佛說阿彌陀經The Amitābha Sūtra

I. Choose an Entry Point First

A quarter of an hour only — read the Opening Essentials, then the Essentials of unit 07. The method of the whole sūtra is there.

To know what sort of place that is — 01 → 02 → 03 → 04, the four passages read together. The sūtra lays up that setting course by course, and by the end of the four it will be clear why it had to be written in such detail.

To know who that buddha is — 05 alone is enough. Light and life: one name, two senses.

To know why one ought to trust — 08 → 09 → 10. The attestation of the six directions, the name of the sūtra explained by the sūtra itself, and at the last the Buddha’s own admission of how hard it is.

To walk the whole way through from the beginning — start at 00 and follow the units in order. The sequence of the twelve is the sequence of the sūtra.

II. Four Thematic Routes

One, the route of names. The introduction gives first a person’s name, Śāriputra → 01 gives the name of a land, Ultimate Bliss → 05 gives the name of a buddha, Amitābha → 09 gives the name of the sūtra, guarded and kept in mind → and 07 comes to rest in the holding of a name. From beginning to end this sūtra teaches a person to take hold of a name first.

Two, the route of the setting. 01, three sevenfold rows → 02, one pool of water → 03, the round of a single day → 04, the whole setting teaching the Dharma. What those four passages write of is not opulence; it is a setting in which a single thought will not be dragged away.

Three, the route of the difficulties. 04, “do not suppose that these birds are in truth born of the recompense of transgression” → 05, “if the light shines everywhere upon the ten directions, why is it not seen in this land?” → 06, “why not birth in Tuṣita?” → 07, “evil karma is measureless; how could mindfulness of the Buddha match it?” In all four places the difficulty is raised and answered by the Buddha himself or by an ancient master, and each question presses closer to the bone than the last.

Four, the route of trust. 06, one should make the aspiration → 08, you should trust → 09, receive in faith → 10, this is exceedingly difficult. Of its hearers the sūtra asks three things only, and at the last it admits how hard they are.

III. How to Use the Five Layers

A suggested order: Plain Reading → Essentials → Exposition → Apparatus. To go quickly, stop at the Essentials; to go deep, carry on into the Apparatus. The Source-Text can be returned to at any moment.

IV. How to Read the Appended Text at the End of the Fascicle

The seventeen lines of unit 11 are not the scriptural text translated by Kumārajīva — the four proofs stand together in the Apparatus of that unit. They are a dhāraṇī appended by a later hand, together with a record of its practice.

There are two ways to read them. To read them as scripture is to misread them. To read them as a trace of the sūtra being used is to be told something not to be seen anywhere else — that someone read this sūtra and felt that a thing to be done every day was still needed.

This edition records them as they stand and marks what they are. Both may be done at once.

I. Base Text and Collation Witnesses

The base text is the Taishō T12n0366 (with the Korean recension as its ground). Four printings serve as collation witnesses: Song 【宋】, Yuan 【元】, Ming 【明】, and the current circulation text 【流布本】. The alternate-translation witness is Xuanzang’s 稱讚淨土佛攝受經, T12n0367.

Not one character of the base text is altered. Variant readings recorded in the Taishō collation notes are set down item by item in the ninth topic of the Apparatus and are never used to emend the base text.

The 12 full-width spaces (U+3000) fall in the dhāraṇī at the end of the fascicle. They are the base text’s own dividers between syllables, not blank space in the page layout, and are preserved character for character. Inline glosses such as 「〔上聲〕」 keep their place in the original form, within 〔 〕; they are neither stripped out nor moved outside. For missing characters (gaiji), only the graphic forms actually present in the canonical recension are taken; they are preserved as they stand and nothing is supplied on conjecture.

II. The Cutting into Units

Following Kuiji’s Comprehensive Praise Commentary in its division of the sūtra into three parts, the fascicle is cut into twelve units, and the beginning and ending of each unit are set against the boundaries of the commentary’s outline (see the table in the third section of the Introduction). The Source-Text layers of the twelve units, strung together, must agree with the base text word for word — this is the mechanical check of the present edition.

Three of the commentary’s major outline boundaries fall inside a unit rather than on a unit boundary (01, 03, 10), and in one further place the boundary of Shandao’s recited segment does not agree with the division of this edition (07). All four are recorded in the first topic of the Apparatus of the units concerned; whether to cut again is left for adjudication.

III. The Division of Labour among the Five Layers

Source-Text — the base text word for word, each passage headed by a single page locus (page, register, line). No punctuation is added and no graphic form is changed.

Plain Reading — a sentence-by-sentence rendering into modern language, covering every word of the original. Hard words are glossed in parentheses; a gloss drawn from the mirror commentary is not separately marked, and one drawn from the common teaching of the scriptures is likewise given without verbatim citation.

Apparatus — nine topics: ① doctrinal-outline placement ② collation with the alternate translation ③ scriptural and treatise grounding ④ essentials of the commentary on the passage ⑤ divergent readings of the commentators ⑥ terms ⑦ similes and rhetoric ⑧ citation and carrying forward ⑨ placement among the recensions. Every one of the nine must appear; where the passage genuinely has none, the absence is set down and not passed over in silence.

Exposition — the Dharma spoken to a listener. Every point of doctrine has a source (this sūtra, the mirror commentaries, or a scripture or treatise cited by an ancient master, each item verifiable in the Apparatus), and no doctrine is invented; how to open the matter, where to stop, and how to bring it to earth belong to the composition of this edition. In each section of the body the sūtra is the subject; the judgments of the mirror commentaries and the names of their authors belong to the opening placement paragraph and to the closing section, “Carrying Forward.” The landing is stated and not commanded — no soliciting, no guarantees, no promises made on the Buddha’s behalf.

Essentials — the pith of one passage. It carries no commentator’s name, and its 「」 hold nothing but the words of this sūtra itself.

IV. Discipline of Quotation Marks

「」 = verbatim quotation: punctuation as in the base text, inner quotation marks as in the original, inline glosses set within 〔 … 〕. 『』 = the translator’s own phrasing in present-day language, never used for a quotation.

Every quotation carries a page locus, in the form 〔T37n1758 0331a19〕. The locus is the line boundary nearest before the first character quoted; it is never determined from memory.

V. Doctrine and Authoritative Citation

Authoritative citation is limited to scripture and the ancient masters; modern scholars are cited nowhere. The order of doctrinal anchoring is: scriptural warrant → the statement of a treatise → the commentary of an ancient master → modern interpretation (with the translator named).

Sanskrit is taken only as the ancient masters transmitted it. Where they transmitted no Sanskrit form, none is reconstructed in the modern manner — where the commentary yields a Sanskrit form, IAST is used (阿閦 → Akṣobhya); where the commentary says 「未詳所譯」—“the rendering is not determined,” the Chinese transcription is kept (乾陀訶提 → Qiantuohedi). These are the two faces of one and the same discipline.

VI. Honesty

Where the witnesses stand in conflict, both are recorded and neither is forced. What remains in doubt and unadjudicated is set down item by item. A search that yields nothing is recorded as yielding nothing, and not passed over in silence.

The limits of what this edition knows are stated wherever they fall; where neither scripture nor the ancient masters have answered, it is said plainly that they have not answered.

VII. The Inclusion of What Is Not Scripture

Unit 11, the appended text at the end of the fascicle, does not belong to the scriptural text translated by Kumārajīva. Four proofs: the canonical recension sets it off as a separate region; the Tang line-by-line commentary does not explain it; the Tang liturgical hymns do not recite it; and Xuanzang’s recension has no such dhāraṇī.

This edition records it as it stands and marks what it is — not one character of the scriptural layer is touched, and the judgment as to its standing is placed in the Apparatus and the Exposition. To include it is not to grant that it is scripture; to exclude it would not have made it cease to exist.

VIII. The English Sister Text

Every layer has an English sister text. The English of the Apparatus keeps the Chinese word for word, in the form 「漢文」—“English” 〔locus〕, the Chinese agreeing with the Chinese edition character for character; the English of the Plain Reading, the Exposition, and the Essentials is English throughout. Terms follow the settled renderings of this axis and are uniform across the whole of it.

Translator of the Base Chinese Text — Kumārajīva

The attribution at the head of the fascicle, word for word: 「姚秦龜茲三藏鳩摩羅什譯」—“translated by Kumārajīva, Tripiṭaka master of Kucha, under the Later Qin” 〔T12n0366 0346b27〕.

The collation notes record variant readings: for 「龜茲三藏」—“Tripiṭaka master of Kucha,” the Song, Yuan, Ming, and circulation printings read 「三藏法師」—“Tripiṭaka Dharma master”; for 「什」—“[Kumāra]jīva,” the circulation printing reads 「什奉詔」—“Jīva, by imperial command.” Not one character of the base text is altered.

Kumārajīva’s translation work appears elsewhere in this corpus: the 金剛經 Diamond Sūtra, T235; the 法華 Lotus Sūtra, T262; the 維摩 Vimalakīrti Sūtra, T475; the 小品般若 Smaller Prajñāpāramitā, T227; the 大智度論 Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom, T1509; the 中論 Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, T1564; and others. Of all his translations this sūtra is among the shortest, and it has circulated the most widely.

Translator of the Alternate Recension — Xuanzang

The 稱讚淨土佛攝受經, The Sūtra on Praising the Pure Land and the Buddha’s Embrace, T12n0367, is attributed at the head of its fascicle: 「大唐三藏法師玄奘奉　詔譯」—“translated by imperial command by Xuanzang, Tripiṭaka Dharma master of the Great Tang” 〔T12n0367 0348b24〕. This edition takes it as a collation witness and sets it beside the base text passage by passage in the second topic of the Apparatus.

Principal Mirror of Carrying Forward — Kuiji

The 阿彌陀經通贊疏, Comprehensive Praise Commentary on the Amitābha Sūtra, in three fascicles, is attributed at the head of its fascicle: 「大慈恩寺沙門窺基撰」—“composed by the monk Kuiji of the Great Cien Monastery” 〔T37n1758 0329a12〕; and before that stands the 〈阿彌陀經通贊疏序〉, the preface to the commentary 〔T37n1758 0329a10〕.

Kuiji (632–682) was of Xuanzang’s school. His way of reading this sūtra is presented item by item in the Apparatus of each unit and in the closing section of each Exposition. He also has the 阿彌陀經疏, T37n1757, in one fascicle, whose fascicle head reads 「阿彌陀經疏」 and whose attribution is 「京兆慈恩寺基法師撰」—“composed by Dharma master Ji of the Cien Monastery in the capital” 〔T37n1757 0310c05〕 — the same name is attached to it, but it differs in fullness and brevity; the relation of the two commentaries is recorded without adjudication.

The Ritual Way of Carrying Forward — Shandao

The 轉經行道願往生淨土法事讚, Liturgical Hymns for Turning the Sūtra and Walking the Path in Aspiration for Birth in the Pure Land, is attributed at the head of its fascicle: 「沙門善導集記」—“gathered and recorded by the monk Shandao” 〔T47n1979 0424b27〕. The canon nowhere gives the years of Shandao’s birth and death; that he was Kuiji’s contemporary it does give — Daoxuan’s 續高僧傳, Continued Lives of Eminent Monks, enters him as 「近有山僧善導者」—“there is lately a mountain monk, Shandao” 〔T50n2060 0684a11〕: a Tang writer, writing of his own time.

The graphic forms preserved in his recited text serve repeatedly as collateral evidence in the ninth topic of the Apparatus: in the introduction he recites 「與大比丘眾」—“together with a great assembly of bhikṣus” (agreeing with the circulation printing); in the passage on celestial music, 「而雨」—“and there rain down” (agreeing with the circulation printing); in the passage on the birds, 「白鵠」—“white swan” (agreeing with the base text). More than one line of the text was in circulation in the seventh century, and this is surviving proof of it.

Works Cited in the Commentary but Not on This Edition’s Line of Carrying Forward

Kuiji’s commentary cites a good many scriptures and treatises: the 佛地論 Buddhabhūmi treatise, the 大智度論 Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom, the 觀經 Contemplation Sūtra, the 無量壽經 Sūtra of Measureless Life, the 清淨覺經 Sūtra of Pure Awakening, the 瑞應經 Sūtra of Auspicious Response, the 瑞相經 Sūtra of Auspicious Marks, the 法華經 Lotus Sūtra, the 淨土論 Treatise on the Pure Land, the 文殊般若經 Mañjuśrī Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the 觀佛三昧經 Sūtra on the Samādhi of Contemplating the Buddha, the 鼓音聲經 Sūtra of the Drum Sound, the 賢愚經 Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, the 平等覺經 Sūtra of Equal Awakening, the 大阿彌陀經 Great Amitābha Sūtra, the 十疑論 Treatise on Ten Doubts, the 華嚴 Flower Ornament, the 毘婆沙論 Vibhāṣā treatise, and the 正法念經 Sūtra of Mindfulness of the Right Dharma.

For everything the commentary cites, this edition records its citation and its locus word for word; it does not undertake to verify the citation on the commentary’s behalf, and it does not go straight to the original work.

I. The Base Scripture and the Alternate Translation

• 佛說阿彌陀經, The Amitābha Sūtra · one fascicle · translated by Kumārajīva under the Later Qin · T12n0366 (the base text of this edition)
• 稱讚淨土佛攝受經, The Sūtra on Praising the Pure Land and the Buddha’s Embrace · one fascicle · translated by Xuanzang under the Tang · T12n0367 (alternate translation · collation witness)

II. The Two Mirrors of Carrying Forward

• Kuiji’s 阿彌陀經通贊疏, Comprehensive Praise Commentary on the Amitābha Sūtra · three fascicles · T37n1758 (principal mirror of carrying forward · a line-by-line commentary on the sūtra)
• Kuiji’s 阿彌陀經疏, Commentary on the Amitābha Sūtra · one fascicle · T37n1757 (the same name is attached to it · differing in fullness and brevity · the relation of the two commentaries recorded without adjudication)
• Shandao’s 轉經行道願往生淨土法事讚, Liturgical Hymns for Turning the Sūtra and Walking the Path in Aspiration for Birth in the Pure Land · T47n1979 (the way of ritual practice · the whole sūtra recited through)
• Daoxuan’s 續高僧傳, Continued Lives of Eminent Monks · fascicle 27 · T50n2060 (the earliest entry on Shandao · the Translator section of the front matter rests on it to show him Kuiji’s contemporary)

III. Scriptures and Treatises of the Same Line on This Axis (points of cross-reading)

• 佛說觀無量壽佛經, The Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life · T12n0365 (Kuiji’s commentary repeatedly adduces it in evidence upon this sūtra: the nets among the trees, the pool water, the instruments of music, the ground of gold, the marks of light on the Buddha’s body, and the extinction of offences)
• 佛說無量壽經, The Sūtra of Measureless Life · T12n0360 (the forty-eight vows of the bhikṣu Dharmākara; Kuiji takes its first vow as warrant for 「無三惡趣」—“there are no three bad destinies,” and its vows as warrant for 「一生補處」—“the final-birth bodhisattva”)
• 無量壽經優波提舍, Upadeśa on the Sūtra of Measureless Life · T26n1524 (composed by Vasubandhu · translated by Bodhiruci)

IV. Cited within the Commentary (their citations recorded verbatim · not verified on its behalf)

佛地論 Buddhabhūmi treatise · 大智度論 Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom · 清淨覺經 Sūtra of Pure Awakening · 瑞應經 Sūtra of Auspicious Response · 瑞相經 Sūtra of Auspicious Marks · 法華經 Lotus Sūtra · 淨土論 Treatise on the Pure Land · 文殊般若經 Mañjuśrī Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra · 觀佛三昧經 Sūtra on the Samādhi of Contemplating the Buddha · 鼓音聲經 Sūtra of the Drum Sound · 賢愚經 Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish · 平等覺經 Sūtra of Equal Awakening · 大阿彌陀經 Great Amitābha Sūtra · 十疑論 Treatise on Ten Doubts · 華嚴 Flower Ornament · 毘婆沙論 Vibhāṣā treatise · 正法念經 Sūtra of Mindfulness of the Right Dharma · 大術經 · 仁王經 Humane Kings Sūtra · 攝大乘論 Mahāyānasaṃgraha · 俱舍論 Abhidharmakośa · 毘奈耶律 Vinaya

V. Collation Witnesses

The four printings recorded in the Taishō collation notes: Song 【宋】 · Yuan 【元】 · Ming 【明】 · the current circulation text 【流布本】. This edition sets them down item by item in the ninth topic of the Apparatus of each unit.

VI. What Does Not Enter This Edition

• The writings of modern scholars — authoritative citation is limited to scripture and the ancient masters (the fifth section of the Conventions). Conclusions reached in private consultation do not appear in what the reader is given.
• Modern critical editions of the Sanskrit — Sanskrit is taken only as the ancient masters transmitted it (the same section).
• Composite conflations of the recensions — these are not translations.

I. The Twelve Units and Their Page Loci

II. The Fixed Files in Every Unit

treatise/{NN}_{slug}/
  {NN}_{slug}_source.md          Source-Text (the base text word for word)
  {NN}_{slug}_baihua_zh.md   ·_en.md   Plain Reading
  {NN}_{slug}_apparatus_zh.md ·_en.md   Apparatus (nine topics)
  {NN}_{slug}_yishu_zh.md    ·_en.md   Exposition
  {NN}_{slug}_xinyao_zh.md   ·_en.md   Essentials

III. Quick Reference to the Evidence

IV. Numbers That Run through the Whole Fascicle

• 「舍利弗」—“Śāriputra” occurs 38 times (the only name called in the whole sūtra)
• The buddhas of the six directions are named 38 in all (east 5 · south 5 · west 7 · north 5 · below 6 · above 10)
• The Buddha raises a question and answers it himself in 3 places (the name of Ultimate Bliss, 01 · the name Amitābha, 05 · the name of the sūtra guarded and kept in mind, 09)
• 「成就如是功德莊嚴」—“is accomplished in adornments of such excellent qualities” occurs 4 times (02 · 03 · 04 · 05)
• The Taishō collation notes record 23 items
• Full-width spaces number 12 (all of them in the dhāraṇī of 11)

V. Items Left for Adjudication

Whether the division should be cut again: 01 (the join between “in brief” and “at length” falls inside the unit) · 03 (one file takes in four of the commentary’s sections) · 07 (the boundary of Shandao’s recited segment does not agree) · 10 (it takes in great sections four, five, and six, together with the transmission part).

I. Colophon

Translated and annotated by Shi Huijing 釋慧鏡.

The signature at the foot of each layer takes the form *Shi Huijing · 指月 · The Amitābha Sūtra · {unit} · {layer} · {season} {year}*.

II. Citation

In citing this edition, give the layer and the unit:

Shi Huijing, The Amitābha Sūtra: A Translation with Annotation (Zhiyue 指月), unit 07, “Hearing the Name and Holding Fast to It” · Exposition.

In citing a source that this edition quotes, cite the original work by its canon number and page locus; there is no need to go through this edition:

阿彌陀經通贊疏, T37n1758, 0343b21.

III. Note on the Edition

This is v1.0, sealed by Shi Huijing upon a holistic reading, summer 2026. The twelve units in five bilingual layers and the nine pieces of front matter are complete.

The base text is the Taishō T12n0366. The Source-Text layer of this edition agrees with the base text word for word, and the twelve units strung together restore the whole fascicle.

The English sister text corresponds to the Chinese layer by layer; the English of the Apparatus keeps the Chinese word for word, so that the two may be checked against each other.

IV. Principle of Revision

A seal is a milestone, not a lock. Wherever the base text is found to disagree even in a single character, or a quotation is found to be at odds with its locus, the correction is made at once and what was changed is recorded. The adjudication of doctrine belongs to the translator.

Shi Huijing · 指月 · The Amitābha Sūtra · Colophon · Summer 2026