merits to completion.

“He dwelt in the dharmas of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, which are without doing and without arising, and he contemplated dharmas as being like conjurations. He kept far from coarse speech, which harms oneself, harms [1-0032] others, and harms both alike, and he cultivated wholesome speech, which benefits oneself, benefits others, and benefits others and oneself together.

“Abandoning his kingdom and renouncing the throne, he cut himself off from wealth and sensual beauty. He himself practised the six pāramitās and taught others to practise them. Through innumerable kalpas he accumulated merit and piled up virtue. Wherever he was born, whatever he wished for was according to his intent, and immeasurable treasuries of jewels appeared spontaneously in response. He taught, transformed, and established innumerable sentient beings, causing them to abide in the unsurpassed, true, and real path. Sometimes he was an elder, a householder, a man of a noble clan, or a person of rank; sometimes a kṣatriya sovereign or a wheel-turning sage-emperor; sometimes a lord of the six desire-heavens, or even a Brahmā king. Always, with the four kinds of offering, he made offerings to and revered all the buddhas.

“Such merits as these cannot be described. His breath was fragrant and pure, like the utpala flower. From every pore of his body there issued the fragrance of candana, and that fragrance universally perfumed immeasurable worlds. His appearance was upright, and his marks and signs exceedingly wondrous. From his hands there constantly issued inexhaustible jewels, clothing, food and drink, rare and wondrous flowers and incense, silken canopies, banners and pennants, and implements of adornment. In such matters as these he surpassed all devas and humans, and regarding all dharmas he attained sovereign mastery.”

Dharmākara's attainment of buddhahood; the land of Peace and Bliss

[10] Ānanda said to the Buddha, “Has the Bodhisattva Dharmākara already attained buddhahood and passed into nirvāṇa, has he not yet attained buddhahood, or is he present now?”

The Buddha told Ānanda, “The Bodhisattva Dharmākara has already attained buddhahood and is now present in the west, a hundred thousand koṭis of lands distant from here. His buddha world is named Peace and Bliss.”

Ānanda asked further, “How long has it been since that Buddha attained the path?” 

The Buddha said, “Since he attained buddhahood, ten kalpas have passed in all. The land of that Buddha has for its ground the spontaneous seven jewels—gold, silver, beryl, coral, amber, red pearl, and emerald4—combined together. It is expansive and boundless, and cannot be limited. All of them are mingled with one another and interpenetrate in turn. Blazing and dazzling, they are subtle, wondrous, rare, and beautiful. In purity and adornment, it surpasses all the worlds of the ten directions. These are the finest among the many jewels, and those jewels are like the jewels of the [1-0033] sixth heaven.

“Moreover, in that land there is no Mount Sumeru, nor the vajra and iron encircling mountains, nor any mountains at all. There are neither great seas nor small seas, neither valleys, channels, wells, nor ravines. Yet by the Buddha’s supernormal power, should one wish to see them, they appear. There are likewise no hells, hungry ghosts, or animals, nor any of the destinies of adversity. Nor are there the four seasons of spring, autumn, winter, and summer. It is neither cold nor hot, but always mild and temperate.”

At that time Ānanda said to the Buddha, “Bhagavān, if that land has no Mount Sumeru, upon what do the four deva kings and the Trāyastriṃśa devas depend for their abode?”

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Upon what do the third heaven, that of Yāma, and so on up to the Akaniṣṭha heaven, depend for their abode?”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “The fruits and recompense of action and karma are inconceivable.”

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “The fruits and recompense of action and karma are inconceivable, and the worlds of the buddhas are likewise inconceivable. Those sentient beings, by the wholesome power of their merit, dwell upon the ground of their action and karma. It is for this reason that it can be so.”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “I do not doubt this dharma. It is only for the sake of sentient beings in the future, wishing to remove their doubts, that I ask about this matter.”

The light of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life; the twelve names

[11] The Buddha told Ānanda, “The majestic supernormal light of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is the most honoured and the foremost; the light of the other buddhas cannot match it. The light of some buddhas illumines a hundred buddha worlds, or a thousand buddha worlds. To speak of it essentially, it illumines buddha lands numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā in the east, and so likewise in the south, west, and north, in the four intermediate directions, and above and below. The light of some buddhas illumines seven feet, or one yojana, or two, three, four, or five yojanas; and doubling in this way, up to illumining a single buddha land.

“For this reason the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is called: the Buddha of Immeasurable Light, the Buddha of Boundless Light, the Buddha of Unhindered Light, the Buddha of Incomparable Light, the Buddha of the Light of the King of Flames, the Buddha of Pure Light, the Buddha of the Light of Joy, the Buddha of the Light of Wisdom, the Buddha of Uninterrupted Light, the Buddha of Light Difficult to Conceive, the Buddha of Ineffable Light, and the Buddha of the Light Surpassing Sun and Moon.

“Should there [1-0034] be sentient beings who encounter this light, their three defilements are extinguished, their bodies and minds become gentle and supple, they rejoice and leap for joy, and a wholesome mind arises in them. If they are in the three evil courses, in places of toil and suffering, and see this light, they all obtain respite and have no further affliction, and after the end of their lives they all receive liberation.

“The light of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life shines resplendently, illumining the buddha lands of the ten directions, and there is nowhere that it is not heard of. It is not only I who now praise his light: all the buddhas, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and multitudes of bodhisattvas praise and extol it together in just the same way.

“If there are sentient beings who hear of the majestic supernormal merits of his light, and who praise and speak of it day and night with a sincere mind, unceasingly, then in accordance with their wish they will attain birth in his land, and the great multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas will together praise and extol their merits. And thereafter, when they attain the buddha path, they will be praised for their light universally by the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions, just as it is now.”

The Buddha said, “Were I to speak of the majestic supernormal light of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, so lofty and so exceedingly wondrous, day and night for a whole kalpa, I still could not exhaust it.”

The lifespan of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life

[12] The Buddha said to Ānanda, “The lifespan of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is so long and enduring that it cannot be reckoned. How could you know it? Suppose the immeasurable sentient beings of the worlds of the ten directions all obtained human bodies, and were all made to accomplish the state of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and suppose they all assembled together and, in meditative thought with concentrated minds, exhausted the power of their wisdom, and for a hundred thousand myriad kalpas all together reckoned and calculated the number of the length of his lifespan: they could not exhaust it or know its limit. So it is likewise with the length of the lifespans of the multitudes of śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, devas, and humans there. It cannot be known by calculation or by simile. Moreover, the number of the śrāvakas and bodhisattvas is difficult to measure and cannot be described. Their supernormal knowledge penetrates thoroughly, and their majestic power is sovereign. They are able to hold all the worlds in the palm of the hand.”

The number of the first assembly

[13] [1-0035] The Buddha said to Ānanda, “The number of the multitude of śrāvakas at that Buddha’s first assembly cannot be reckoned, and so likewise the bodhisattvas. Though there were immeasurable and innumerable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of Mahāmaudgalyāyanas such as the present one, and they all reckoned together for asaṃkhyas of nayutas of kalpas, even until their passing into nirvāṇa, they could not fully determine that number, whether great or small.

“It is like the great ocean, immeasurably deep and wide. Suppose a person were to split a single hair into a hundred parts, and with one part of that hair take up a single drop. What do you think? Which is the greater, that which he has taken in the drop, or that great ocean?”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “The measure of that drop of water compared with the great ocean, whether great or small, cannot be known by skilled reckoners, by arithmetic, by words, or by simile.”

The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Though such as Maudgalyāyana were for a hundred thousand myriads of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas to reckon the śrāvakas and bodhisattvas of that first assembly, the number they knew would be like a single drop, and what they did not know would be like the water of the great ocean.”

The jewelled trees

[14] Moreover, in that land the trees of the seven jewels fill the whole world: gold trees, silver trees, beryl trees, crystal trees, coral trees, emerald trees, and red-pearl trees. Some are formed of two jewels, or of three, or even of all seven jewels combined together.

There are gold trees with silver leaves, blossoms, and fruits. There are silver trees with gold leaves, blossoms, and fruits. There are beryl trees with crystal for their leaves, and their blossoms and fruits are likewise. There are crystal trees with beryl for their leaves, and their blossoms and fruits are likewise. There are coral trees with emerald for their leaves, and their blossoms and fruits are likewise. There are emerald trees with beryl for their leaves, and their blossoms and fruits are likewise. There are red-pearl trees with many jewels for their leaves, and their blossoms and fruits are likewise.

There are jewelled trees with purple gold for their trunks, white silver for their stems, beryl for their branches, crystal for their twigs, coral for their leaves, emerald for their blossoms, and red pearl for their fruits. There are jewelled trees with white silver for their trunks, beryl for their stems, crystal for their branches, coral for their twigs, emerald [1-0036] for their leaves, red pearl for their blossoms, and purple gold for their fruits. There are jewelled trees with beryl for their trunks, crystal for their stems, coral for their branches, emerald for their twigs, red pearl for their leaves, purple gold for their blossoms, and white silver for their fruits.

There are jewelled trees with crystal for their trunks, coral for their stems, emerald for their branches, red pearl for their twigs, purple gold for their leaves, white silver for their blossoms, and beryl for their fruits. There are jewelled trees with coral for their trunks, emerald for their stems, red pearl for their branches, purple gold for their twigs, white silver for their leaves, beryl for their blossoms, and crystal for their fruits. There are jewelled trees with emerald for their trunks, red pearl for their stems, purple gold for their branches, white silver for their twigs, beryl for their leaves, crystal for their blossoms, and coral for their fruits. There are jewelled trees with red pearl for their trunks, purple gold for their stems, white silver for their branches, beryl for their twigs, crystal for their leaves, coral for their blossoms, and emerald for their fruits.

These jewelled trees stand row upon row, stem upon stem, branch level with branch, leaf turned towards leaf, blossom according to blossom, and fruit matched with fruit. Their flourishing colours shine so brilliantly that one cannot bear to gaze upon them. When a pure breeze arises from time to time, it sends forth the five musical notes, and the subtle and wondrous tones of gong and shang harmonise of themselves.

The bodhi tree; the music of the land

[15] Moreover, the bodhi tree of the bodhimaṇḍa of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is four million leagues in height. Its trunk is fifty yojanas in circumference.5 Its branches and leaves spread out in the four directions for two hundred thousand leagues. It is spontaneously formed of all the many jewels, and is adorned with moonlight maṇi gems and ocean-holding wheel jewels, the kings among the many jewels. All around, among its twigs, hang jewelled necklaces. In a hundred thousand myriad colours, changing in various ways, immeasurable flames of light shine without limit. Rare and wondrous jewelled nets spread over and cover it. All manner of adornments appear in accordance with what is fitting.

A gentle breeze stirs slowly, blowing through its branches and leaves, sending forth immeasurable sounds of the wondrous Dharma. These sounds spread abroad and pervade all the buddha lands. Those who hear these sounds attain the profound [1-0037] forbearance of the Dharma and dwell in non-retrogression, and until they attain the buddha path their faculty of hearing remains pure and clear, meeting with no suffering or affliction. Whether they behold its colours with the eye, hear its sounds with the ear, know its fragrance with the nose, taste its flavours with the tongue, touch its light with the body, or take it as an object of dharma with the mind, all of them attain the extremely profound forbearance of the Dharma and dwell in non-retrogression, and until they attain the buddha path their six faculties remain pure and clear, without any affliction or distress.

Ānanda, should the devas and humans of that land see this tree, they attain the three forbearances of the Dharma: the first is the forbearance through sound, the second is the forbearance of gentle accord, and the third is the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. All this is by reason of the majestic supernormal power of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, by reason of the power of his original vow, of the vow fulfilled, of the vow made clear, of the vow made firm, and of the vow brought to its ultimate completion.

The Buddha told Ānanda, “The sovereigns of the world have a hundred thousand kinds of music. From the wheel-turning sage king up to the sixth heaven, the sounds of their music surpass one another in turn by a thousand koṭis of myriad times; yet the ten thousand kinds of musical sound in the sixth heaven are not equal, by a thousand koṭis of times, to a single sound of the trees of the seven jewels in the land of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life.

“There are also ten thousand kinds of spontaneous music, and the sounds of that music are nothing other than the sounds of the Dharma. Clear and resonant, plaintive and bright, subtle, wondrous, harmonious, and refined, they are the foremost among all the sounds in the worlds of the ten directions.”

The halls and the bathing ponds

[16] Moreover, the lecture halls, monastic dwellings, palaces, and pavilions are all adorned with the seven jewels and arise spontaneously through transformation. They are further covered over with canopies of hanging dew, wrought of pearls, bright-moon maṇi gems, and the many jewels.

Within and without, to the left and right, there are bathing ponds. Some are ten yojanas, some twenty or thirty, and some as much as a hundred thousand yojanas; in length, breadth, depth, and shallowness each is uniform. Water of the eight excellent qualities fills them, brimming and still, pure, fragrant, and clean, its taste like ambrosia. In the ponds of yellow gold, the sand of the bed is white silver. In the ponds of white silver, the sand is yellow gold. In the ponds of crystal, the sand is beryl. In the ponds of beryl, the sand is crystal. In the ponds of coral, the sand is amber. In the ponds of amber, [1-0038] the sand is coral. In the ponds of red pearl, the sand is emerald. In the ponds of emerald, the sand is red pearl. In the ponds of white jade, the sand is purple gold. In the ponds of purple gold, the sand is white jade. Some are formed of two jewels, or of three, or even of all seven jewels combined together.

Upon the banks of these ponds there are candana trees, whose blossoms and leaves hang down and spread abroad, and whose fragrance perfumes everywhere. Heavenly utpala flowers, padma flowers, kumuda flowers, and puṇḍarīka flowers, luminous and luxuriant in their mingled colours, cover over the surface of the water.

When those bodhisattvas and the multitude of śrāvakas enter the jewelled ponds, if they wish the water to submerge their feet, the water submerges their feet; if they wish it to reach their knees, it reaches their knees; if they wish it to reach their waists, the water reaches their waists; if they wish it to reach their necks, the water reaches their necks; if they wish it to pour over their bodies, it pours over them of itself; and if they wish it to return as before, the water at once returns as before. Cool and warm are blended in harmony, spontaneously according with their wishes; it opens the spirit, delights the body, and washes away the defilements of the mind.

Clear and bright, limpid and clean, it is so pure as to seem without form. The jewelled sand shines through it, and there is no depth it does not illumine. Fine ripples circle and flow, pouring one into another in turn. Calmly and gently they pass along, neither slow nor swift.

The waves rise up immeasurably, and spontaneous wondrous sounds arise, so that there is nothing which is not heard in accordance with what befits each. Some hear the sound of the Buddha, some the sound of the Dharma, and some the sound of the Saṅgha; or the sound of stillness, the sound of emptiness and non-self, the sound of great compassion, the sound of the pāramitās; or the sounds of the ten powers, the fearlessnesses, and the exclusive dharmas, the sounds of the supernormal powers and wisdom, the sound of non-doing, the sound of neither arising nor ceasing, the sound of the forbearance of non-arising, and even the sounds of all the wondrous dharmas up to the ambrosial consecration of the crown. Such sounds as these accord with what each one hears, and their joy is immeasurable.

They accord with the meaning of purity, freedom from desire, cessation, and reality; they accord with the three treasures, the powers, the fearlessnesses, and the exclusive dharmas; and they accord with the path practised by the bodhisattvas and śrāvakas of penetrating wisdom. There is no name there for the sufferings and adversities of the three evil courses, but only the sounds of spontaneous joy and bliss. For this reason, that land is named [1-0039] Peace and Bliss.

The bodies and enjoyments of those born there

[17] Ānanda, those who are born in that Buddha’s land fully possess such pure bodies of form as these, all manner of wondrous sounds, and the merits of supernormal powers. The palaces they dwell in, their clothing, their food and drink, the many wondrous flowers and fragrances, and their implements of adornment, are like the spontaneous things of the sixth heaven.

When they wish to eat, bowls of the seven jewels appear spontaneously before them. Bowls such as these, of gold, silver, beryl, red pearl, emerald, coral, amber, and bright-moon pearl, come at will, and food and drink of a hundred flavours fill them spontaneously. Though such food is present, there is in truth no one who eats it. They merely see its colour and smell its fragrance, and take it as food in their minds; they are spontaneously satisfied, gentle and supple in body and mind, with no attachment to flavour. When the matter is done, it vanishes by transformation, and when the time comes it appears again.

That Buddha’s land is pure, tranquil, subtle, wondrous, and blissful; it is next to the path of unconditioned nirvāṇa. The śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, devas, and humans there are lofty and brilliant in wisdom, and their supernormal powers penetrate thoroughly. They are all of one and the same kind, with no difference in form. It is only in accordance with the usage of other quarters that the names ‘deva’ and ‘human’ occur. Their countenances are upright, surpassing the world and rare. Their forms and colours are subtle and wondrous, neither deva nor human. All of them receive the body of naturalness, emptiness, and the substance of limitlessness.6

The beggar and the sovereign: karmic recompense

[18] The Buddha told Ānanda, “Suppose a destitute beggar of the world were beside a sovereign emperor. Could their appearance and form be compared at all?”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “If such a person were beside a sovereign emperor, he would be so frail, mean, and ugly that there is no comparison for it, by a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of incalculable times. The reason is this: a destitute beggar is at the very bottom and utterly base; his clothing does not cover his body, and his food barely sustains his life. Starving, cold, and in distress, the human order in him is all but exhausted.

“This is all because in former lives he planted no roots of virtue. Amassing wealth, he did not give; the richer he grew, the more miserly he became. Wishing only to gain without effort, [1-0040] greedily seeking without satiety, and unwilling to cultivate what is wholesome, his offences and unwholesome deeds piled up like a mountain. When his life ended in this way, his wealth and treasures were scattered. What he had toilsomely gathered and heaped up, worrying and grieving over it, brought him no benefit and became merely the possession of others. He had no wholesomeness to rely upon and no virtue to depend upon. Therefore at death he fell into the evil destinies and underwent this long suffering. When his offences were exhausted, and he came forth, he was born lowly and base, foolish, mean, and utterly servile, appearing to be of the same kind as other humans.

“The reason a sovereign emperor of the world is uniquely honoured among humans is that this was brought about by the virtue accumulated in former lives: by kindness, generosity, and broad giving, by benevolence, love, and universal aid, by walking in trust, cultivating what is wholesome, and disputing with none. Therefore, when his life ended, in recompense for his merit he ascended to a wholesome destiny and was born above in the heavens, enjoying such merit and bliss. Through the surplus blessings of accumulated wholesomeness, he has now been born a human, born into a royal house, and is spontaneously honoured and noble. His bearing and countenance are upright, and the multitude reveres and serves him. Wondrous garments and rare delicacies are his to wear and to enjoy as he wishes. It is because the merit of former lives follows him that he is able to attain this.”

From the sovereign to the heavens to the Pure Land

[19] The Buddha told Ānanda, “What you say is so. Although a sovereign emperor is honoured and noble among humans, and his form and colour are upright, compared with a wheel-turning sage king he is exceedingly mean and shabby, just like that beggar beside the sovereign emperor. The wheel-turning sage king, whose majestic marks are exceedingly wondrous and foremost under heaven, is again, compared with the king of the Trāyastriṃśa devas, so ugly and mean that there can be no comparison, by a myriad koṭis of times. And were the lord of the devas compared with the king of the sixth heaven, they would be unlike by a hundred thousand koṭis of times. And were the king of the sixth heaven compared with the bodhisattvas and śrāvakas in the land of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, his radiant countenance and form would not come near theirs by a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of incalculable times.”

The enjoyments of the land; the wind of virtue

[20] The Buddha told Ānanda, “In the land of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, the clothing, food and drink, flowers and fragrances, necklaces, silken canopies, banners and pennants of the devas and humans there, and their subtle and wondrous sounds, and the dwellings, palaces, and pavilions in which they live, are suited to their form and colour, their height and their size. Some are of one jewel, some of two, and some even [1-0041] of immeasurable jewels; according to whatever they desire, these come at once in response to their thought.

“Moreover, wondrous garments of the many jewels are spread everywhere over the ground, and all the devas and humans tread upon them as they walk. Immeasurable jewelled nets spread over and cover the buddha land, all adorned and ornamented with golden threads, pearls, and a hundred thousand assorted jewels, marvellous, rare, and precious. All around on the four sides hang jewelled bells. Their light and colour blaze forth, utterly majestic and beautiful.

“A spontaneous wind of virtue arises gently and stirs faintly. That wind is temperate and harmonious, neither cold nor hot, warm and cool, soft and gentle, neither slow nor swift. It blows through the nets and the many jewelled trees, sending forth immeasurable subtle and wondrous sounds of the Dharma, and spreading abroad ten thousand kinds of mild and refined fragrance of virtue. Those who hear them find that defilements, toils, and stained habits spontaneously do not arise; and when the wind touches their bodies, they all attain bliss, just as when a bhikṣu attains the samādhi of cessation.”

The scattered flowers and the lotuses of light

[21] Moreover, the wind blows and scatters flowers, which fill the whole buddha land. They fall in order according to their colours and are not mingled in confusion. They are soft and gentle, glossy and lustrous, and their fragrance is rich and pervading. When the foot treads upon them, they sink down four inches, and when the foot is lifted, they return as before. When their use is finished, the ground opens, and they vanish by transformation in order, leaving all pure with nothing remaining. According to the season, the wind blows and scatters the flowers, and thus it is six times over.

Moreover, lotus flowers of the many jewels fill the whole world, and each jewelled flower has a hundred thousand koṭis of petals. The light of those flowers is of immeasurable kinds of colour. The blue ones give blue light and the white ones white light; and the black, yellow, red, and purple ones give light and colour likewise. Blazing and brilliant, they outshine the sun and moon.

From each flower there issue thirty-six hundred thousand koṭis of rays of light, and from each ray there issue thirty-six hundred thousand koṭis of buddhas. Their bodies are the colour of purple gold, and their marks and signs are exceptional. Each of these buddhas again emits a hundred thousand rays of light and universally expounds the subtle and wondrous Dharma for the ten directions. Such buddhas as these each establish immeasurable sentient beings on the right path of the buddhas. [1-0042] 

The Sūtra of Immeasurable Life Spoken by the Buddha

Fascicle 1

Fulfilment of the eleventh, seventeenth, and eighteenth vows

[22] The Buddha told Ānanda, “Those sentient beings who are born in that land all dwell in the group of the truly settled.7 Why is this? Because in that Buddha’s land there are no wrong groups and no unsettled groups. All the buddha tathāgatas of the ten directions, numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, together praise the inconceivable majestic supernormal merits of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life. All sentient beings who hear his Name, and with entrusting mind rejoice even down to a single thought-moment,8 and who with sincere mind direct their merit, aspiring to be born in that land, at once attain birth there and dwell in non-retrogression. Excluded are those who commit the five heinous crimes and slander the true Dharma.”

The three grades of aspirants: the highest grade

[23] The Buddha told Ānanda, “Among the devas and people of the worlds of the ten directions who with sincere mind aspire to be born in that land there are, in all, three grades. Those of the highest grade leave home, abandon desire, and become śramaṇas; they arouse bodhicitta, single-mindedly and exclusively hold the Buddha of Immeasurable Life in mind, cultivate various merits, and aspire to be born in that land. When the lives of such sentient beings are about to end, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, together with a great assembly, appears before them, and following that Buddha they go to be born in his land. There they are spontaneously born by transformation within a flower of the seven jewels and dwell in non-retrogression. Their wisdom is valiant and their supernormal powers sovereign. Therefore, Ānanda, should there be sentient beings who wish in this present life to see the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, they should [1-0044] arouse the unsurpassed mind of bodhi, cultivate meritorious practice, and aspire to be born in that land.”

The middle grade

[24] The Buddha said to Ānanda, “As for those of the middle grade: among the devas and people of the worlds of the ten directions who with sincere mind aspire to be born in that land, though they cannot practise as śramaṇas and greatly cultivate merit, they should arouse the unsurpassed mind of bodhi and single-mindedly and exclusively hold the Buddha of Immeasurable Life in mind. Cultivating what wholesomeness they can, upholding the fasts and precepts, raising stūpas and images, giving food to śramaṇas, hanging silken banners and lighting lamps, scattering flowers and burning incense, they direct this merit and aspire to be born in that land. When such a person’s life is about to end, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life manifests a transformed body, whose light, marks, and signs are complete, just as those of the true Buddha, and, together with a great assembly, appears before that person. Following the transformed buddha, they go to be born in his land and dwell in non-retrogression. Their merit and wisdom are next after those of the highest grade.”

The lowest grade

[25] The Buddha told Ānanda, “As for those of the lowest grade: among the devas and people of the worlds of the ten directions who with sincere mind desire to be born in that land, even if they are unable to perform meritorious deeds, they should arouse the unsurpassed mind of bodhi and, single-minded and exclusive in intent, hold the Buddha of Immeasurable Life in mind even down to ten thoughts, aspiring to be born in his land. If they hear the profound Dharma, rejoice, entrust themselves in faith, and give rise to no doubt, and even down to a single thought hold that Buddha in mind, aspiring with an utterly sincere mind to be born in his land, then when such a person’s life is about to end they will see that Buddha in a dream and will likewise attain birth. Their merit and wisdom are next after those of the middle grade.”

Bodhisattvas of the ten directions come to the land

[26] The Buddha told Ānanda, “The majestic supernormal power of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is without limit. Among the immeasurable, boundless, and inconceivable buddha tathāgatas of the worlds of the ten directions, there is none who does not praise him. In the buddha lands of the east, numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, immeasurable and innumerable multitudes of bodhisattvas all [1-0045] go to the place of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, revering and making offerings to him and to the multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, listening to and receiving the sūtras and the Dharma, and proclaiming and spreading the transformation of the Path. So it is likewise in the south, west, and north, in the four intermediate directions, and above and below.” 

At that time the Bhagavān spoke a verse, saying:

Verses on the bodhisattvas' coming

[27] “The buddha lands that lie towards the east, 

Their number like the sands of the Gaṅgā—

The multitudes of bodhisattvas there 

Seek Immeasurable Awakening.

“South, west, and north, the four in-between points, 

Above, below, are likewise even so; 

The multitudes of bodhisattvas there 

Seek Immeasurable Awakening.

“Each of the bodhisattvas, one by one, 

Bearing the wondrous flowers of devas, 

Jewelled incense and robes beyond all price, 

Serve Immeasurable Awakening.

“Together they play music of devas, 

Sending forth harmonious, refined tones, 

In song they praise the Most Victorious, 

Serve Immeasurable Awakening.

“They master supernormal wisdom well, 

Roaming and entering deep Dharma gates, 

Fully possessing merit’s treasury, 

Their wondrous knowledge is beyond compare.

“The sun of wisdom shines upon the world, 

Dispelling clouds of birth-and-death away; 

Reverently they circle him three times 

And bow their heads to the Unsurpassed One.

“Beholding there that majestic pure land, 

Subtle and wondrous, hard to conceive of, 

Thereby they rouse the unsurpassed intent: 

‘May my own land be likewise even so.’

“The Immeasurable Honoured One then 

Alters his face and issues forth a smile; 

From his mouth countless rays of light stream out 

And light the lands of all ten directions.

“The light comes back and circles round his form 

Three times, and enters at his very crown. 

All the assembled devas and humans 

Leap up in joy and all of them rejoice.

“Great being Avalokiteśvara 

Arranged his robes, bowed low his head, and asked; 

He said, ‘O Buddha, why this smile of yours? 

Indeed, I pray you, speak to us your mind.’

“His Brahmā voice is like a thunderclap, 

Eight-toned, it sends forth wondrous resonance: 

‘I shall confer prediction upon them; 

Now I shall speak; good sir, listen closely.

“‘The excellent ones from the ten regions—

I fully know the vows that they have made; 

Aspiring to a majestic pure land, 

Decreed, they shall attain to buddhahood. [1-0046] 

“‘Awakened to all dharmas, knowing them 

To be like dreams, illusions, and echoes, 

Fulfilling all their wondrous vows in full, 

They surely shall accomplish such a land.

“‘Knowing that dharmas are like flash and shade, 

They consummate the bodhisattva path; 

They fully hold the roots of merit’s store; 

Decreed, they shall attain to buddhahood.

“‘They fathom the nature of all dharmas, 

All being empty and without a self; 

They seek alone a buddha’s pure domain; 

They surely shall accomplish such a land.’

“The buddhas tell their bodhisattvas thus, 

To seek the Buddha of Peaceful Nurture; 

They hear the Dharma, gladly take it up, 

And swiftly gain the place of purity.

“Arriving in that majestic pure land, 

They swiftly gain supernormal power, 

From the Immeasurable Honoured One 

Receiving the decree, they awaken.

“The power of that Buddha’s primal vow: 

Who hear his name and wish to be born there, 

All of them come to reach that buddha land 

And of themselves reach non-retrogression.

“The bodhisattvas raise their utmost vow: 

‘May my own land be no way different;’ 

Universally minded to save all, 

Their name shines forth in the ten directions.

“They serve a koṭi of tathāgatas, 

Flying transformed through all the buddha lands; 

In reverence and joy they go away, 

Returning to the Peaceful Nurture land.

“If people have no roots of wholesomeness, 

They cannot come to hear this sūtra taught; 

Only the pure, who keep the precepts well, 

Obtain the hearing of the True Dharma.

“Those who have seen a bhagavān before 

Are able then to trust in this affair; 

Humbly and reverently they hear and act, 

They leap up in a great and mighty joy.

“The proud, the mean, the slothful and the slack 

Can hardly come to trust in this Dharma; 

Those who saw buddhas in their former lives 

Delight to hear a teaching such as this.

“The śrāvakas, and the bodhisattvas, 

Can fathom to the end the sage’s mind: 

It is as though one blind since birth should wish 

To lead and guide the others on their way.

“The Tathāgata’s ocean of wisdom 

Is deep and wide, without a shore or floor; 

The two vehicles cannot sound its depth, 

A buddha alone knows it perfectly.

“Suppose that all the people, one and all, 

Should fully and completely gain the path, 

With pure wisdom that knows the primal void, 

And pondered buddha-wisdom kalpas long, [1-0047] 

“Exhausting strength and speech to the utmost, 

Though life ran out, they still would never know: 

A buddha’s wisdom has no bound or edge, 

And in this way attains to purity.

“A human lifespan is most hard to gain, 

An age with buddhas is hard to meet with; 

Faith and wisdom in a person are rare; 

If one has heard, then diligently seek.

“To hear the Dharma and not to forget, 

To see, revere, is fortune great indeed; 

Such is my good and intimate of friends; 

And so you should give rise to the intent.

“Though fire should fill the whole world through and through, 

Pass through it: you must hear the Dharma taught; 

You surely then shall gain the buddha path 

And widely save from birth-and-death’s great stream.”

The bodhisattvas of the land; Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta

[28] The Buddha told Ānanda, “The bodhisattvas of that land will all ultimately reach the position of being bound to one more birth, excepting those who, by reason of their original vows, adorn themselves with the merit of vast vows for the sake of sentient beings, wishing universally to liberate all sentient beings. Ānanda, the multitudes of śrāvakas in that Buddha’s land have bodily light of one fathom, while the light of the bodhisattvas illumines a hundred yojanas. There are two bodhisattvas who are the most honoured and foremost, whose majestic supernormal light universally illumines the cosmos of three thousand great thousand worlds.”

Ānanda said to the Buddha, “What are the names of those two bodhisattvas?”

The Buddha said, “The first is named Avalokiteśvara and the second is named Mahāsthāmaprāpta. These two bodhisattvas cultivated bodhisattva practices in this land and, at the end of their lives, were transformed and born in that Buddha’s land.

“Ānanda, the sentient beings born in that land all fully possess the thirty-two marks. Their wisdom is complete; they enter deeply into all dharmas and fathom their essential subtlety; their supernormal powers are unhindered and their faculties bright and keen. Those of dull faculties accomplish two forbearances, and those of keen faculties attain the incalculable forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas.

“Moreover, those bodhisattvas, until they attain buddhahood, do not again pass through the evil destinies. Their supernormal powers are sovereign, and they always know their former lives, excepting those born in the evil worlds of the five degenerations in other quarters, where they manifest themselves as being like those beings, as in my own land.”

The Buddha told Ānanda, “The bodhisattvas of that land, receiving the Buddha’s majestic supernormal power, go in the time it takes to eat a meal to the immeasurable worlds of the ten directions, revering [1-0048] and making offerings to the buddha bhagavāns. Whatever their minds conceive—flowers and incense, music, silken canopies, banners and pennants, innumerable and immeasurable implements of offering—comes into being spontaneously by transformation and arrives at once in response to their thought. Rare, wondrous, and exceptional, these are not such as the world possesses.

“At once they offer them up and scatter them over the buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and the great multitude of śrāvakas, and in mid-air they turn into flower canopies. Their light and colour blaze forth, and their fragrance perfumes everywhere. The circumference of such a flower canopy is four hundred leagues, and doubling in this way they come to cover the cosmos of three thousand great thousand worlds. According as they come, so in their turn do they vanish by transformation.

“All those bodhisattvas rejoice together in delight, and in mid-air they perform the music of the devas, praising the Buddha’s virtue in song with subtle and wondrous sounds. They listen to and receive the sūtras and the Dharma with immeasurable joy. Having made offerings to the Buddha, and before the meal is done, they suddenly rise lightly and return to their own land.”

The preaching in the lecture hall; the wind and the flowers

[29] The Buddha said to Ānanda, “When the Buddha of Immeasurable Life proclaims the Dharma for the great multitudes of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas, they all assemble together in the lecture hall of the seven jewels, where he broadly proclaims the teaching of the Path and expounds the wondrous Dharma, and there is none who does not rejoice, understand in mind, and attain the Path.

“At that moment a spontaneous wind arises from the four directions, blowing universally through the jewelled trees, sending forth the five musical notes and raining down immeasurable wondrous flowers. Following the wind they spread everywhere, and such spontaneous offerings are unceasing.

“All the devas bring hundreds of thousands of heavenly flowers and fragrances and ten thousand kinds of music, and make offerings to that Buddha and to the great multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. They scatter flowers and fragrance everywhere and perform all manner of music, coming and going before and after and giving way to one another in turn. At such a time their pleasure and delight are beyond all telling.”

The virtues of the bodhisattvas of the land

[30] The Buddha said to Ānanda, “The bodhisattvas born in that Buddha’s land, in whatever they expound, always proclaim the true Dharma, according with wisdom, without deviation and without fault.

“Towards all the myriad things of that land they have no mind of possession and no mind of defiled attachment. In going and coming, in advancing and halting, their feelings are attached to [1-0049] nothing; they are free and sovereign as they wish, with neither preference nor aversion. There is no other and no self, no contention and no dispute. Towards all sentient beings they have the mind of great compassion and benefit. Gentle and tamed, they have no mind of anger or resentment; free of the hindrances and pure, they have no mind of weariness or indolence.

“They have the mind of equality, the superior mind, the profound mind, and the settled mind, and the mind that loves the Dharma, delights in the Dharma, and rejoices in the Dharma. They extinguish the afflictions and have a mind that departs from the evil destinies.

“They bring to their end all the practices of a bodhisattva and fully accomplish immeasurable merits. They attain profound meditative concentration and the wisdom of the supernormal powers and clear knowledges; they roam in aspiration among the seven factors of awakening and cultivate their minds in the Buddha-Dharma.

“Their physical eye is pure and clear, and there is nothing it does not distinguish. Their divine eye penetrates without measure and without limit. Their Dharma eye contemplates and fathoms all the paths. Their wisdom eye sees the true and can cross to the other shore. Their buddha eye is complete and awakens to the nature of dharmas. With unhindered knowledge, they expound for others.

“Contemplating the three realms as equally empty and possessed of nothing, they aspire to seek the Buddha-Dharma; possessing all eloquence, they remove and extinguish the afflictions and troubles of sentient beings. Born from the tathāgata, they understand dharmas as suchness. Well knowing the expedient means of arising and cessation and of sound, they take no delight in worldly talk but delight in right discourse.

“They cultivate all wholesome roots, and their aspiration honours the buddha path. Knowing that all dharmas are wholly quiescent, in them the two residues, of the body of birth and of the afflictions, are alike exhausted. Hearing the extremely profound Dharma, their minds do not doubt or fear, and they are always able to practise it. Their great compassion is deep, far-reaching, subtle, and wondrous, and there is nothing it does not cover and sustain. They bring the one vehicle to its end and reach the other shore. They cut through the net of doubt, and wisdom issues forth from their minds. In the Buddha’s teaching and Dharma, all are embraced without exception.

“Their wisdom is like the great ocean, and their samādhi like the king of mountains. The light of their wisdom is bright and pure, surpassing the sun and moon, and the pure and spotless Dharma is complete and perfect in them.

“They are like the snow mountains, for they illumine all merits as equally pure. They are like the great earth, for towards the pure and the foul, the fine and the ugly, they have no differing mind. They are like pure water, for they wash away the stains and defilements of the toils of defilement. They are like the king of fire, for they burn up all the firewood of the afflictions. They are like a great wind, for they move through all [1-0050] worlds without obstruction. They are like empty space, for they are unattached to all existence. They are like the lotus flower, for they are undefiled by any world. They are like the great vehicle, for they carry the flocks of beings out of birth-and-death. They are like a heavy cloud, for they sound the great thunder of the Dharma and awaken the unawakened. They are like a great rain, for they rain down the ambrosial Dharma and moisten sentient beings.

“They are like the vajra mountains, for the host of māras and the heterodox cannot move them. They are like the king Brahmā, for they are the foremost among all wholesome dharmas. They are like the nyagrodha tree, for they cover over all universally. They are like the udumbara flower, for they are rare and hard to encounter. They are like the golden-winged bird, for by their might they subdue the heterodox. They are like the flocking birds that roam, for they store up nothing. They are like the king of bulls, for none can overcome them. They are like the king of elephants, for they are well tamed. They are like the king of lions, for they have no fear. They are vast as empty space, for their great compassion is equal towards all.

“They crush and destroy the mind of envy, for they are not jealous of those who surpass them. Delighting solely in seeking the Dharma, their minds are never sated. Always wishing to expound it widely, their aspiration is never weary. They beat the Dharma drum, raise the Dharma banner, make the sun of wisdom blaze, and dispel the darkness of delusion. They cultivate the six kinds of harmony and reverence, and always practise the gift of the Dharma. Valiant in aspiration and diligent, their minds do not retreat or grow weak.

“They are lamps for the world and the most excellent field of merit. Always acting as guides, they are equal and without hate or love. Delighting only in the right path, they have no other joy or sorrow. They pull out the thorns of desire in order to bring peace to the flocks of beings. Their merit and wisdom are exceedingly excellent, and there is none who does not revere them.

“They extinguish the hindrances of the three defilements and roam among the supernormal powers. The power of cause, the power of condition, the power of intention, the power of vow, the power of expedient means, the constant power, the wholesome power, the power of concentration, the power of wisdom, and the power of much learning; the powers of giving, morality, forbearance, diligence, meditation, and wisdom; the powers of right mindfulness, right contemplation, and the supernormal powers and clear knowledges; and the power to tame sentient beings in accordance with the Dharma—all such powers as these they fully possess.

“Their bodily form, their marks and signs, their merit, and their eloquence are complete and adorned, and there is none their equal. They revere and make offerings to immeasurable buddhas and are always praised by all the buddhas [1-0051] together. They bring to their end all the bodhisattva pāramitās; they cultivate the samādhis of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, and the gates of samādhi of neither arising nor ceasing; and they keep far from the stages of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.

“Ānanda, those bodhisattvas accomplish such immeasurable merits as these. I have spoken of them to you only in brief. Were I to speak of them at length, a hundred thousand myriad kalpas would not suffice to exhaust them.”

The afflictions of this world

[31] The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the devas, humans, and others, “The merit and wisdom of the śrāvakas and bodhisattvas in the land of Immeasurable Life cannot be described. Moreover, that land is subtle, wondrous, peaceful, blissful, and pure as this. Why do you not strive to do what is wholesome and reflect upon the naturalness of the Path? It cleaves to what has neither above nor below and penetrates without bound or limit.9 Each of you should diligently exert yourselves and strive to seek it for yourselves. You will surely attain to transcending and cutting off, and go to be born in the land of Peaceful Nurture. Crosswise,10 you will cut off the five evil destinies, and the evil destinies will of themselves be closed; you will ascend the Path without end or limit. It is easy to go there, yet there is no one there.11 That land does not oppose or refuse, but draws one by its naturalness. Why do you not cast off worldly affairs and diligently practise, seeking the virtue of the Path? You may attain the utmost longevity and the bliss of a lifespan without limit.

“Yet the people of the world are shallow in custom, and contend together over matters that are not urgent. In the midst of this fierce evil and utmost suffering, they toil at their tasks to support themselves. Honoured or humble, poor or rich, young or old, man or woman, all alike worry over money and wealth. Those who have and those who have not are the same in this, and their anxious thoughts are just alike. Fretting and grieving, piling up cares and heaping up concerns, driven about by their minds, they have no time of peace.

“Having fields, they worry over their fields; having houses, they worry over their houses; and over their oxen, horses, and the six kinds of livestock, their servants and maids, their money, wealth, clothing, food, and household goods, they worry likewise. Thinking heavily and sighing repeatedly, they worry, brood, grieve, and fear. Unexpectedly, through calamities of water and fire, through robbers, enemies, and creditors, these things are burnt, swept away, plundered, seized, scattered, and destroyed, and their anguish is agitated and unrelieved. Rancour is knotted in their hearts, and they never part from grief and affliction. Their minds are hardened and their intentions fixed, and they never let go. Sometimes [1-0052] they are crushed by it, their bodies perish, and their lives end, and they abandon all and go, with none to follow them. The honoured and noble and the greatly wealthy have this same distress. Their anxieties and fears are of a myriad kinds, and their toil and suffering are just so. They gather cold and heat about them and dwell together with pain.

“The poor and the lowly are in constant want and lack. Having no fields, they grieve and wish to have fields; having no houses, they grieve and wish to have houses; having no oxen, horses, or the six kinds of livestock, no servants or maids, no money, wealth, clothing, food, or household goods, they grieve and wish to have them. Should they come to have one thing, another is lacking; having this, they lack that. They long to have all in equal measure; and just as they are about to possess them all, these things are scattered and destroyed. Grieving thus, they seek again and cannot obtain them in time. Their thinking is of no benefit; body and mind alike are wearied; sitting or standing they are not at ease; grief and care follow after them, and their toil and suffering are just so. They, too, gather cold and heat about them and dwell together in pain. Sometimes they are killed by it, and their lives are cut short. They are unwilling to do what is wholesome, to practise the Path, or to advance in virtue. When their lifespan ends and their bodies die, they must go far away alone. There is a place they go towards, but none can know whether the path is wholesome or unwholesome.

“The people of the world—fathers and sons, elder and younger brothers, husbands and wives, households, and kinsfolk within and without—ought to revere and love one another and not hate and envy one another. What they have and have not they should share with one another, and there should be no greed or grudging; their words and looks should be always harmonious, and they should not oppose one another. Yet at times their minds contend, and anger arises. In this present life the resentful thought is slight and the hatred small, but in later lives it turns fiercer and comes at last to be a great enmity. Why is this? Because in the affairs of the world, though they injure one another, and though they do not at once in urgency destroy one another, yet holding poison and harbouring anger, the rancour is knotted in their spirits and is spontaneously imprinted and recorded, so that they cannot part from one another. All must be born face to face and requite one another in turn.

“A person in the world, in the midst of desire, is born alone and dies alone, comes alone and goes alone. They must go to a place of suffering or of pleasure. The body itself must undergo it, and there is none to take their place. The transformations of wholesome and unwholesome deeds and the differing places of calamity and blessing are prepared and await them in advance, and they must enter them alone. They go far off to another place, and none can see them. Wholesome and unwholesome deeds spontaneously follow after and determine [1-0053] where they are born. Dark and obscure, the parting is long. The roads are not the same, and there is no appointed time to meet again. How very hard, how very hard it is to meet with one another once more.

“Why do you not cast aside the multitude of affairs? While each of you is still strong and well, strive diligently to cultivate what is wholesome, and with diligence aspire to cross beyond the world; then you may obtain the utmost long life. Why do you not seek the Path? What are you waiting for? What pleasure do you look for?

“Such people of the world do not believe that doing what is wholesome gains what is wholesome, or that practising the Path gains the Path. They do not believe that a person who dies is born again, or that giving gains blessing. In matters of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness they have no belief at all, saying that it is not so and that in the end there is no such thing. Simply because of this, they look to their own case and watch one another, and those who come before and those who follow after do the same. They take over in turn the teachings left to them by their fathers. Their forebears, ancestors, and fathers did not from the first do what is wholesome and knew nothing of the virtue of the Path; their bodies were foolish and their spirits dark, their minds blocked and their thoughts closed. The destinies of death and birth and the paths of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness they could not see for themselves, and there was none to tell them of it. Fortune and misfortune, calamity and blessing—each contends to bring them about, and there is not one who wonders at it.

“The constant way of birth and death is handed down in turn. Some fathers weep for their sons, some sons weep for their fathers, and brothers, husbands, and wives weep for one another. Above and below are overturned, and impermanence is the root of it. All must pass away, and nothing can be held forever. Though they are taught and guided, few believe it. Therefore the flow of birth-and-death has no cessation.

“Such people are benighted and heedless; they do not believe in the sūtras and the Dharma; their minds have no far thought, and each wishes only to please himself. Deluded and confused by desire, they do not penetrate the virtue of the Path; sunk in anger, and greedy as wolves for wealth and beauty, because of this they do not attain the Path and must again enter the evil destinies, where the suffering of birth-and-death is without end. Alas! How very grievous it is.

“At times within a household, fathers and sons, brothers, husbands and wives—one dies and one lives—pity one another, and their love and longing, their grief and care, bind them fast; their minds cling in pain, and they look back to one another in yearning. Days pass and years end, and there is no release. Though taught the virtue of the Path, their minds are not opened and made clear; brooding on their affections, they do not [1-0054] part from desire. Benighted, blocked, and covered over by foolish delusion, they cannot think deeply or reckon well, cannot make their minds upright and single-mindedly practise the Path, cannot cut off worldly affairs. So they turn about until the end; their years and lifespan are wholly exhausted, and they cannot attain the Path. There is nothing to be done about it.

“In the great confusion and disorder, all are greedy for desire. Those deluded about the Path are many, and those who awaken to it are few. The world is hurried, and there is nothing to rely upon. Honoured and humble, high and low, poor and rich, noble and base—all toil and hasten, each harbouring murderous poison. In the darkness of their evil vapours they raise up wanton deeds, opposing heaven and earth and not following the human heart. Spontaneously wickedness follows after them and is first given free rein, and they are let do as they will until their offences reach their utmost. Their lifespan is not yet exhausted, yet it is suddenly taken from them, and they descend into the evil destinies, where for successive ages they toil and suffer, turning about within them for many thousands of koṭis of kalpas with no time of coming forth. Their pain cannot be told. It is greatly to be pitied.”

Exhortation to do what is wholesome; Maitreya's response

[32] The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the devas, humans, and others, “I now speak to you of the affairs of the world. It is because of these that people sit and do not attain the Path. You should think this over carefully and keep far from the many evils, choosing what is wholesome and practising it diligently. Desire and glory cannot be held forever; all must part. There is nothing in them to delight in. While the Buddha is in the world, you should diligently exert yourselves. Those who with sincere mind aspire to be born in the land of Peace and Bliss may attain wisdom that is bright and penetrating and merit that is exceedingly excellent. Do not follow the desires of your minds, nor fail and violate the sūtras and precepts, so as to fall behind others. Should you have doubts and not understand the sūtras, you may ask the Buddha in full, and he will explain them for you.”

The Bodhisattva Maitreya knelt upright and said, “The Buddha’s majestic supernormal power is honoured and weighty, and what he has spoken is excellent and good. Listening to the Buddha’s sūtra-words and pondering them in my mind, I find that the people of the world are indeed as the Buddha says. Now the Buddha, in his compassion and pity, reveals the great Path, so that our ears and eyes are opened and made clear, and we obtain lasting deliverance. There is none who hears what the Buddha says [1-0055] and does not rejoice. Devas, humans, and the crawling kinds all receive his compassionate grace and are freed from grief and suffering.

“The Buddha’s words of instruction and admonition are extremely profound and extremely good. His wisdom clearly sees the eight directions, above and below, and the affairs of past, future, and present, and there is nothing it does not fathom. That we of this multitude have now obtained deliverance is all brought about by the humble toil of the Buddha when he sought the Path in former lives. His grace and virtue cover all universally, and his blessing and fortune are lofty. His light shines through and reaches to emptiness without limit. He opens the way into nirvāṇa, teaches and hands down the scriptures, and his majestic control and transforming influence move the ten directions, without end and without limit.

“The Buddha is the Dharma king. Honoured, he surpasses the many sages, and is universally the teacher of all devas and humans, causing all to attain the Path according to the wishes of their minds. Now we have met with the Buddha and have further heard the voice of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, and there is none who does not rejoice and whose mind is not opened and made clear.”

Admonition: the rarity of a buddha's appearance

[33] The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Maitreya, “What you say is so. Should there be those who are kind and reverent towards the Buddha, this is truly a great good. Long, long is it before a buddha again appears in the world. Now I, having become a buddha in this world, expound the sūtras and the Dharma, proclaim and spread the teaching of the Path, cut through the nets of doubt, pull out the root of desire, and stop up the source of the many evils. I roam the three realms without restraint or hindrance. I hold the essentials of wisdom and of all the paths, grasp the guiding cords, and make all clear and distinct. I reveal the five destinies and deliver those not yet delivered, determining aright the path of birth-and-death and of nirvāṇa.

“Maitreya, you should know that from innumerable kalpas past you have cultivated bodhisattva practices, wishing to deliver sentient beings; long indeed has it been. Those who through you have attained the Path and reached nirvāṇa cannot be numbered. You and the devas and people of the ten directions and all the fourfold assembly have from everlasting kalpas turned about through the five courses, and your grief, fear, toil, and suffering cannot be told in full. Even in this present life, birth-and-death has not been cut off; yet you have met with a buddha, listened to and received the sūtras and the Dharma, and have further heard of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life. How joyful, how very good! I rejoice with you.

“You now may well grow weary of birth, death, [1-0056] old age, and the pain of sickness. Foul and impure, there is nothing in them to delight in. You should decide for yourselves, make your bodies upright and your conduct correct, do more of what is wholesome, cultivate yourselves and cleanse your bodies, wash away the defilements of the mind, and make word and deed faithful and true, so that inner and outer correspond. One who can deliver oneself can, in turn, rescue others; strive and seek what you aspire to, and pile up wholesome roots. Though it be the toil of a single lifetime, and but the space of a moment, afterwards you will be born in the land of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, where joy and bliss are without limit. Forever you will be joined in brightness with the virtue of the Path and will pull out the very root of birth-and-death; you will have no further troubles of greed, anger, folly, or suffering.

“Should you wish for a lifespan of a kalpa, of a hundred kalpas, or of a thousand myriad koṭis of kalpas, it is yours at will and sovereign, and all may be obtained. Unconditioned and spontaneous, it is next to the path of nirvāṇa. Each of you should exert yourselves and seek what your minds aspire to. Do not harbour doubt or regret midway, so as to make a fault for yourselves and be born in the palaces of the seven jewels in the borderland of that land, undergoing hardship there for five hundred years.”

Maitreya said to the Buddha, “Receiving the Buddha’s weighty instruction, we shall single-mindedly cultivate and study, and practise in accordance with the teaching, not daring to doubt.”

The five evils, five pains, and five burnings announced

[34] The Buddha told Maitreya, “That you are able in this world to make your minds upright and your thoughts correct and to do none of the many evils is a virtue of the utmost. Among the worlds of the ten directions there is nothing to match it. Why is this? In the buddha lands, the devas and humans spontaneously do what is wholesome and do not greatly do evil, and they are easily opened and transformed. Now I, having become a buddha in this world, dwell amid the five evils, the five pains, and the five burnings, which are the fiercest suffering. I teach and transform the flocks of beings, causing them to cast off the five evils, to leave the five pains, and to depart from the five burnings, subduing and transforming their intentions so that they hold to the five wholesome things and obtain their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, long life, and the path of nirvāṇa.” 

The Buddha said, “What are the five evils? What are the five pains? What are the five burnings? What is it to melt away the five evils and cause them to hold to the five wholesome things, obtaining their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, long life, and the path of nirvāṇa?

The first evil

[35] [1-0057] “As for the first evil: among the devas, humans, and the crawling kinds, there is none that does not wish to do the many evils. The strong subdue the weak and injure one another in turn; they harm, kill, and slaughter, and devour one another. They do not know how to cultivate what is wholesome; evil, rebellious, and without the Path, they afterwards receive calamity and punishment and go towards it spontaneously. The spirits record and mark them, and the offenders are not pardoned. Thus there are the poor, the lowly, beggars, the solitary, the deaf, the blind, the mute, the foolish, and the depraved, and even the crippled, the mad, and those who lack their faculties. And there are also the honoured and noble, the greatly wealthy, the highly talented, and the brilliant, all brought about by kindness, filial devotion, cultivation of wholesomeness, and accumulation of virtue in former lives.

“In the world there are the constant way, the laws of kings, and prisons; yet people are unwilling to fear and be cautious, and doing evil they fall into offence and receive their calamity and punishment. Though they hope for release, it is hard to obtain and hard to escape. Such things are seen before our eyes in this world. And after the end of life, in the world to come, it is deeper still and fiercer still. Entering that darkness, they are born again and receive bodies, as under the laws of kings there is the utmost punishment of pain. Thus there are the immeasurable sufferings and afflictions of the three evil courses, arising spontaneously. They exchange their bodies and change their forms and their destinies; the lifespan they receive is now long, now short; and their souls and consciousnesses go towards it spontaneously. They must meet it alone, and those who follow one another are born together and requite one another in turn, without end. Until their evil and calamity are exhausted, they cannot part from one another. Turning about within it, they have no time of coming forth and can hardly gain release. Their pain cannot be told. Between heaven and earth this is so of itself. Though it does not come at once in sudden violence, the paths of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness will surely be come to in the end.

“This is the first great evil, the first pain, and the first burning; and the toil and suffering are like this, like a great fire burning up a person’s body. If in the midst of it a person can with single mind restrain their thoughts, make the body upright and the conduct correct, alone do what is wholesome and not do the many evils, then they alone are delivered and obtain their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, birth in the heavens above, and the path of nirvāṇa. This is the first great wholesome thing.”

The second evil

[36] [1-0058] The Buddha said, “As for the second evil: the people of the world—fathers and sons, elder and younger brothers, households, husbands and wives—have no sense of right at all and do not follow the measure of law. Extravagant, licentious, arrogant, and unrestrained, each wishing to please himself, they give rein to their minds and deceive one another. Mind and mouth differ, and their words and thoughts have no truth in them. Flattering and fawning, they are not loyal; with clever words they cajole. They envy the worthy and slander the good, casting others into wrong and injustice. When the ruler above is not clear-sighted and appoints his ministers, the ministers act as they please and their contrivances and falsehoods are of many kinds. Treading their own measure and doing what they can, they know the shape of things; and those in office, being not upright, are deceived by them, so that the loyal and good are wrongfully harmed, contrary to the mind of heaven. Ministers deceive their lords, sons deceive their fathers, and brothers, husbands and wives, kinsfolk within and without, and acquaintances deceive one another. Each harbours greed, anger, and folly, wishing to enrich himself and, through greed, to have much. Honoured and humble, high and low, their minds are all alike in this. They ruin their households and destroy themselves, giving no thought to what comes before or after, and their kinsfolk within and without are destroyed on account of it.

“Sometimes households, acquaintances, villagers, townsfolk, foolish commoners, and rustics have dealings with one another and harm one another’s interests, and their anger becomes knotted enmity. The rich are miserly and unwilling to give; loving their treasures and grasping at them, they weary their minds and toil their bodies. Coming thus to the end, they have nothing to rely upon; alone they come, and alone they go, with none to follow them. Wholesome and unwholesome deeds, calamity and blessing, follow after their lives to where they are born, whether in a place of pleasure or amid bitter poison. Only afterwards do they repent, and what use is it then?

“The people of the world are foolish in mind and of little knowledge. Seeing what is wholesome, they hate and slander it and do not think to emulate it; they wish only to do evil and wantonly commit what is unlawful. Always harbouring thoughts of theft, they covet others’ gains; and when these are scattered and used up, they seek again. With crooked minds and no uprightness, they fear that others may see their looks. They do not think and plan beforehand, and when the matter comes upon them they repent.

“In this present world there are the laws of kings and prisons; according to their offences they go towards them and receive their calamity and punishment. Because in former lives they did not believe in the virtue of the Path and did not cultivate wholesome roots, and now again do evil, the heavenly spirits mark and record them and distinguish their names in the registers. When their lifespan ends and their spirits depart, they descend into [1-0059] the evil destinies. Thus there are the immeasurable sufferings and afflictions of the three evil courses, arising spontaneously. Turning about within them, life after life and kalpa upon kalpa, they have no time of coming forth and can hardly gain release. Their pain cannot be told.

“This is the second great evil, the second pain, and the second burning; and the toil and suffering are like this, like a great fire burning up a person’s body. If in the midst of it a person can with single mind restrain their thoughts, make the body upright and the conduct correct, alone do what is wholesome and not do the many evils, then they alone are delivered and obtain their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, birth in the heavens above, and the path of nirvāṇa. This is the second great wholesome thing.”

The third evil

[37] The Buddha said, “As for the third evil: the people of the world depend upon one another for their lodging in life and dwell together between heaven and earth. The years and the lifespan allotted them are but few. Above there are the worthy and brilliant, the elders, the honoured and noble, and the greatly wealthy. Below there are the poor, the base, the weak, and the foolish. And among them are those who are not wholesome. Always harbouring wickedness, they think only of lust. Their breasts are full of trouble; desire confuses them, and sitting or standing they are not at ease. Greedy in intent, they hoard and grudge, wishing only to gain without effort. Casting glances at fine forms, their crooked manner strays abroad; they hate and weary of their own wives and secretly and wantonly go in and out. They waste the wealth of their households and do what is against the law.

“They band together, gather, and raise up troops to attack one another. They assault and plunder, kill and slaughter, and take by force without any regard for the Path. Their evil minds are turned outward, and they do not cultivate their own work. Stealing to get what they want, and wishing to bind the matter to success, they threaten and coerce, and take back what they have to supply their wives and children. Giving rein to their minds and pleasing themselves, they take their pleasure to the utmost of the body. Sometimes with their own kin they do not avoid the honoured or the humble, and their households and kinsfolk within and without are distressed and pained by them.

“Nor do they fear the laws and prohibitions of kings. Such evil as this is manifest to people and to spirits; the sun and moon shine upon it, and the spirits mark and record it. Thus there are the immeasurable sufferings and afflictions of the three evil courses, arising spontaneously. Turning about within them, life after life and kalpa upon kalpa, they have no time of coming forth and can hardly gain release. Their pain cannot be told.

“This is the third great evil, the third pain, and the third burning; and the toil and suffering are like this, like a great fire burning up a person’s body. If in the midst of it a person can [1-0060] with single mind restrain their thoughts, make the body upright and the conduct correct, alone do what is wholesome and not do the many evils, then they alone are delivered and obtain their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, birth in the heavens above, and the path of nirvāṇa. This is the third great wholesome thing.”

The fourth evil

[38] The Buddha said, “As for the fourth evil: the people of the world do not think to cultivate what is wholesome, but instruct one another in turn and together do the many evils—double-tongued speech, harsh speech, false speech, and frivolous speech—slandering and injuring, quarrelling and making disorder. They hate and envy good people, ruin the worthy and brilliant, and delight in it from the side. They are not filial to their two parents; they slight their teachers and elders; they keep no faith with their friends; and truthfulness is hard to find in them. Honoured and noble, they are haughty and say of themselves that they possess the Path; they act arrogantly with power and encroach upon and slight others. They cannot know themselves and do evil without shame. Considering themselves strong, they wish others to hold them in awe. They do not fear heaven and earth, the spirits, the sun and the moon; they are unwilling to do what is wholesome and are hard to subdue and transform. Self-willed and overbearing, they say that it may always be so; and without any anxiety or fear, they always harbour arrogance.

“Such evils as these the heavenly spirits mark and record. Owing to some blessing and virtue they made in former lives, a small wholesomeness supports, protects, and assists them; but now, doing evil in this life, their blessing and virtue are wholly extinguished, all the wholesome spirits depart from them, and they stand alone and empty with nothing more to rely upon. When their lifespan is exhausted, all the evils they have done come home to them and spontaneously press and urge them together towards it. Their names, moreover, are recorded with the spirits; calamity and fault draw them along, and they must go towards it. The recompense of their offences is spontaneous, and there is no way to cast it off. They can only go forward and enter the cauldron of fire, their bodies and minds crushed and their spirits in pain. At such a time, what use is repentance? The way of heaven is spontaneous and cannot be missed or stumbled over. Thus there are the immeasurable sufferings and afflictions of the three evil courses, arising spontaneously. Turning about within them, life after life and kalpa upon kalpa, they have no time of coming forth and can hardly gain release. Their pain cannot be told.

“This is the fourth great evil, the fourth pain, and the fourth burning; and the toil and suffering are like this, like a great fire burning up a person’s body. If [1-0061] in the midst of it a person can with single mind restrain their thoughts, make the body upright and the conduct correct, alone do what is wholesome and not do the many evils, then they alone are delivered and obtain their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, birth in the heavens above, and the path of nirvāṇa. This is the fourth great wholesome thing.”

The fifth evil

[39] The Buddha said, “As for the fifth evil: the people of the world are irresolute and indolent, unwilling to do what is wholesome, to govern themselves, or to cultivate their work, so that their households and dependants are hungry, cold, and in distress. When their parents instruct them, they glare and answer in anger; their words and orders are not harmonious, and they are contrary and rebellious, like an enemy. It would be better to have no son. In taking and giving they have no measure, and all alike are troubled and wearied by them. Ungrateful and against what is right, they have no mind to repay. Poor and in want, they can obtain no more; so they seize and take by force, giving free rein to their idling and dissipation. Accustomed to gaining without effort, they use it to supply themselves. Indulging in wine and craving delicacies, they eat and drink without measure. Wanton in mind and dissolute, coarse and headstrong, they do not understand human feeling but wish to force and restrain others. Seeing that others have what is wholesome, they hate and envy it. They have no sense of right and no propriety, and there is nothing they scruple at. Self-willed in their office, they cannot be admonished or made to understand.

“Whether their six kinsfolk and dependants have the means or have not, they cannot be troubled to think of them. They give no thought to the grace of their fathers and mothers and keep nothing of the right of teachers and friends. Their minds always think evil, their mouths always speak evil, their bodies always do evil, and there has never been one wholesome thing in them.

“They do not believe in the sūtras and the Dharma of the former sages and the buddhas; they do not believe that by practising the Path one may be delivered from the world; they do not believe that after death the spirit is born again; they do not believe that doing what is wholesome gains what is wholesome or that doing evil gains evil. They wish to kill an arhat, to make disorder among the saṅgha, and to harm their fathers and mothers, their brothers and kin. Their six kinsfolk hate them and wish that they might die.

“Such people of the world are all of this same mind. Foolish and benighted, they take themselves for wise and do not know whence life comes or whither death goes. They are without benevolence and without obedience, evil and rebellious against heaven and earth; and in the midst of this they hope for good fortune and wish to seek long life, though they must in the end come to death. When with a compassionate mind [1-0062] they are instructed and admonished and are made to think of what is wholesome, and are shown the destinies of birth and death and of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, which are so of themselves, they are unwilling to believe it. Though one speaks to them with a labouring heart, it is of no benefit to them; their minds are blocked within, and their thoughts are not opened or released. When the great fate is about to end, remorse and fear come upon them together. Not having cultivated what is wholesome beforehand, they repent only when they are at the last; and what use is repentance afterwards?

“Between heaven and earth the five courses are clear and distinct, vast, deep, boundless, and dim. The recompense of wholesome and unwholesome deeds, and calamity and blessing succeeding one another, the body itself must undergo, and there is none to take one’s place. It is the naturalness of destiny. In accordance with what one has done, calamity and fault pursue one’s life, and there is no letting go. The wholesome person does what is wholesome, and from pleasure enters pleasure, from brightness enters brightness. The evil person does evil, and from suffering enters suffering, from darkness enters darkness. Who is able to know this? The Buddha alone knows it. Though he teaches and reveals it, few believe and act upon it. Birth-and-death does not rest, and the evil destinies are not cut off. Such people of the world cannot be told of in full. Thus there are the immeasurable sufferings and afflictions of the three evil courses, arising spontaneously. Turning about within them, life after life and kalpa upon kalpa, they have no time of coming forth and can hardly gain release. Their pain cannot be told.

“This is the fifth great evil, the fifth pain, and the fifth burning; and the toil and suffering are like this, like a great fire burning up a person’s body. If in the midst of it a person can with single mind restrain their thoughts, make the body upright and their mindfulness correct, so that word and deed correspond, that what they do is utterly sincere, that what they say is as they say it, and that mind and mouth do not turn about, and alone do what is wholesome and not do the many evils, then they alone are delivered and obtain their blessing and virtue, deliverance from the world, birth in the heavens above, and the path of nirvāṇa. This is the fifth great wholesome thing.”

Further admonition; the merit of practice in this world

[40] The Buddha told Maitreya, “I say to you: the five evils of this world, and the toil and suffering, are such as this.

“The five pains and the five burnings arise from one another in turn. Doing only the many evils and not cultivating wholesome roots, all spontaneously enter the evil destinies. Some in this present life first suffer calamity and sickness, seeking death [1-0063] and not obtaining it, seeking life and not obtaining it, so that what their offences and evils have called down is shown for the multitude to see. When the body dies, they follow their deeds into the three evil courses, where their bitter poison is immeasurable and they burn one another. Long afterwards they make knotted enmity together, which arises from small and slight beginnings and comes at last to be a great evil. All of this comes from greedy attachment to wealth and beauty and from unwillingness to give. Pressed by folly and desire, they follow the thoughts of their minds, and the bonds of affliction have no release. Enriching themselves and contending for gain, they take no thought at all. In wealth, rank, and glory they please themselves for a time; unable to be patient, and not striving to cultivate what is wholesome, their power and might are but brief and are worn away with them. Their bodies are set in toil and suffering, and long afterwards it becomes fiercer still. The way of heaven is spread out and spontaneously calls them to account; its net and its cords, above and below, answer to one another. Alone and trembling, they must enter it. So it has been in ancient times and now. How painful, how grievous.”

The Buddha said to Maitreya, “The world is like this. The Buddha pities them all, and by the power of his majestic supernormal power crushes and destroys the many evils and causes all to come to what is wholesome. Casting aside what they have thought, upholding the sūtras and the precepts, and receiving and practising the Dharma of the Path with no transgression or fault, they will in the end attain deliverance from the world and the path of nirvāṇa.”

The Buddha said, “You devas and humans now, and the people of later ages, having obtained the sūtra-words of the Buddha, should think them over carefully and be able within them to make your minds upright and your conduct correct. Let the ruler above do what is wholesome and lead and transform those below, so that they instruct one another in turn, each keeping himself upright, honouring the sagely and revering the wholesome, benevolent, kind, and broad in love, and none daring to fail or turn from the Buddha’s words of instruction. You should seek deliverance from the world and pull out and cut off the root of birth-and-death and of the many evils; you should depart from the path of the three evil courses, with its immeasurable grief, fear, and painful suffering. In this world plant widely the roots of virtue, spread kindness and bestow favours, and do not violate the prohibitions of the Path. With forbearance, diligence, single-mindedness, and wisdom, teach and transform one another in turn, make virtue and establish what is wholesome.

“To make the mind upright and the thoughts correct, and to keep the fasts and precepts in purity for a single day and night, is better than doing what is wholesome for a hundred years in the land of Immeasurable Life. Why is this? Because that Buddha’s land is unconditioned and spontaneous, and all there accumulate the many wholesome things, and there is not so much as a hair’s [1-0064] breadth of evil. To cultivate what is wholesome here for ten days and ten nights is better than doing what is wholesome for a thousand years in the buddha lands of other quarters. Why is this? Because in the buddha lands of other quarters those who do what is wholesome are many and those who do evil are few, their blessing and virtue are spontaneous, and there is no ground there for doing evil. It is only here that evils are many and there is nothing spontaneous. Toiling and suffering, seeking after desires and deceiving one another in turn, their minds are wearied and their bodies exhausted; they drink bitterness and eat poison. Hurrying thus, they have never had rest or peace.

“I pity you, the kinds of devas and humans, and with a labouring heart I admonish and instruct you, teaching you to cultivate what is wholesome. I guide each according to their capacity and hand down to them the sūtras and the Dharma, and there is none who does not receive and use them. In whatever their minds aspire to, I cause them all to attain the Path. Wherever the Buddha walks—countries, cities, hamlets, and villages—there is none that does not receive his transforming influence. All under heaven is harmonious and obedient; the sun and moon are clear and bright; wind and rain come in their season; calamity and pestilence do not arise; the country is rich, and the people at peace; weapons and arms are of no use; virtue is honoured, and benevolence flourishes; and all strive to cultivate courtesy and deference.”

The Buddha said, “I pity you, devas and humans, more than a father and mother think of their child. Now I, having become a buddha in this world, subdue and transform the five evils, melt away the five pains, and utterly extinguish the five burnings; with wholesomeness I attack evil, pull out the suffering of birth-and-death, and cause you to obtain the five virtues and ascend to the peace of the unconditioned. After I have departed from the world, the sūtras and the Path will gradually be extinguished; the people, flattering and false, will again do the many evils, and the five pains and the five burnings will return as before and long afterwards will grow fiercer. It cannot all be told. I have spoken of it to you only in brief.”

The Buddha said to Maitreya, “Let each of you ponder this well and instruct and admonish one another in turn, in accordance with the Buddha’s sūtras and Dharma, and let there be no transgression.”

Thereupon the Bodhisattva Maitreya joined his palms and said, “What the Buddha has said is exceedingly bitter. The people of the world are indeed so. The Tathāgata, in his universal compassion, pities them and causes them all to be delivered. Receiving the Buddha’s weighty instruction, we shall not dare to transgress or fail.”

The Buddha and his land shown to the assembly

[41] The Buddha told Ānanda, “Rise, arrange your robes anew, join your palms in reverence, and pay homage to the Buddha of Immeasurable Life. The buddha [1-0065] tathāgatas of the lands of the ten directions constantly praise and extol together that Buddha’s freedom from attachment and freedom from hindrance.”

Thereupon Ānanda rose and arranged his robes, made his body upright and faced the west, reverently joined his palms, prostrated himself with the five parts of the body, and paid homage to the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, saying, “Bhagavān, I wish to see that Buddha, the land of Peace and Bliss, and the great multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas.”

When he had spoken these words, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life at once emitted a great light that universally illuminated all the buddha worlds. The vajra encircling mountains, Sumeru the king of mountains, the great and the small mountains, and all that exists became of one and the same colour. It was as when the waters at the end of a kalpa fill the world, so that the myriad things within it are submerged and do not appear, and in that vast expanse only the great water is seen: so was it with that Buddha’s light. The light of all the śrāvakas and bodhisattvas was entirely hidden, and only the Buddha’s light was seen, blazing and resplendent.

At that time Ānanda saw the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, his majestic virtue lofty, like Sumeru, the king of mountains, rising high above all the worlds. His marks and signs and his light illumined all things. The fourfold assembly of this gathering saw it all at one time, and those there saw this land likewise.

The two kinds of birth

[42] At that time the Buddha told Ānanda and the Bodhisattva Maitreya, “Have you seen that land, and all the subtle, wondrous, majestic, pure, and spontaneous things within it, from the ground up to the Śuddhāvāsa heaven? Have you seen it all?” 

Ānanda replied, “Indeed, I have seen it.” 

“Have you further heard the great voice of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, proclaiming to all the worlds and transforming sentient beings?” 

Ānanda replied, “Indeed, I have heard it.” 

“The people of that land ride in palaces of the seven jewels a hundred thousand yojanas in size, without hindrance, and reach everywhere in the ten directions to make offerings to the buddhas. Have you seen this too?” 

He replied, “I have seen it.” 

“Among the people of that land there are those with womb-like birth.12 Have you seen this too?” 

He replied, “I have seen it. The [1-0066] palaces in which those with womb-like birth dwell are some a hundred yojanas and some five hundred yojanas in size. In them each receives all manner of pleasure, as in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven above, and all of it is likewise spontaneous.”

The cause of the two kinds of birth

[43] At that time the Bodhisattva Maitreya said to the Buddha, “Bhagavān, for what cause and what condition are there among the people of that land those born from the womb and those born by transformation?”

The Buddha told Maitreya, “If there are sentient beings who with a mind of doubt cultivate various merits, aspiring to be born in that land, and who do not understand the Buddha’s wisdom, the inconceivable wisdom, the ineffable wisdom, the vast wisdom of the Mahāyāna, and the unequalled, unrivalled, supreme, and most excellent wisdom—doubting these wisdoms and not entrusting themselves in faith—and yet who nonetheless believe in offence and blessing and cultivate wholesome roots, aspiring to be born in that land: these sentient beings will be born in those palaces and live five hundred years, never seeing the Buddha, never hearing the sūtras and the Dharma, and never seeing the sagely multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. Therefore, in that land, this is called birth from the womb.

“If there are sentient beings who clearly entrust themselves in faith to the Buddha’s wisdom and so on up to the most excellent wisdom, and who perform various merits and direct them with an entrusting mind, these sentient beings will be born spontaneously by transformation within flowers of the seven jewels, seated with legs crossed; and in the space of a moment their bodily marks, their light, their wisdom, and their merit will be complete and accomplished, like those of all the bodhisattvas.

Birth by transformation and the loss suffered by doubt

[44] “Furthermore, Maitreya, when the great bodhisattvas of the buddha lands of other quarters arouse the mind and wish to see the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, and to revere and make offerings to him and to the multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, those bodhisattvas, at the end of their lives, attain birth in the land of Immeasurable Life and are born spontaneously by transformation within flowers of the seven jewels. Maitreya, you should know that those born by transformation are so because their wisdom is superior, whereas those born from the womb are all without wisdom. For five hundred years they never see the Buddha, never hear the sūtras and the Dharma, never see the multitudes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, and have no means of making offerings [1-0067] to the Buddha. They do not know the manner and rule of the bodhisattvas and cannot cultivate merits. You should know that this is brought about because in their former lives such people had no wisdom and were doubting.”

The parable of the princes in the golden chamber

[45] The Buddha told Maitreya, “It is like a wheel-turning sage king who has a separate chamber of the seven jewels, adorned in various ways, with couches and curtains set out and silken banners hung. If any of the young princes offend against the king, they are put into that chamber and bound with golden chains. They are supplied with food and drink, clothing, couches and bedding, flowers and fragrance, and music, just as for the wheel-turning king, and they lack for nothing. What do you think? Would those princes be happy in that place?”

He replied, “They would not. They would only seek by various expedients, and by the help of the powerful, to free themselves and get out.”

The Buddha told Maitreya, “So it is with these sentient beings. Because they doubted the Buddha’s wisdom, they are born in those palaces. There is no punishment there, not so much as a single thought of an evil thing; yet for five hundred years they do not see the three treasures and cannot make offerings and cultivate wholesome roots, and this is their suffering. Though there are other pleasures, still they take no pleasure in that place.

“If these sentient beings recognise their original offence, deeply repent and reproach themselves, and seek to leave that place, then at once, as they wish, they may go to the place of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life to revere and make offerings to him, and may also reach everywhere the places of immeasurable and innumerable other buddhas and cultivate various merits. Maitreya, you should know that any bodhisattva who gives rise to doubt loses a great benefit. Therefore, you should entrust yourselves in clear faith to the unsurpassed wisdom of the buddhas.”

The bodhisattvas of the fourteen buddha lands

[46] The Bodhisattva Maitreya said to the Buddha, “Bhagavān, how many non-retrogressing bodhisattvas in this world will be born in that Buddha’s land?”

The Buddha told Maitreya, “In this world there are sixty-seven koṭis of non-retrogressing bodhisattvas who will go to be born in that land. Each of these bodhisattvas has already [1-0068] made offerings to innumerable buddhas, and they are next in order after Maitreya. As for the bodhisattvas of lesser practice and those who have cultivated but few merits, they are beyond reckoning; and all will go to be born there.”

The Buddha told Maitreya, “It is not only the bodhisattvas of my land who will go to be born in that land; so it is with the buddha lands of other quarters. The first buddha is named Far-Reaching Illumination;13 there are a hundred and eighty koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The second buddha is named Jewel Treasury; there are ninety koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The third buddha is named Immeasurable Sound; there are two hundred and twenty koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The fourth buddha is named Ambrosial Flavour; there are two hundred and fifty koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The fifth buddha is named Nāga Victory; there are fourteen koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The sixth buddha is named Victorious Power; there are fourteen thousand bodhisattvas there,14 and all will go to be born there.

“The seventh buddha is named Lion; there are five hundred koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The eighth buddha is named Light Free from Defilement; there are eighty koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The ninth buddha is named Head of Virtue; there are sixty koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The tenth buddha is named Mountain of Marvellous Virtue; there are sixty koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The eleventh buddha is named King of Men; there are ten koṭis of bodhisattvas there, and all will go to be born there. The twelfth buddha is named Unsurpassed Flower; there are innumerable and incalculable multitudes of bodhisattvas there, all of them non-retrogressing and valiant in wisdom. They have already made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, and within seven days they are able to grasp the firm Dharma cultivated by great beings over a hundred thousand koṭis of kalpas. All such bodhisattvas will go to be born there. The thirteenth buddha is named [1-0069] Fearlessness; there are seven hundred and ninety koṭis of great bodhisattvas there, and lesser bodhisattvas and bhikṣus beyond reckoning, and all will go to be born there.”

The Buddha said to Maitreya, “It is not only the bodhisattvas of these fourteen buddha lands who will go to be born there. So it is with the immeasurable buddha lands of the worlds of the ten directions: those who go to be born there are likewise very many and innumerable. Were I merely to speak the names of the buddhas of the ten directions and of the bodhisattvas and bhikṣus born in that land, a whole kalpa of days and nights would still not suffice. I have spoken of it to you now only in brief.”

Exhortation to receive this sūtra

[47] The Buddha said to Maitreya, “Should there be any who come to hear that Buddha’s Name and who rejoice and leap for joy even down to a single thought-moment, you should know that such a person gains great benefit; for this is to possess the unsurpassed merit in full. Therefore, Maitreya, though a great fire should fill the cosmos of three thousand great thousand worlds, one should surely pass through it to hear this sūtra and Dharma, rejoice and entrust oneself in faith, uphold, read, and recite it, and practise it as it is taught. Why is this? Because many bodhisattvas wish to hear this sūtra but cannot. If there are sentient beings who hear this sūtra, they will never retrogress from the unsurpassed path. Therefore you should single-mindedly entrust yourselves to it, receive, uphold, recite, expound, and practise it.”

The Buddha said, “I now expound this sūtra and Dharma for all sentient beings, causing them to see the Buddha of Immeasurable Life and all that is in his land. Whatever ought to be done may be sought after. Do not, after my passing into nirvāṇa, give rise to doubt again. In the age to come the sūtras and the Path will be wholly extinguished; but I, out of compassion and pity, shall especially preserve this sūtra and cause it to remain for a hundred years. Should there be sentient beings who meet with this sūtra, they may all be delivered according to the aspirations of their minds.”

The Buddha said to Maitreya, “A tathāgata’s appearing in the world is hard to meet with and hard to see. The sūtras and the Path of the buddhas are hard to obtain and hard to hear. The excellent [1-0070] Dharma of the bodhisattvas and the pāramitās are hard to hear as well. To meet a good teacher, to hear the Dharma, and to be able to practise it—this, too, is hard. But to hear this sūtra and to entrust oneself in faith, to rejoice and to uphold it, is the hardest of all that is hard; no difficulty surpasses this difficulty. Therefore my Dharma is thus done, thus spoken, and thus taught. You should entrust yourselves to it and comply with it, and practise in accordance with the Dharma.”

Epilogue

[48] At that time, when the Bhagavān had expounded this sūtra and Dharma, immeasurable sentient beings all aroused the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening; twelve thousand nayutas of people attained the pure Dharma eye; twenty-two koṭis of devas and humans attained the fruit of the anāgāmin; eight hundred thousand bhikṣus had their effluents exhausted and their minds released; and forty koṭis of bodhisattvas attained non-retrogression, adorning themselves with the merit of their vast vows, and in the age to come they will attain perfect awakening.

At that time the cosmos of three thousand great thousand worlds shook in the six ways; a great light universally illumined the lands of the ten directions; a hundred thousand kinds of music sounded of themselves; and immeasurable wondrous flowers fell in profusion.

When the Buddha had expounded the sūtra, the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the multitudes of bodhisattvas who had come from the ten directions, the Elder Ānanda, the great śrāvakas, and the whole great assembly, hearing what the Buddha had said, all rejoiced.

The Sūtra of Immeasurable Life Spoken by the Buddha

Fascicle 2

Translator's Notes

1. 除其本願修短自在. The Chinese specifies both lengthening and shortening. Both Inagaki and the Hongwanji version render only “shorten.”

2. 至心信樂欲生我國、乃至十念. Conceived here as the three minds of the Shin exegesis—sincere mind, entrusting, and the desire for birth—following Shinran in the Shinjin chapter of the Kyōgyōshinshō. 念 is thought or mindfulness; neither “the Name” nor “vocal recitation” is present in the Chinese. Inagaki gives “call my Name, even ten times,” and the Hongwanji version “say my name even ten times,” both importing the Shandao–Hōnen reading of the vow into the text; the Hongwanji version does not sustain this, rendering 一念 in the fulfilment passage at [22] as a single thought of the Buddha. We have consolidated this here for precision.

3. 忍. Rendered as forbearance (i.e., patience) throughout (無生法忍, 三法忍, 第一・第二・第三法忍), keeping the sense of bearing-with or patience carried by the Chinese and by Sanskrit kṣānti. Both Inagaki and the Hongwanji version render insight, construing the term as cognitive attainment without the affective aspect implied by the source texts.

4. 瑠璃・硨磲・碼碯. The identifications of the seven jewels differ across the English versions and produce visibly different landscapes through the jewelled-trees and bathing-pond passages. Here 瑠璃 is beryl (i.e., vaiḍūrya), 硨磲 red pearl, and 碼碯 emerald. 硨磲 is properly the shell of the giant clam; red pearl is a conventional rendering that keeps it distinct from 珊瑚 coral, with which it stands paired throughout the tree and pond permutations. It is also to be distinguished from 眞珠 pearl and 明月眞珠 bright-moon pearl, which occur at [1-0037], [1-0039], and [1-0041]. Inagaki has beryl, agate, and ruby; the Hongwanji version has lapis lazuli, sapphire, and carnelian. On the more likely identification of vaiḍūrya with beryl in Buddhist texts, rather than lapis or even glass, as is more likely in Persian texts, see Kotyk 2024, 194–200.

5. 其本周圍五十由旬. Fifty, as in the Taishō and the Shinshū Seiten, and as in the Hongwanji version. Inagaki gives five thousand yojanas.

6. 皆受自然虛無之身、無極之體. Read here as two parallel phrases. Both Inagaki and the Hongwanji version take it as three qualities of one kind of body—the body of naturalness, of emptiness, and of boundlessness. This is a fair reading, but the final element modifies 體, which is a more abstract kind of body; hence, substance. These three aspects, together, are important in Shinran’s understanding of how the “body” realised in the Pure Land is the same Buddha-body as Amida, characterised by formlessness and the ability to manifest in form, most specifically in the form of the Nembutsu: Namo Amida Butsu.

7. 正定之聚. “The group of the truly settled,” the assurance of birth understood as present rather than prospective; so also the Hongwanji version (“the truly settled”). Inagaki has “those assured of Nirvana,” and at Vow 11 “the Definitely Assured State.” Vow 11 in Fascicle 1 renders the shorter 定聚 as “the determined group;” the two have deliberately not been harmonised, since the Chinese itself differs.

8. 信心歡喜、乃至一念. Rendered to match the reading of 至心信樂 adopted at Vow 18. The Hongwanji version has “realise an entrusting heart in joy with even a single thought of the Buddha,” which agrees with ours in taking 一念 as a thought-moment rather than a vocal utterance—though at Vow 18 itself that version has “say my name even ten times.”

9. 著於無上下洞達無邊際. Genuinely obscure. The rendering here takes 著 as cleaving or attaching and 無上下 as the absence of high and low. The Hongwanji version gives a quite different sense—that all beings in that land attain the boundless virtue of awakening without discrimination.

10. 橫截五惡趣. The adverb is kept: deliverance that cuts athwart the path rather than ascending it by stages. The Hongwanji version likewise has “severed crosswise;” Inagaki drops 橫 entirely.

11. 易往而無人. Read literally, as in the Hongwanji version. Inagaki softens 無人 to “very few actually go there,” which loses the paradox on which Shinran's reading of the passage depends.

12. 胎生. “Those with womb-like birth;” the Hongwanji version has “womb-like birth”. Inagaki’s “embryonic state” is interpretive: the sūtra’s own image is gestation within a closed palace, not an embryo.

13. 遠照. Distinguished here from 光遠 in the list of fifty-three past buddhas at [4], which is rendered “Far-Reaching Light.” Inagaki likewise keeps the two distinct; the Hongwanji version renders both “Far-reaching Light,” collapsing the distinction.

14. 萬四千菩薩. Fourteen thousand; the Chinese has no 億, but the Hongwanji version gives “fourteen thousand koṭis.”