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THE SŨTRA OF CONTEMPLATION ON THE BUDDHA OF IMMEASURABLE LIFE

AS EXPOUNDED BY SÀKYAMUNI BUDDHA

Translated and Annotated by

The Ryukoku University translation center

Under the direction of

Meiji Yamada

Ryukoku university

Kyoto, 1984

Contents

ABOUT THIS TRANSLATION

INTRODUCTION

TEXT

I.Prologue

II. The land of Utmost bliss

III. The Buddha and his attendants

IV. Birth in the pure land

V. Epilogue

APPENDIXES

I.                    Location of the sixteen contemplations in the text

II.                 Supplementary notes

III.               Bibliography

IV.              A comparison of the chinese characters in the Taishõ and Korean editions

V.                List of Chinese proper nouns

VI.              Indexes to the text

i.                    Sanskrit and English

ii.                  Chinese

INTRODUCTION

The Sũtra of contemplation on the Buddha of immeasurble life is a unique and significant work among the Buddhist scriptures of China, Korea and Japan. It is unique because within the major sũtras adopted by Pure Land Buddhists the KMK alone directly encourages ‘saying the name’ (c. j. shõmyõ), the practice which came to predominate among Pure Land followers. It is significant because it altered Buddhist practice as well as affected religious, artistic, and cultural traditions throughout central and Eastern Asia.

While the scripture contains many instructions concerning contemplation techniques, the practice of saying the name apparently is its central message. Specifically, the sũtras assures that it at the moment of death a person utters the name of the Buddha of Immeasurable life by saying ‘I take refuge in Amida Buddha’ (c. J. Namu Amida Butsu), this buddha will come with a host of sacred attendants to lead the devotee to the World of Utmost Bliss. This simple practise, based on a simple faith in the power of the buddha, had special appeal to commoners who could not participate in monasticism, traditional Buddhism’s dominant form. Monastic Buddhism was an elitist structure which demanded the mastery f highly technical and cerebral lessons, the observance of numerous difficult precepts, and the performance of rigorous mental and physical religious practices. These requirements effectively limited the inclusion of members from the lower classes who were thereby encourage to seek a more simplified form of involvement in the Buddhist religion.

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