“Buddha Pronounces the Sutra of Amitabha Buddha”, translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Kang Sengkai in the Cao Wei Dynasty.
The name of the Mahayana sutra is “Buddha Pronounces the Sutra of Amitabha Buddha”. The first Buddha in the title of the sutra refers to Shakyamuni Buddha. “Amitabha Buddha” refers to the teaching host who has created a Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the west called Sukhavati. “Amitabha” in Sanskrit means “Infinite Life”; therefore, Amitabha Buddha is also called Buddha of Eternal Life.
The name of the Sutra is quite easy to understand. It is a sutra given by Shakyamuni Buddha to provide an introduction about Amitabha Buddha. The translator of the Sutra was Kang Sengkai (Sanghavarman), a Buddhist monk who came from Tianzhu (now India) during the Cao Wei Period of the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history. Little was known about this translator since historical data related to him were lacking; therefore, I would have to skip talking about this personage.
“Buddha Pronounces the Sutra of Amitayus Buddha” has witnessed altogether twelve translated versions during eight dynasties. The Sutra translators of eight dynasties produced 12 versions, among which two versions were translated during Han Dynasty, one during Wu Period, two during Cao Wei Period, one during Western Jin Dynasty, two during Eastern Jin Dynasty, two during Liu Song Period, one during Tang Dynasty and one during Zhao Song Dynasty. Only five of these twelve versions are still extant, respectively from the Han, Wu, Wei, Tang, and Song dynasties, while the other seven translations have been lost.
However, the five versions that have come down to us today differ in the depth of their contents, as well as the details of the texts. For example, the great vows made by Amitabha Buddha from the causal ground, which constitute quite an important part of the whole sutra, are different in these five versions. There are twenty-four vows mentioned in the Han and Wu versions, and thirty-six vows in the Song version, whereas forty-eight vows in the Wei and Tang versions. Furthermore, the specific contents of the vows vary in these five translations.
Why are these translated versions of “The Sutra of Amitayus Buddha” so different from one another? According to the experts of Buddhist circles, the reason lies in that Shakyamuni Buddha during different phases of his Dharma teachings delivered the Sutra to the sentient beings of different dimensions. In the light of a particular congregation present at the Dharma meeting, our Buddha gave teachings according to his disciples’ natural capacity and their nature. Consequently, our Buddha sometimes gave a detailed description and sometimes a brief one about Amitabha Buddha and his world of Pure Land in the west called Sukhavati. The Sanskrit texts obtained by the translators are not the same version; therefore, there are significant differences in the target versions.
In reality, I believe that regardless of the various versions of the Sutra, the purpose and significance of Shakyamuni Buddha’s mention of Amitabha Buddha and the Western Pure Land to the Dharma assembly are the same, while the specific time and location and the assembly are not the point. In addition to praising Amitabha Buddha’s great vows and meritorious achievements to the Bodhisattvas, the other purpose is to tell us that all beings in this world can get reborn in the Western Pure Land, in which all sentient beings do not need to suffer from the pains of reincarnation, and those who practice Buddhism can successfully become Buddhas in this realm of bliss. Moreover, in the study of the scripture in the future, we will see that all the purities and sublimities of 21 billion Buddhas’ worlds assemble in the Western Pure Land. The perfection of 21 billion Buddhas’ worlds is reflected in the one world of Pure Land of Bliss. Every Buddha can only introduce a part of the Pure Land to the people of their own world in accordance with the needs and concerns of the audience.
When it comes to the varying number of great vows made by Amitabha Buddha in different translations, I recall one incident. Once, I saw a seven-year-old child who was about to pass away due to leukemia. His parents believed in Buddhism, so they read him the Sutra of Infinite Longevity and taught him to chant the name of Amitabha Buddha, telling him to remember this name with all his heart. Because the parents refused to talk about anything related to death, they told the boy that one day he would have a long dream and could not see his parents. But in the dream, Amitabha Buddha would come immediately to fetch him to the Western Paradise when he chanted Amitabha Buddha’s name. In the Pure Land, he would not need to get injections or medicine since people no longer got sick there. The boy might feel the sadness of his parents, and in order to comfort them, he often chanted “Namo Amitabha Buddha” while walking, sitting, and lying.
When the little boy met me, his parents lied to him that this teacher was very talented and had been to the Western Paradise, in order to convince him of the existence of the Pure Land. They urged their boy to ask me about the situation there to remove all the uncertainties in his mind. When his parents were away, the little boy whispered to me, “Is Amitabha Buddha and the Western Paradise on another planet? Is there a UFO there?” I nodded seriously and said, “There is a UFO there.” He then asked, “Was it made by Amitabha Buddha?” I said, “Yes.” The little boy got so excited that his eyes lit up, and his pale face had seen a mysterious and determined smile. I knew in my heart that he had made a vow to go to the Western Paradise and longed to see Amitabha Buddha. But the root cause for him to go to the Western paradise is not for pleasure, nor for healing, nor for becoming a Buddha, but for the flying saucers, because he had always been fascinated by the legend of flying saucers.
The little boy passed away a few days later. I think if this little boy had already been born in the Western Pure Land, and if one day he would return to our world according to his wish, perhaps in the Sutra of Infinite Longevity, another great vow would be added to Amitabha Buddha’s great vows – if celestial beings in the Pure Land do not want to use their supernatural powers, and instead, they prefer to use transportation vehicles from other worlds, such as UFO, they will definitely fulfil their wishes.
With this in mind, I feel relieved that there are differences in the Great Vows in the extant five versions of the Sutra. The endless wishes of all sentient beings result in the endless great vows of all Buddhas. Western paradise will know no limit in fulfilling the wishes of all beings. I find it no longer difficult to choose from five versions of the Infinite Life Sutra. After browsing through all of them, we have chosen the translation of Kang Sengkai from the Cao Wei period, which is the most complete in the content, based on which we are going to discuss today.
Besides, due to the differences in the content of various translated versions of the Sutra, some people in history have taken the initiative to combine and reorganize them into various compiled versions for the convenience of the learners and practitioners. In this way, four concentrated versions of “The Sutra of Amitayus Buddha” appeared in history:
1. Wang Rixiu compiled in South Song Dynasty a concentrated version called “The Larger Amitabha Sutra”.
2. Peng Jiqing compiled in Qing Dynasty “The Sutra of Amitayus Buddha”.
3. Wei Yuan compiled in Qing Dynasty and edited by Wang Yinfu, “The Maha Amitabha Sutra”.
4. Xia Lianju compiled in modern times, “The Buddha Pronounced the Mahayana Sutra of Buddha of Infinite Life, Solemnity, Purity and Impartial Bodhi”.
The most widely circulated compiled version is Xia Lianju’s collection.
In the Buddhist circles, “The Sutra of Amitayus Buddha” is also called “The Larger Amitabha Sutra”, the reason of which is that “The Buddha Pronounces The Sutra of Amitayus Buddha” and “The Sutra of Amitabha Buddha” are basically similar in content. “The Sutra of Amitabha Buddha” briefly introduces Amitabha Buddha and his world Sukhavati, whereas “The Sutra of Amitayus Buddha” not only covers all the content in “The Sutra of Amitabha Buddha” but also introduces how Amitabha, before attaining Buddhahood, makes great vows as a bodhisattva to build a Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and makes strenuous efforts to fulfil his great vows in the end.
“The Sutra of Amitabha Buddha” was translated by Master Kumarajiva, who was respectfully acknowledged as the greatest translator of Dharma Sutras by the Chinese Buddhist world. During his period of translation, the Five Non-Translation Principles became widely popular in China’s Dharma translation circles, one of which is: if no equivalent word can be found in the target language to interpret all the meanings of the source language, transliteration based on the pronunciation of Sanskrit in ancient India is suggested to be adopted. “Amitabha” is translated directly from the pronunciation of the Sanskrit word, and his world is called “Sukhavati”, which literally means “The Pure Land in the West of Ultimate Bliss”. Kang Sengkai in his version liberally translated “Amitabha” into “Infinite Longevity Buddha” and the meritorious world he created into “The World of Great Peace”. But because the Chinese Buddhist world more often than not deems Master Kumarajiva’s translation as an ultimate version, the Buddha is now uniformly referred to as “Amitabha Buddha”, and the world of merit he built is called “The Pure Land in the West of Ultimate Bliss”. In the future, when studying scriptures, everyone should pay attention to the fact that “Infinite Longevity Buddha” equals “Amitabha Buddha”, and “The World of Great Peace” equals “Western Pure Land”.
The layout of my lecture on this sutra is to first translate the original ancient Chinese text into vernacular Chinese, and then explain some key points and terminologies in the text. In terms of addressing, when translating literally into vernacular, I quote from the translation of Kang Sengkai and use the names “Infinite Longevity Buddha” and “The World of Great Peace”. But in the subsequent explanation parts, I would adopt Master Kumarajiva’s translation of “Amitabha Buddha” and “the Western Pure Land”. Don’t be afraid of possible trouble here, everyone. The recitation of the phrase “Infinite Life and Infinite Light Buddha” might deeply touch those who often prefer to chant Amitabha Buddha and hope to live a long and healthy life, and might be a great help to awaken people to understand their inherent eternal Buddha-nature. However, if we want to be reborn in the Pure Land, we should still follow the recognized way of chanting “Amitabha Buddha” or “Namo Amitabha Buddha”. “Namo” is a transliteration of Sanskrit, which means paying respect or homage to.
OK, let’s look at the original ancient Chinese scripture.