The Amitāyus Sutra

thumb|A sutra book (okyō) showing passages from the Sukhāvatīvyūha. Obtained from [[Nishi Hongan-ji|Nishi Honganji temple in Kyoto, Japan.]]

The Amitāyus Sutra (Sanskrit), ; Sutra of Immeasurable Life Spoken by Buddha; Vietnamese: Phật Thuyết Vô Lượng Thọ Kinh; Japanese: Bussetsu Muryōju Kyō (Taisho Tripitaka no. 360), also known as the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, is one of the two Indian Mahayana sutras which describe the pure land of Amitābha (also known as Amitāyus, "Measureless Life"). Together with the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, this text is highly influential in East Asian Buddhism. It is one of the three central scriptures of East Asian Pure Land Buddhism, and is widely revered and chanted by Pure Land Buddhists throughout Asia.

The title is often translated in English as either the Sutra [on the Buddha] of Immeasurable Life, or simply the Immeasurable Life Sutra.

History and translations

Some scholars believe that the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra was compiled in the age of the Kushan Empire in the first and second centuries by an order of Mahīśāsaka monastics who flourished in the Gandhāra region. It is likely that the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha owed greatly to the Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this sūtra there are many elements in common with the Mahāvastu. It is also known that manuscripts in the Kharoṣṭhī script existed in China during this period.

The five Chinese translations are (in order of translation date):

Wuliangshou rulai hui (無量壽如來會; T. 310), which is part of the composite Mahāratnakūṭasutra, which was translated by Bodhiruci II (late 6th-century and early 7th-century). This text reflects a "later recension" of the text than the previous three.
Foshuo dasheng wuliangshou zhuangyan jing (佛説大乘無量壽莊嚴經; T. 363), by Faxian (法賢; Dharmabhadra; also known as Tianxizai [天息災]; fl. 980–1000).

Furthermore, there is a Tibetan translation, which is similar to the last two later recensions in Chinese. This is the ’Phags pa ’od dpag med kyi bkod pa (*Āryāmitābhavyūha; D 49/P 760) translated in the 9th century by Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Ye shes sde.</blockquote>

Commentaries

There are over twenty commentaries on this sutra written in China, Korea and Japan, all based on the Buddhabhadra / Saṅghavarman translation which became the standard in Chinese Buddhism.

The Dilun scholar Jingying Huiyuan (淨影慧遠, J. Jōyō Eon) wrote the earliest extant Chinese commentary to the Sutra of Immeasurable Life.

Jizang (549-623) of the Sanlun school, also wrote an early commentary on this sutra. Under the guidance of the Buddha Lokeśvararāja ("World Sovereign King"), innumerable Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions were revealed to him.

The sutra is presented as a discourse delivered by the Buddha Shakyamuni, often near the city of Shravasti in India. The implicit setting is a cosmos of many world systems, with Shakyamuni speaking in our world to an audience, while also describing a distant world.

After meditating for five eons as a bodhisattva, he then made a great series of vows to save all sentient beings, and through his great merit, created the realm of Sukhāvatī ("Ultimate Bliss"). This land of Sukhāvatī would later come to be known as a pure land (Ch. 淨土) in Chinese translation. The number of vows differ depending on the sutra versions. Forty-eight are found in the common Chinese version, though a Sanskrit version mentions forty-seven. These vows articulate his resolve to save all sentient beings and define the qualities and conditions of the buddha-field he intended to create. The "past vows" are considered the pivotal force in Amitayus' attainment of Buddhahood and the generation of his pure Buddhafield. Key vows include promises regarding:

The praise of Amitabha's name by all buddhas.
Rebirth in his Pure Land for those who aspire to it, even if only repeating the thought ten times or less (the eighteenth vow, considered a basic tenet of Pure Land Buddhism).
Amitabha appearing to the believer at the time of death.
Rebirth for those who hear Amitabha's name.
Guaranteed awakening and nirvana for those reborn in his land.
His infinite light halo and life span.
Full bodhisattvahood for those reborn in the pure land.
Specific qualities of the land and its inhabitants, such as freedom from unpleasant experiences or ideas of property.

Amitabha is the central figure in the sutra, also known as Amitayus. He is the Buddha of Measureless Light, his light spreading unimpeded over all buddha-fields. He is also the Buddha of Measureless Life, with an immeasurable life span, as do the inhabitants of his land. He attained Buddhahood ten cosmic ages ago.

The sutra also provides a detailed and magnificent description of Amitayus' buddha-field called the "Array of Bliss". Once in Sukhāvatī , beings experience only boundless happiness, never knowing evil or suffering. The land is adorned with precious substances like gold, silver, emerald, and rock crystal, forming railings, rows of trees, and ponds. It features lotus ponds with clean water and golden sand. Heavenly music is constantly played, and blossoms fall. The ground is golden and pleasant. It is depicted as far superior to any other world. Beings born in the Land of Bliss are of high virtue and progress irreversibly on the spiritual path, with many being only one birth away from full awakening. They include a vast number of disciples (arhats) and bodhisattvas. They have extraordinary abilities, such as traveling to other worlds to worship buddhas before their forenoon meal and returning for their nap. They recite the story of the Dharma. However, the sutra also mentions a segregated state for some beings for 500 years, where they are deprived of certain experiences.

Shakyamuni exhorts his audience to aspire to be reborn in the Land of Bliss. Rebirth is not achieved through meager merit but through generating an earnest desire, hearing and embracing Amitabha's name, and keeping it in mind single-mindedly. The practice of recollecting the Buddha (nianfo), especially ten times, is presented as a way to guarantee rebirth according to the eighteenth vow. Reliance on the spiritual power and grace of the Buddha Amitabha, based on his vows and merit transference, is a key theme.

Shakyamuni Buddha then recounts how numerous Buddhas in all directions of the universe praise Sukhavati, confirming the truth of his message about the Land of Bliss and Amitabha. This act of praise by other Buddhas is related to the alternative title of the associated shorter sutra, "Embraced by All Buddhas," suggesting that all Buddhas promote this teaching.

Lastly the sutra shows the Buddha discoursing at length to the future Buddha, Maitreya, describing the various forms of evil that Maitreya must avoid to achieve his goal of becoming a Buddha as well as other admonitions and advice.

Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra Quotation on the Peace Bell at Hiroshima

thumb|Peace Bell at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

A Peace Bell with an enclosure was constructed in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on September 20, 1964. Among its inscriptions is a Sanskrit quote from Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra:

The English translation (Müller, Max, trans. 1894, pp. 23–24, verses 2 and 5):

The Chinese translation:

English Translations

Gomez, Luis, trans. (1996), The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light: Sanskrit and Chinese Versions of the Sukhavativyuha Sutras, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
Müller, Max, trans. (1894), The Larger Sukhāvatī-vyūha. In: The Sacred Books of the East, Volume XLIX: Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, Part II. Oxford: Clarendon Press,

References

Bibliography

Nattier, Jan (2003). The Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism: Insights from the Oldest Chinese Versions of the Larger Sukhavativyuha, Pacific World (3rd series) 5, 179–201