佛說觀無量壽佛經 白話全本

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, at the head of the fascicle: from the Imperially Composed Praise of the Buddha of Measureless Life, through the title of the sūtra and the attribution, and then from “Thus have I heard” down to “how are they to see Amitābha Buddha and the world of Ultimate Bliss?” The praise at the head of the fascicle is not the sūtra text itself; it is reproduced here but set apart, and it does not enter the numbering of the sūtra’s segments. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

The Praise at the Head of the Fascicle: The Imperially Composed Praise of the Buddha of Measureless Life (not the sūtra text itself; outside the numbering of the sūtra’s segments)

（0340b23）The Imperially Composed Praise of the Buddha of Measureless Life.

（0340b24）That World-Honored One in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West, the Buddha of Measureless Life, is rare in the world; he can extinguish the karma heaped up through koṭis of kalpas from a beginningless past, and cause all those torments to be wholly dispelled.

（0340b26）If someone can with a subtle mind constantly form the image of the land of Ultimate Bliss in contemplation, and expound it widely to sentient beings point by point, then the moment he lifts his eyes he sees Amitābha Buddha.

（0340b28）The form and marks of the Buddha’s body send forth light, which even Jambūnada gold cannot match; his height is beyond comparison — counted in yojanas, six hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas.

（0340c01）The white tuft between his brows is like five Mount Sumerus; his deep-blue eyes are broad and clear as the four great seas. Light streams out from pore after pore, and a single pore contains and pervades the many great-thousand world-systems.

（0340c03）Within a single world there are as many as the sands of one Gaṅgā; upon a single grain of sand there are eighty-four thousand marks, and within each single mark it is so again. The one who makes and the one who forms the image can see them present before him at any time.

（0340c05）By contemplating the Buddha’s body one sees the Buddha’s mind; when sentient beings recollect and form the image, they see the manifested Buddha. Entering by way of the marks they attain the patience of non-arising, and within samādhi they receive boundless loving-kindness.

（0340c07）The Buddha’s body is measureless, vast and without bound; by the power of his former vows he teaches, delivers, and guides. Whoever recollects and forms the image can bring it to accomplishment, and supernormal powers at will fill the whole of space.

（0340c09）Sentient beings of the three kinds are complete in the three minds; energetic, courageous, and non-retrogressive, they are received and led by the outstretched hand of the Tathāgata, and a palace of the seven precious substances sends forth great light.

（0340c11）His body leaps up onto the adamantine terrace and follows behind the Buddha in the time of a single snap of the fingers; one who practises the Great Vehicle and understands the ultimate meaning is born within a lotus pond of the seven precious substances.

（0340c13）The great kindness and compassion of Amitābha Buddha, and the majestic virtue of his ten powers, are hard to praise in speech; uttering the Name once and giving rise to a single thought, the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas are all removed. His rescue by this means is without end, and therefore he is named Measureless Life.

（0340c16）Long ago the World-Honored One dwelt on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa and proclaimed to the great assembly the subtle causes and conditions, so that people might leave sorrow and torment and Jambudvīpa behind and pass beyond all the destinies of suffering.

（0340c18）The pure and subtle land is precisely the world of Ultimate Bliss. Cultivating the three kinds of merit and giving rise to the aspiration for awakening, one who recollects in this way abides firm and single — and therefore the contemplation of the Buddha of Measureless Life was taught.

（0340c20）Merit such as this cannot be told, and what cannot be told is precisely the subtle light. Measureless, pure, and bestowed with equality, the beings of the five turbidities all become buddhas.

（0340c22）To cut off all those inverted notions is like pouring water into the great sea: the nature of wetness blends and is nowhere different, and even the wisdom of a sage could hardly tell one from another. Every person becomes Measureless Life, and what one bows the head to gaze upon and revere is the West.

The Sūtra Text

〔一 · The Title of the Sūtra〕（0340c26）The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life.

〔二 · The Attribution〕（0340c28）Translated in the age of the Song by Kālayaśas, Tripiṭaka master from the Western Regions.

〔三 · Establishing Confidence〕（0340c29）Thus have I heard: what follows I heard directly from the Buddha.

〔四 · The Introduction Preceding the Teaching: Time, Master, Place, Assembly〕（0340c29）At that time the Buddha was on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa in the city of Rājagṛha (the name of this mountain is rendered Spirit Vulture; the sages and numinous immortals dwell in dependence upon it; it is also called Vulture Head, the shape of the peak resembling a vulture), together with a great assembly of twelve hundred and fifty bhikṣus; and there were thirty-two thousand bodhisattvas, with Mañjuśrī, Prince of the Dharma, as their leader.

〔五 · The Cause of the Imprisonment of the Father〕（0341a02）At that time in the great city of Rājagṛha there was a prince named Ajātaśatru (the name means Enmity-Before-Birth; he is also named Broken-Finger). Following the instigation of that evil friend Diaoda (that is, Devadatta, whose name is here rendered Deva-Heat, also Deva-Given), he seized and held his father, King Bimbisāra (the name means Likeness to the Real; he is also named Firm Shadow), confined him within a chamber of seven walls, and issued orders to the ministers that not one of them should go to him.

The lady of the kingdom, named Vaidehī (the name means Reflection), revered the great king. She first bathed and made her body clean, mixed butter and honey with parched flour (dry roasted barley meal) and smeared it on her body, and filled the bead-holes of her necklaces with grape juice, which she secretly presented to the king.

（0341a07）At that time the great king ate the parched flour and drank the juice, and asked for water to rinse his mouth. When he had rinsed his mouth he joined his palms in reverence, bowed from afar toward Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa to the World-Honored One, and said: “Mahāmaudgalyāyana is my kinsman and friend (in lay life he was a close kinsman of the great king; once he had gone forth he became the teacher of the household). May he give rise to kindness and compassion and confer on me the eight precepts (the precepts of one day and one night: not to kill, not to steal, not to engage in sexual conduct, not to speak falsely, not to drink liquor, not to anoint the body with cosmetics, not to sing, dance, or perform, nor to go and watch or listen to such things, and not to lie upon a high, broad, or great bed; with the further item of not eating past midday, which is a fast and not a precept).”

（0341a11）At that time Maudgalyāyana came, as swift as a hawk or falcon in flight, at once to where the great king was; and so it was day after day, as he conferred the eight precepts on the king. The World-Honored One also sent the venerable Pūrṇa (the name means Son of Fulfilled Vows; he was foremost in teaching the Dharma and most skilled at opening people’s minds) to teach the Dharma to the great king.

（0341a13）In this way three sevens of days passed, and because the great king had eaten the parched flour and honey and had also been able to hear the Dharma, his countenance was calm and glad.

〔六 · The Cause of the Imprisonment of the Mother〕（0341a14）Then Ajātaśatru asked the gatekeeper: “Is my father the king still alive?” The gatekeeper reported: “Great king! The lady of the kingdom has smeared parched flour and honey upon her body and carried juice in her necklaces to present to the great king; and the śramaṇas Maudgalyāyana and Pūrṇa come through the air to teach the Dharma to the king. This cannot be prevented.”

（0341a18）When Ajātaśatru had heard these words, he grew angry with his mother and said: “My mother is a thief, and the companion of thieves; the śramaṇas are evil men who beguile with illusion and work spells, so that this evil king has not died all these many days.” At once he drew a sharp sword, wishing to kill his mother.

（0341a21）At that time there was a minister named Moonlight, intelligent and full of wisdom, who together with Jīvaka (the name means Made Firmly Alive; at his birth he held a medicine bag in one hand and a needle case in the other) came and paid homage to the great king. They reported: “Great king! Your servant has heard it said in the Vedic Treatises (books and histories handed down from antiquity) that since the beginning of the aeon there have been evil kings who, out of greed for the throne, killed their fathers, eighteen thousand of them; but it has never been heard that anyone was so lawless as to kill his mother. If the great king today does this deed of murder and rebellion, he defiles the kṣatriya lineage (the highest of the four castes, the lineage of kings), and your servant cannot bear to hear of it! This is the conduct of a caṇḍāla (the lowest stream of the four castes); it is not fitting that we should dwell here any longer.”

（0341a26）When the two great ministers had spoken these words, they laid their hands upon their swords and withdrew, walking backward.

（0341a27）Ajātaśatru was startled and afraid, and said to Jīvaka: “Will you not stand by me?” Jīvaka reported: “Great king! By no means kill your mother.”

（0341a29）When the great king had heard these words, he repented and sought deliverance; he at once cast down the sword and stopped, doing his mother no harm, and ordered the palace officers: “Shut her within the inner palace, and do not let her come out again.”

〔七 · The Cause of Weariness of Suffering〕（0341b02）When Vaidehī had been confined, she grew worn with sorrow and grief. Bowing from afar toward Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa to the Buddha, she said: “In former times the Tathāgata, the World-Honored One, constantly sent Ānanda to console me. Now I am filled with sorrow; the World-Honored One is majestic and grave, and I have no way to see him. May the World-Honored One send Maudgalyāyana and the venerable Ānanda, so that they may meet with me.”

（0341b06）When she had spoken these words, she wept in grief, her tears falling like rain, and bowed from afar toward the Buddha. Before she had lifted her head, the World-Honored One, who was on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, knew what Vaidehī was thinking in her mind, and at once ordered Mahāmaudgalyāyana and Ānanda to come through the air; and he himself vanished from Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa and appeared within the royal palace.

（0341b10）When Vaidehī had finished bowing and raised her head, she saw the World-Honored One, Śākyamuni Buddha, his body the colour of purple gold, seated upon a lotus flower of a hundred jewels. Maudgalyāyana stood in attendance on the left, Ānanda on the right; and Śakra, Brahmā, the four world-protecting heavenly kings, and the other gods were in the air, raining down heavenly flowers everywhere as an offering.

（0341b13）When Vaidehī saw the Buddha, the World-Honored One, she broke off her own necklaces, cast her whole body upon the ground, and wept aloud toward the Buddha. She said: “World-Honored One! What offence did I commit in a former life, that I should bear so evil a son? And what causes and conditions can the World-Honored One have, that he should have Devadatta for a kinsman?

〔八 · The Cause of Delight in Purity〕（0341b16）I pray only that the World-Honored One will expound to me at length a place without sorrow or torment. I would be born there, and take no more delight in Jambudvīpa, this turbid and evil world. This turbid and evil place is filled with hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals, and there are many gatherings of what is not good. May I in the future not hear the sounds of evil, nor see evil persons. Today I throw the five parts of my body to the ground before the World-Honored One (the two elbows, the two knees, and the crown of the head are the five parts) and beg in sorrow for repentance (chanmo is a Sanskrit word and huiguo, confessing one’s faults, is Chinese; the two are set side by side, and so it is called repentance). I pray only that the Buddha-sun will teach me to contemplate the place of pure karma.”

（0341b21）At that time the World-Honored One sent forth the light between his brows. That light was golden, and it shone everywhere upon the measureless worlds of the ten directions; then it returned and rested upon the Buddha’s crown, and turned into a golden terrace like Mount Sumeru. The pure and subtle lands of the buddhas of the ten directions all appeared within it. Some lands were composed of the seven precious substances; some were made purely of lotus flowers; some were like the palace of Īśvara; some were like a mirror of crystal (a jewel clear as ice); the lands of the ten directions all appeared within it. There were measureless buddha-lands such as these, adorned and shining and worth contemplating, and he let Vaidehī see them.

（0341b27）Then Vaidehī said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! These lands of the buddhas are indeed all pure, and all have light; yet I now delight to be born in the world of Ultimate Bliss, where Amitābha Buddha is. I pray only that the World-Honored One will teach me reflection, and teach me right reception.”

〔九 · The Cause That Discloses Practice through the Good Done in a Scattered Mind〕（0341c01）At that time the World-Honored One at once smiled, and light of five colours came forth from the Buddha’s mouth, each ray shining upon the crown of King Bimbisāra. At that time the great king, though still in confinement, had no obstruction to the eye of his mind; he saw the World-Honored One from afar and bowed with head and face to him, and of himself advanced and attained the stage of the anāgāmin (the third fruit; he would no longer return to be born in the realm of desire).

（0341c04）At that time the World-Honored One said to Vaidehī: “Do you know it now? Amitābha Buddha is not far from here. You should fix your thought and contemplate closely those in that land who have accomplished pure karma. I now expound many similes for you, and let all the ordinary beings of the future who wish to cultivate pure karma also be born in the land of Ultimate Bliss in the West.

（0341c08）Those who wish to be born in that land should cultivate three kinds of merit. First: be filial and care for father and mother, serve and attend teachers and elders, be kindly of mind and not kill, and cultivate the ten wholesome deeds. Second: take up and hold the three refuges, be complete in the various precepts, and not transgress in deportment. Third: give rise to the aspiration for awakening, believe deeply in cause and effect, recite the scriptures of the Great Vehicle, and encourage and urge on those who practise. These three things are called pure karma.”

（0341c13）The Buddha said to Vaidehī: “Do you know it now? These three kinds of karma are the very cause of the pure karma of all the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present, the buddhas of the three times.”

〔十 · The Cause That Shows Contemplation through the Good Done in Concentration〕（0341c15）The Buddha said to Ānanda and to Vaidehī: “Listen intently, listen intently! Reflect well upon it and keep it in mind. The Tathāgata today will expound pure karma for the sake of all sentient beings of the future who are harmed by that thief, the afflictions.

（0341c17）Excellent, Vaidehī! It is well that you have asked about this matter. Ānanda! You should receive and hold it, and proclaim the Buddha’s words widely to the many.

（0341c18）The Tathāgata today will teach Vaidehī and all sentient beings of the future to contemplate the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West. By the Buddha’s power they will be able to see that pure land, as when one holds a bright mirror and sees one’s own face. Seeing the utterly subtle and blissful things of that land, they will rejoice in mind, and at that very moment attain the patience of non-arising.”

（0341c22）The Buddha said to Vaidehī: “You are an ordinary person; the thought of your mind is weak and inferior, you have not yet gained the deva-eye, and you cannot see far. The buddhas, the tathāgatas, have a different skillful means by which you can be made to see.”

（0341c24）Then Vaidehī said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! One such as I am today sees that land by the Buddha’s power. But if, after the Buddha has passed away, sentient beings are turbid, evil, and not good, and are pressed by the five sufferings (the suffering of birth, of old age, of sickness, of death, and of parting from what is loved), how are they to see Amitābha Buddha and the world of Ultimate Bliss?”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the head of the main body of the sūtra, from “The Buddha said to Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · General Charge and General Exhortation〕（0341c27）The Buddha told Vaidehī: “You and all sentient beings should make the mind single, bind your thought to one place, and form the image of the west.

〔二 · Citing the Matter to Be Contemplated〕（0341c29）How is this image to be formed? Of all who form the image, every sentient being who is not blind from birth (one whose eyes, from the time he came out of the mother’s womb, could not see things is what is called blind from birth; one blind from birth cannot be taught to form the image of the sun, because he does not know the luminous appearance of the sun’s orb; apart from those blind from birth, one whose eyes were afflicted by later circumstance can be taught to form the image of the sun and will succeed in it, because before his eyes were afflicted he already knew the brightness and the other appearances of the sun’s orb) — everyone, that is, who has eyes — sees the sun set.

〔三 · Directly Teaching How to Observe〕（0342a01）You should raise up this thought and image: sit upright facing the west and look closely at the sun; make the mind stand firm, and hold the image single without letting it shift. See the sun as it is about to set, its shape like a suspended drum.

〔四 · Distinguishing the Sign That the Contemplation Is Accomplished〕（0342a03）Once the sun has been seen, let it be clear and distinct whether the eyes are closed or open.

〔五 · General Conclusion〕（0342a04）This is called the image of the sun, and it is named the first contemplation. To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the second of the thirteen contemplations of the good done in concentration, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Generally Setting Forth the Substance of the Ground〕（0342a05）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Once the first contemplation has been accomplished, next form the image of water. Form the image of seeing all in the west as one great water; see the water clear and pure, and let this too be clear and distinct, with no thought scattered away. Once the water has been seen, you should raise up the image of ice. Seeing the ice shining through, form the image of beryl (from water it turns into ice, and from ice into a ground of beryl; what is taken up is the look of a thing transparent within and without — the water of this world can be level, and is just right to answer to the ground of that land, which has no high or low; and water freezing into ice is just right to answer to the shining through, within and without, of that ground of beryl). Once this image has been accomplished, the ground of beryl is seen, shining through within and without.

〔二 · The Adornments Beneath the Ground〕（0342a10）Beneath the ground of beryl there are golden banners of adamant and the seven precious substances, holding this ground of beryl up (the substance of the banners is adamant, taken in the sense that adamant is the substance free of outflows). Those banners have eight sides, complete with eight angles (their being complete with eight angles is to show that they have no round shape); each single side is made of a hundred jewels; each single jewel-pearl has a thousand rays of light; each single ray has eighty-four thousand colours, shining upon the ground of beryl like a koṭi of thousands of suns, so that they cannot all be seen (the manifold rays scatter their colours and outshine the light of the sun’s orb, so that one newly born there, at first glance, can hardly take them all in).

〔三 · The Adornments Upon the Ground〕（0342a13）Upon the ground of beryl, cords made of yellow gold are spread in mingled order, and the boundaries are marked out with the seven precious substances, their divisions plain and clear (gold forms the pathways, whose shape is like golden cords; do not suppose that in that land there are only pathways made of gold and none made of the other precious substances).

〔四 · The Adornments in the Air〕（0342a14）Within each single jewel there are rays of five hundred colours. Those rays are like flowers, and again like the stars and the moon; hanging in empty space, they form a dais of light (to say that they are like flowers and again like the stars and the moon is because people might not recognize them, and so a simile is borrowed to show them forth). There are towers by the thousand and the myriad, made of a hundred jewels combined; and on either side of the dais there are a hundred koṭis of flower banners and measureless instruments of music, serving as adornment.

〔五 · The Light Changing into the Sounds of Music〕（0342a17）Eight kinds of pure wind come forth from the light and sound these instruments of music, setting forth the sounds of the Dharma of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self (what is set forth is the four inversions and the four real marks, and dharmas as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā).

〔六 · General Conclusion〕（0342a19）This is called the image of water, and it is named the second contemplation.

〔七 · Holding What the Contemplation Has Accomplished〕（0342a19）When this image is accomplished, contemplate the things one by one, and make them utterly clear and distinct. Whether the eyes are closed or open, do not let them scatter away and be lost; excepting only the time of eating, recollect this matter constantly at every other time.

〔八 · Judging Right from Wrong〕（0342a21）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the third of the thirteen contemplations of the good done in concentration, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Distinguishing the Sign That the Contemplation Is Accomplished〕（0342a22）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Once the image of water is accomplished, this is called roughly seeing the ground of the land of Ultimate Bliss (roughly seen is seeing within the imaging mind, thought and conception being still present; what is seen then is the manifold adornments of the twofold recompense of that land, dependent and direct, the dimness of confusion already removed but not yet wholly gone). If one attains samādhi and sees the ground of that land clear and distinct, it is beyond anything that words can tell in full (the imaging mind grows gradually subtler, conceptual thought is removed all at once, right reception corresponds with the mind and one realizes samādhi; then one truly sees the subtle and wondrous matters of that object — how could they be told in full?).

〔二 · General Conclusion〕（0342a24）This is called the image of the ground, and it is named the third contemplation.”

〔三 · Exhorting and Rousing to Transmission〕（0342a26）The Buddha told Ānanda: “Hold the Buddha’s words, and for the great assembly of all the ages to come who wish to be freed from suffering, teach this method of contemplating the ground (for whoever wishes to cast off this body of birth-and-death in the Sahā world, and to escape the eight sufferings, the five sufferings, and the sufferings of the three evil destinies, and who trusts and is willing to practise as soon as he hears it — for him, without sparing body or life, teach it at once; and if a single person can cast off suffering and come out of birth-and-death, this is what is called truly repaying the Buddha’s kindness).

〔四 · Showing the Benefit of the Contemplation〕（0342a27）If one contemplates this ground, the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed (what is contemplated is a jeweled ground free of outflows, and so it can remove offences of many kalpas that are with outflows). Casting off this body, in another life one will surely be born in the pure land, and the mind attains freedom from doubt (the right mindfulness with which the cause is cultivated may not have doubt mixed into it; one who is born there with doubt mixed in is held within the flower and does not come out, or is born in the border region, or falls into a palace-womb).

〔五 · Distinguishing the Contemplation as Wrong or Right〕（0342a28）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the fourth of the thirteen contemplations of the good done in concentration, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Concluding What Precedes and Giving Rise to What Follows · Generally Raising the Name of the Contemplation〕（0342b01）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Once the image of the ground has been accomplished, next contemplate the jeweled trees.

〔二 · Citing the Name of the Contemplation Again · Directly Teaching the Rule of Procedure〕（0342b02）As for contemplating the jeweled trees: contemplate them one by one, and form the image of rows of trees in seven layers (that land is broad and boundless — how should its jeweled trees and jeweled groves be measured at seven rows only? To say seven layers is to say that upon a single tree gold is the root, purple gold the trunk, white silver the branches, agate the twigs, coral the leaves, white jade the flowers, and pearl the fruit; and these seven layers serve one another in turn as root and trunk and so on to flower and fruit, which makes seven times seven, forty-nine layers. Row means that although the groves and trees of that land are many, row after row they stand straight and orderly with no confusion. Image means that one is not yet at ease in that true contemplation which is free and follows the mind, and must borrow a provisional image in order to settle the mind, and only then can the benefit be realized).

〔三 · The Substance and Measure of the Trees〕（0342b03）Each tree is eight thousand yojanas high (which comes to three hundred and twenty thousand li. There are no trees there that grow old and die, none that are small and newly grown, and none that are newly born and grow by degrees; they arise all at once and together, and their number and their size are equal throughout — for that station is a realm without outflows and without arising, and what room is there in it for growing by degrees through birth and death?).

〔四 · The Differing Appearances of Mingled Adornment and Ornament〕（0342b03）Among those jeweled trees, the flowers and leaves formed of the seven precious substances are complete in every kind. Each flower and leaf takes on the colour of a different jewel: from within the colour of beryl comes forth a golden light; from within the colour of crystal comes forth a red light; from within the colour of agate comes forth the light of giant-clam shell; from within the colour of giant-clam shell comes forth the light of green pearl; and coral, amber, and all the host of jewels are used as reflecting ornament.

〔五 · The Adornment in the Space Above the Trees〕（0342b07）Nets of fine pearl spread over and cover the trees; upon each tree there are seven layers of net, and between each layer of net there are five hundred koṭis of palaces of fine flowers, like the palace of the great Brahmā King. The youths of the gods are of themselves within them; and each youth has five hundred koṭis of Shijiapilengqie maṇi jewels for his necklaces (Shijiapilengqie is rendered “Able and Holy”). The light of those maṇi jewels shines a hundred yojanas, as though a hundred koṭis of suns and moons had been joined together; they cannot be named one by one, and they are the highest in colour among the intermingled host of jewels.

〔六 · Row Answering to Row〕（0342b12）These jeweled trees stand row answering to row and leaf following upon leaf; among the many leaves grow fine flowers, and upon the flowers there are of themselves fruits of the seven precious substances (the groves and trees are many, yet there is no confusion; and when flower and fruit open they do not come forth from within — that is because Dharmākara’s practice in the causal stage was deep, and so they are there of themselves).

〔七 · The Colours and Appearances of Flowers and Leaves〕（0342b14）Each leaf of the trees is exactly equal in length and breadth, twenty-five yojanas each; the leaves have a thousand colours and a hundred kinds of figuring, like the necklaces of the heavens (lest anyone should fail to recognize them, a simile is borrowed to show them forth). There are also fine flowers of every kind, of the colour of Jambūnada gold; and like a whirling wheel of fire they turn and turn among the leaves.

〔八 · The Power and Function of the Fruit〕（0342b17）From among them fruits well up and are born, like the jeweled jar of Śakra (a simile is borrowed to mark out the appearance of the fruit); they have a great radiance, which becomes banners and pennants and measureless jeweled canopies. Within these jeweled canopies are reflected all the buddha-deeds of the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system; and the buddha-lands of the ten directions appear within them as well (the jeweled canopies are round and bright, and within them appears the three-thousandfold great-thousand realm, with the manifold appearances of the twofold adornment, dependent recompense and direct; the pure lands of the ten directions appear everywhere within the canopies, and among the gods and men of that land there is not one who does not see them).

〔九 · Distinguishing the Sign That the Contemplation Is Accomplished〕（0342b20）Once this tree has been seen, one should also contemplate it one by one in order, seeing the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the flowers and the fruit of the tree, and letting each of them be distinct (first contemplate the root of the tree; next form the image of the trunk and the branches and so on to the flowers and fruit; next the nets and the palaces; next the necklaces of the youths; next the size of the leaves and the light and colour of the flowers and fruit; next the pennants and canopies displaying the buddha-deeds at large. Whoever can contemplate them one by one in this order will find that nothing fails to be clear).

〔十 · General Conclusion〕（0342b21）This is called the image of the trees, and it is named the fourth contemplation.

〔十一 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0342b21）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the fifth of the thirteen contemplations of the good done in concentration, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Citing What Precedes and Giving Rise to What Follows · Generally Raising the Name of the Contemplation〕（0342b23）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Once the image of the trees has been accomplished, next one should form the image of the water (fine and excellent as the jeweled trees are, without the water of pools they could still not be called good; first, that that land may not be empty, and second, that the dependent recompense may be adorned — it is for this that there is this contemplation).

〔二 · The Number of the Pools and the Distinguishing of Their Source〕（0342b24）For those who would form the image of the water: in the land of Ultimate Bliss there are eight pools of water. Each pool of water is made of the seven precious substances; and that jewel is soft, and is born from the king of wish-fulfilling pearls (the water comes forth from the wish-fulfilling jewel, and is therefore called wish-fulfilling water; the banks of the pools are formed of the seven precious substances, and their jewel-light shines through and illumines all, so that the water of the eight qualities takes on the very colour of the mingled jewels, and is therefore called jewel water).

〔三 · The Channels Divided into Fourteen Branches〕（0342b25）It divides into fourteen branches, and each branch takes on the colour of the seven precious substances. Gold makes the channels, and beneath the channels adamant of mingled colours is used for the sand of their bed (adamant means the substance that is free of outflows).

〔四 · The Inconceivable Function of the Water〕（0342b27）In each pool of water there are sixty koṭis of lotus flowers of the seven precious substances, and each lotus flower is round and full, exactly equal in length and breadth, twelve yojanas each. The water formed of maṇi jewels pours in among the flowers and follows the trees up and down (the jewel water comes forth out of the channels and moves up and down along the trees of every jewel without obstruction, and is therefore called wish-fulfilling water).

〔五 · The Inconceivable Excellence of the Water〕（0342b29）The sound of that water is subtle and wondrous, expounding suffering, emptiness, impermanence, non-self, and the perfections; and there are also those sounds that praise the marks and excellences of the buddhas (the jewel water pours in among the flowers, and where its slight waves touch one another a wondrous sound comes forth, and in that sound the wondrous Dharma is spoken; the jewel water rises up the bank and follows the twigs, flowers, fruit and leaves of the trees, now up and now down, and where they touch in between a wondrous sound likewise comes forth, and in that sound the wondrous Dharma is spoken — now speaking of the sufferings of sentient beings, stirring the great compassion of a bodhisattva and urging him to lead others; now speaking of the dharmas of gods and men, now of those of the two vehicles, now of those before the grounds and upon the grounds, now of those of the ground of buddhahood and its three bodies).

〔六 · The Many Divine Powers of the Maṇi Jewel〕（0342c02）From the king of wish-fulfilling pearls a golden, subtle and wondrous radiance wells up, and that light becomes birds of a hundred jewel-colours, which sing in harmony, their voices plaintive and pure, ever praising the recollection of the Buddha, the recollection of the Dharma, and the recollection of the Saṅgha (the Buddha is the unsurpassed great master of sentient beings, able to remove what is wrong and turn beings toward the right; the Dharma is the unsurpassed good medicine of sentient beings, able to cut off the poisonous sickness of the afflictions and to make the dharma-body pure; the Saṅgha is the unsurpassed field of merit of sentient beings. That jewel-pearl gives birth in front to water of eight flavours and sends forth behind every kind of golden light; and it does not merely break the dark and dispel the dim — wherever it reaches, it can perform the deeds of a buddha).

〔七 · General Conclusion〕（0342c04）This is called the image of the water of the eight excellent qualities, and it is named the fifth contemplation.

〔八 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0342c04）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the sixth of the thirteen contemplations of the good done in concentration, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · General Raising of the Name of the Contemplation; Where the Jeweled Towers Stand〕（0342c06）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “In the land formed of many jewels, upon each and every tract of ground (the tracts of ground extend throughout that land, and so the towers too are without end)

〔二 · Showing Their Number〕（0342c07）there are five hundred koṭis of jeweled towers (since it is so upon a single tract of ground, so it is throughout that land as well).

〔三 · The Adornments Within the Pavilions〕（0342c07）Within those towered pavilions are measureless gods, making celestial music.

〔四 · The Adornments Outside the Towers〕（0342c08）There are also musical instruments hanging in space, like the jewel banners of the heavens, sounding of themselves without being struck (the jeweled music flies in the air, its sound streaming forth the tones of the Dharma, through the six periods of day and night like the jewel banners of the heavens, the thing accomplishing itself with no thought raised).

〔五 · The Music Has the Power to Speak the Dharma〕（0342c09）Among these many sounds, all speak of recollecting the Buddha, recollecting the Dharma, recollecting the saṅgha of bhikṣus (the instruments, though they have no consciousness, yet have the power to speak the Dharma).

〔六 · Showing the Sign That the Contemplation Is Accomplished〕（0342c10）When this image has been accomplished, it is called having roughly seen the jeweled trees, the jeweled ground, and the jeweled pools of the world of Ultimate Bliss (dwelling single-mindedly upon the object contemplated, hoping to see the jeweled towers, holding the thought fast without shifting, all the adornments from the ground upward appear together).

〔七 · General Conclusion〕（0342c11）This is called the general image, and it is named the sixth contemplation.

〔八 · Showing the Benefit〕（0342c11）If one can see these, the gravest evil karma of measureless koṭis of kalpas is removed, and after the end of this life one will surely be born in that land (observing according to the method, the obstructions of many kalpas are removed; the vessel of this body being pure, it accords with the Buddha’s fundamental mind, and casting off this body and going on to another world he will surely be born there, beyond doubt).

〔九 · Judging Right and Wrong〕（0342c12）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the seventh of the sixteen contemplations, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · The Charge to Listen and the Consent to Teach〕（0342c14）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Listen closely, listen closely! Think well upon it and keep it in mind. I shall set out and explain for you the Dharma that removes suffering and distress.

〔二 · Exhorting to Transmission〕（0342c15）You are to bear this in mind and hold to it, and set it out and explain it widely for the great assembly.”

〔三 · The Three Honored Ones Appear〕（0342c16）While he was speaking these words, the Buddha of Measureless Life stood in the air, with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, those two great beings, attending on his left and right. That light blazed so that there was no seeing all of it, and the colour of a hundred thousand pieces of Jambūnada gold could not be set beside it.

〔四 · The Lady Bows and Sets Out Her Doubt〕（0342c19）At that time, when Vaidehī had seen the Buddha of Measureless Life, she bowed her head to his feet and said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! It is by the Buddha’s power that I have now been able to see the Buddha of Measureless Life and the two bodhisattvas. How are the sentient beings of the future to contemplate the Buddha of Measureless Life and the two bodhisattvas?”

〔五 · The General Charge and the Consent to Teach〕（0342c22）The Buddha told Vaidehī: “Whoever wishes to contemplate that Buddha should raise up this thought and image —

〔六 · Teaching the Expedient of Contemplation〕（0342c23）upon the ground of the seven precious substances, form the image of a lotus flower.

〔七 · The Adornment of the Jeweled Flower〕（0342c24）Let each and every leaf of that lotus flower take on the colours of a hundred jewels. There are eighty-four thousand veins, as though drawn by the heavens; each and every vein has eighty-four thousand rays of light, clear and distinct, and all are to be seen.

〔八 · The Adornment of Leaf upon Leaf〕（0342c26）The smallest of the flower’s leaves is two hundred and fifty yojanas across and along; a lotus flower such as this has eighty-four thousand great leaves, and between each and every pair of leaves are a hundred koṭis of maṇi-pearl kings for their shining ornament (a maṇi is the wish-fulfilling pearl). Each and every maṇi-pearl gives out a thousand rays of light, and that light is like a canopy formed of the seven precious substances, covering the ground everywhere.

〔九 · The Adornment upon the Dais〕（0343a01）Shijiapilengqie maṇi-jewels make its dais (Shijiapilengqie is rendered “Able and Holy”); this lotus dais is inlaid throughout with eighty thousand adamantine Zhenshujia jewels, brahmā maṇi-jewels, and nets of fine pearl.

〔十 · The Adornment upon the Banners〕（0343a03）Upon that dais there are, of themselves, four jeweled banners like pillars, and each and every jeweled banner is like a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of Mount Sumeru; the jeweled hangings upon the banners are like the palaces of the Yāma heaven, and there are also five hundred koṭis of subtle and wondrous jeweled pearls for their shining ornament.

〔十一 · The Virtue and Function of the Light of the Pearls〕（0343a06）Each and every jeweled pearl has eighty-four thousand rays of light, each and every ray of light makes eighty-four thousand differing kinds of golden colour, and each and every golden colour fills that jeweled land, changing in place after place and each taking on a differing appearance: some become adamantine daises, some become nets of fine pearl, some become clouds of mingled flowers; and on every side of the ten directions they change and appear at will, performing the work of a Buddha.

〔十二 · General Conclusion of the Name of the Contemplation〕（0343a10）This is called the image of the Flower Throne, and it is named the seventh contemplation.”

〔十三 · Whence the Flower Throne Came to Be〕（0343a11）The Buddha told Ānanda: “A wondrous flower such as this was accomplished by the power of the vow of the bhikṣu Dharmākara of old.

〔十四 · The Rule of Contemplation Shown Again〕（0343a12）If one wishes to be mindful of that Buddha, one should first form this image of the wondrous Flower Throne. In forming this image no other contemplation may be mixed in; each is to be contemplated one by one — each and every leaf, each and every pearl, each and every ray of light, each and every dais, each and every banner — and all are to be made distinct, as one sees one’s own face in a mirror.

〔十五 · Concluding the Contemplation with Two Benefits〕（0343a15）Whoever accomplishes this image extinguishes the offences of five hundred koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death and will surely be born in the world of Ultimate Bliss.

〔十六 · Distinguishing the Contemplation as Wrong or Right〕（0343a16）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the eighth of the sixteen contemplations, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Concluding What Precedes and Giving Rise to What Follows〕（0343a18）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Once this matter has been seen, next you should form the image of the Buddha. Why so?

〔二 · The Dharma-Realm Body Appears in Answer to the Mind〕（0343a19）The buddhas, the tathāgatas, are the dharma-realm body, and they enter everywhere into the imaging mind of every sentient being.

〔三 · The Concluding Exhortation and Its Benefit〕（0343a20）Therefore, when your minds form the image of a buddha, this mind is at that very moment the thirty-two marks and the eighty secondary excellences conforming to the form. This mind makes the Buddha; this mind is the Buddha. The ocean of perfect and universal knowledge of the buddhas arises from the imaging mind.

〔四 · Exhorting the Contemplation of That Buddha〕（0343a22）Therefore you should bind your thought with a single mind and contemplate closely that Buddha — Duotuoajiadu, Aluohe, Sanmiaosanfotuo (three of the titles are briefly cited here, namely Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Universally Knowing One).

〔五 · Citing What Precedes, Giving Rise to What Follows, and Fixing the Object to Be Contemplated〕（0343a24）One who would form the image of that Buddha should first form the image of his figure.

〔六 · Distinguishing the Sign That the Contemplation Is Accomplished〕（0343a24）Whether the eyes are closed or open, one sees a jeweled image of the colour of Jambūnada gold, seated upon that flower. Once the image is seated, the eye of the mind opens, and clear and distinct one sees the adornment of the seven precious substances in the land of Ultimate Bliss: ground made of jewels, pools made of jewels, trees made of jewels ranged row upon row, the jeweled canopies of the gods spread everywhere over the trees, and nets made of the many jewels filling the whole of space. This matter must be seen with utmost clarity, as though one were looking at the palm of one’s own hand.

〔七 · Concluding the Contemplation of the Image-Body and Giving Rise to the Contemplation of the Two Bodhisattvas〕（0343a29）Once this matter has been seen —

〔八 · Completing the Contemplation of the Three Bodies〕（0343a29）you should further make one great lotus on the Buddha’s left, in no way different from the lotus before; and make one great lotus on the Buddha’s right. Form the image of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, an image seated upon the Flower Throne on the left, sending forth golden light no different from that before; and form the image of the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta, an image seated upon the Flower Throne on the right.

〔九 · Concluding the Contemplation of Many Bodies and Giving Rise to the Manner of Teaching the Dharma〕（0343b04）When this image is accomplished, the images of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas all send forth a wondrous light; that light is golden, and it shines upon the trees made of the many jewels. Beneath every single tree there are likewise three lotuses, and upon each lotus there are images of one buddha and two bodhisattvas, filling that land everywhere.

〔十 · Seeing by Reason of Concentration〕（0343b07）When this image is accomplished, the practitioner should hear the flowing water and the light, and the trees made of the many jewels, the wild ducks and geese and the mandarin ducks, all speaking the wondrous Dharma. Whether he has come out of concentration or entered it, he constantly hears the wondrous Dharma. What the practitioner hears he must hold in memory and not let go when he comes out of concentration.

〔十一 · Distinguishing Whether the Contemplation Is Wrong or Right〕（0343b09）It must be made to accord with Xiuduoluo (that is, the sūtras, the scriptural teaching; at the time of the practice of contemplation, to let what is contemplated correspond with the teaching is what is called according). If it does not accord, it is called false imagining; if it does accord with them, it is called seeing the world of Ultimate Bliss in a rough image.

〔十二 · General Conclusion〕（0343b11）This is called the forming of the image, and it is named the eighth contemplation.

〔十三 · The Benefit Received in the Present〕（0343b11）To make this contemplation removes the offences of measureless koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death, and in this present body one attains the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha.

〔十四 · Distinguishing Whether the Contemplation Is Wrong or Right〕（0343b13）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the ninth of the sixteen contemplations, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · The Charge, Concluding the Contemplation of the Image〕（0343b15）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Once this image is accomplished, next you should further contemplate the bodily form and the light of the Buddha of Measureless Life.

〔二 · The True Buddha’s Bodily Form Surpassing the Gold of the Heavens〕（0343b16）Ānanda, you should know: the body of the Buddha of Measureless Life is of the colour of the Jambūnada gold of a hundred thousand myriads of koṭis of Yāma heavens.

〔三 · The Measure of the Body〕（0343b17）The Buddha’s body is as many yojanas in height as six hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of the sands of the Gaṅgā.

〔四 · The General Contemplation of the Bodily Form〕（0343b18）The white tuft between his brows curls to the right, winding smoothly, like five Mount Sumerus. The Buddha’s eyes are pure as the water of the four great seas, clear white and distinct. Every pore of his body sends forth light, like Mount Sumeru. That Buddha’s circular radiance is like a hundred koṭis of the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system; and within the circular radiance there are manifested Buddhas as many as a million koṭis of nayutas of the sands of the Gaṅgā; and each single manifested Buddha has manifested bodhisattvas, many and numberless, for his attendants.

〔五 · The Particular Marks, Whose Light Benefits Those with the Affinity〕（0343b23）The Buddha of Measureless Life has eighty-four thousand marks; within each single mark there are eighty-four thousand secondary excellences conforming to the form; within each single excellence there are again eighty-four thousand rays of light; and each single ray shines everywhere upon the worlds of the ten directions, gathering in the sentient beings who recollect the Buddha and not forsaking them.

〔六 · Concluding with the Few to Show the Many〕（0343b26）Those rays, those marks and excellences, and the manifested Buddhas cannot be told in full.

〔七 · Only Let the Image Be Held in Mind〕（0343b27）One should only hold the image in mind, so that the mind sees it clear and distinct.

〔八 · The Work Presented and Not Lost; the Benefit of the Contemplation Achieved〕（0343b28）One who sees this matter sees at that very moment all the buddhas of the ten directions; and because he sees the buddhas it is called the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha. To make this contemplation is called contemplating the body of every buddha; and because one contemplates the Buddha’s body one also sees the Buddha’s mind. The mind of the buddhas is great kindness and compassion; with a kindness that is without object (the third of the three kinds of kindness: the mind is not raised to contemplate the principle, and yet it abides of itself in the level and equal first meaning) he embraces all sentient beings.

〔九 · Casting Off the Body, Born in the World to Come〕（0343c02）To make this contemplation is, when this body has been cast off and the world to come is reached, to be born before the buddhas and to attain the patience of non-arising.

〔十 · The Concluding Exhortation to Cultivate the Contemplation, and Its Benefit〕（0343c04）Therefore one who is wise should bind the mind and contemplate closely the Buddha of Measureless Life. One who contemplates the Buddha of Measureless Life enters by a single mark or excellence: he contemplates the white tuft between the brows alone, and makes it utterly clear. One who sees the mark of the white tuft between the brows will of himself come to see the eighty-four thousand marks and excellences. One who sees the Buddha of Measureless Life sees at that very moment the measureless buddhas of the ten directions; and because he attains the sight of the measureless buddhas, the buddhas, present before him, give him the prediction.

〔十一 · General Conclusion〕（0343c08）This is called the image of contemplating all forms everywhere, and it is named the ninth contemplation.

〔十二 · Distinguishing Whether the Contemplation Is Wrong or Right〕（0343c09）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the tenth of the sixteen contemplations, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Gathering Up the Preceding Contemplation of the True Body〕（0343c11）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “When the Buddha of Measureless Life has been seen clear and distinct, next you should also contemplate the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.

〔二 · Marking the Bodily Marks in General〕（0343c12）This bodhisattva’s body is eighty koṭis of nayutas of yojanas in height, as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā; his body is purple-gold in colour; on his crown is a fleshy protuberance, and behind his neck a circular radiance, each side of it a hundred thousand yojanas. Within that circular radiance are five hundred manifested Buddhas, like Śākyamuni; each manifested Buddha has five hundred bodhisattvas and measureless gods for attendants. In the light of his whole body the beings of the five destinies and every form there is appear.

〔三 · The Manifested Buddha in the Heavenly Crown〕（0343c17）Upon his crown he wears as a heavenly crown the wondrous jewel, the Pilengqie maṇi (the full name of this jewel is Shijiapilengqie, which is rendered “Able and Holy”). Within that heavenly crown there stands a manifested Buddha, twenty-five yojanas high.

〔四 · The Colour of the Face〕（0343c19）The face of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is the colour of Jambūnada gold.

〔五 · The Transformations of the Light of the Tuft〕（0343c20）The mark of the tuft between his brows has the colours of the seven precious substances, and pours out eighty-four thousand kinds of light. In each light there are measureless, countless hundreds of thousands of manifested Buddhas; each manifested Buddha has countless manifested bodhisattvas for attendants, manifesting freely and filling the worlds of the ten directions. His arms are the colour of a red lotus flower.

〔六 · The Light-Necklaces He Wears〕（0343c23）There are eighty koṭis of subtle lights that serve as his necklaces, and within those necklaces all the manifold adornments appear everywhere.

〔七 · The Hands and Their Work of Compassion〕（0344a02）His palms show the colours of five hundred koṭis of mixed lotus flowers. On his ten fingers, at each finger-tip, there are eighty-four thousand lines, like the lines of a seal; each line has eighty-four thousand colours; each colour has eighty-four thousand rays of light. That light is soft, and it shines everywhere upon all; with these jeweled hands he receives sentient beings and draws them in.

〔八 · The Feet and Their Work of Virtue〕（0344a05）When he lifts a foot, beneath the foot is the mark of the thousand-spoked wheel, which of itself becomes five hundred koṭis of daises of light; when he sets a foot down, there are adamantine maṇi flowers, scattered so widely that nothing is left unfilled.

〔九 · Pointing to What Is the Same as a Buddha’s〕（0344a08）As for the rest of his bodily marks, the several excellences are complete, no different from a Buddha’s;

〔十 · The Two Marks That Do Not Reach〕（0344a09）only the fleshy protuberance on the crown and the mark of the invisible crown do not match the World-Honored One.

〔十一 · General Conclusion〕（0344a09）This is what is called contemplating the true form-body of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and it is named the tenth contemplation.”

〔十二 · Gathering Up Again and Giving Rise to the Benefit That Follows〕（0344a11）The Buddha told Ānanda: “If you wish to contemplate the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, you should make this contemplation.

〔十三 · The Benefit of Being Urged to Contemplate〕（0344a12）One who makes this contemplation will not meet with calamities; he purely removes karmic obstruction, and removes the offences of birth-and-death of countless kalpas. Of a bodhisattva such as this, merely to hear his name is to obtain measureless merit — how much more to contemplate him closely!

〔十四 · Showing the Manner of Contemplation Once More〕（0344a14）If there is anyone who wishes to contemplate the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, he should first contemplate the fleshy protuberance on the crown, next contemplate the heavenly crown. The rest of the many marks he should likewise contemplate in order, one after another, letting them all be clear and distinct, as though he were looking at the palm of his own hand.

〔十五 · Distinguishing Right and Wrong in the Contemplation〕（0344a16）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the eleventh of the sixteen contemplations, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Raising the Name of the Contemplation in General〕（0344a18）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Next contemplate the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

〔二 · Distinguishing the Marks Contemplated〕（0344a19）This bodhisattva’s body is the same in size as Avalokiteśvara’s.

〔三 · The Circular Radiance Unlike Avalokiteśvara’s〕（0344a19）His circular radiance is two hundred and twenty-five yojanas on each side, and shines two hundred and fifty yojanas.

〔四 · The Light of His Body Reaching Far to Shine and Benefit〕（0344a20）The light of his whole body shines upon the lands of the ten directions and shows as purple-gold in colour. Sentient beings who have the connection are all able to see it. Merely to see the light of a single pore of this bodhisattva is at once to see the pure and wondrous light of the measureless buddhas of the ten directions — for this reason this bodhisattva is named Boundless Light. With the light of wisdom he shines everywhere upon all, making them leave the three evil destinies and gain unsurpassed power — for this reason this bodhisattva is named Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

〔五 · The Adornment of the Heavenly Crown〕（0344a25）This bodhisattva’s heavenly crown has five hundred jeweled lotus flowers; each jeweled flower has five hundred jeweled daises. Within each dais the pure and wondrous lands of the buddhas of the ten directions, in all their length and breadth, appear.

〔六 · The Fleshy Protuberance and the Jeweled Vase〕（0344a28）The fleshy protuberance on his crown is like a botoumo flower. Upon the fleshy protuberance there is a jeweled vase, holding all manner of lights and showing everywhere the deeds of a Buddha.

〔七 · Pointing to What Is the Same as Avalokiteśvara’s〕（0344a29）The rest of his bodily marks are as Avalokiteśvara’s, with no difference at all.

〔八 · His Walking, Unlike Avalokiteśvara’s〕（0344b01）When this bodhisattva walks, all the worlds of the ten directions quake; and at each place where the ground quakes there are five hundred koṭis of jeweled flowers. Each jeweled flower is adorned and lofty, like the world of Ultimate Bliss.

〔九 · His Sitting, Unlike Avalokiteśvara’s〕（0344b03）When this bodhisattva sits, the lands of the seven precious substances shake all at once. From the buddha-field of Golden Light below up to the buddha-field of the King of Light above, in the space between them, divided bodies of the Buddha of Measureless Life measureless as the motes of dust, and divided bodies of Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, all gather like clouds in the land of Ultimate Bliss, thronging the open sky, seated upon lotus seats, expounding the wondrous Dharma and delivering suffering sentient beings.

〔十 · Distinguishing Right and Wrong in the Contemplation; the General Conclusion of Its Compass〕（0344b08）To make this contemplation is called seeing the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta; this is what is called contemplating the form-body of Mahāsthāmaprāpta. One who contemplates this bodhisattva — this is named the eleventh contemplation,

〔十一 · The Benefit of Cultivating the Contemplation: the Removal of Offences〕（0344b10）and it removes the offences of birth-and-death of countless kalpas, asaṃkhyeya in number;

〔十二 · Gathering Up and Giving Rise Again to the Benefit That Follows〕（0344b11）one who makes this contemplation is not lodged in the womb, and constantly roams the pure and wondrous lands of the buddhas.

〔十三 · Citing the Two Bodies Together; Distinguishing the Sign of Accomplishment〕（0344b12）When this contemplation has been accomplished, it is called the complete contemplation of Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

〔十四 · Distinguishing Right and Wrong in the Contemplation〕（0344b13）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the twelfth of the sixteen contemplations, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · Citing What Precedes and Giving Rise to What Follows〕（0344b14）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “When you see this matter —

〔二 · Gathering the Mind into Contemplation, Constantly Forming the Image of Being Born There〕（0344b14）you should raise up thought and image and set your mind upon it, and see for yourself that you are born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the west, seated cross-legged within a lotus; form the image of the lotus closing, form the image of the lotus opening. When the lotus opens, there are rays of five hundred colours that come and shine upon the body — so form the image; form the image of the eyes opening, and see buddhas and bodhisattvas filling the whole of space; and the sounds put forth by the water, the birds, the groves of trees, and all the buddhas are all setting forth the wondrous Dharma.

〔三 · Neither Concentration nor Scattering Left Out, the Mind Guarded and Constantly Remembering〕（0344b19）The Dharma set forth by these sounds accords with the twelve divisions of the scriptures. And if you come out of concentration, you still remember and hold it and do not lose it.

〔四 · The Benefit of the Contemplation Accomplished〕（0344b20）When this matter has been seen, this is called seeing the world of Ultimate Bliss of the Buddha of Measureless Life.

〔五 · General Conclusion〕（0344b21）This is called the image of the universal contemplation, and it is named the twelfth contemplation.

〔六 · Raising Again the Benefit Received by the One Who Contemplates〕（0344b21）The manifested bodies of the Buddha of Measureless Life are numberless, and together with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta they constantly come to the place of this practitioner.

〔七 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0344b23）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the thirteenth of the sixteen contemplations and the last contemplation of the gate of the good done in concentration, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · The Charge and Command, Concluding the Exhortation and Giving Rise to What Follows〕（0344b25）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “If there are those who wish with a mind of utmost sincerity to be born there in the west —

〔二 · Contemplating the Image in Order to Represent the True〕（0344b26）they should first contemplate an image sixteen feet high upon the water of the pool.

〔三 · The Object Vast and the Mind Small〕（0344b26）As was said before, the body of the Buddha of Measureless Life is measureless in its extent, and it is not within reach of the power of an ordinary person’s mind.

〔四 · Amitābha’s Vow Is Weighty, and All Who Form the Image Succeed〕（0344b27）Yet by the power of that Tathāgata’s vow of former lives, whoever remembers and forms the image will necessarily succeed.

〔五 · Comparison That Shows the Greater〕（0344b28）Merely to form the image of the Buddha already gains measureless merit; how much more to contemplate the Buddha’s body complete in its marks!

〔六 · Great and Small Alike Are True〕（0344c01）Amitābha Buddha, in the spiritual power that is as he wills, manifesting freely in the lands of the ten directions: at times he appears with a great body filling the whole of space; at times he appears with a small body of only sixteen feet or of eight.

〔七 · The Light and Its Marks No Different from the True〕（0344c02）The forms in which he appears are all of the colour of true gold; and the manifested Buddhas within the circular radiance, and the jeweled lotus flowers, are as was said above.

〔八 · Pointing to the Same as the Earlier Contemplation〕（0344c04）The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, in every place, have bodies the same as those of sentient beings.

〔九 · Exhorting the Contemplation of What Distinguishes the Two〕（0344c05）One need only contemplate the mark upon the head to know that this one is Avalokiteśvara and that one is Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

〔十 · The Two Sages Alike Assist Amitābha〕（0344c06）These two bodhisattvas assist Amitābha Buddha and universally convert and deliver all sentient beings.

〔十一 · General Conclusion〕（0344c06）This is called the contemplation of mixed images, and it is named the thirteenth contemplation.

〔十二 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0344c07）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the fourteenth of the sixteen contemplations and the first of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

The Highest Birth of the Highest Grade

〔一 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0344c09）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “Of all who are born in the West there are persons of nine grades. As for the highest birth of the highest grade —

〔二 · The Three Minds as the Right Cause〕（0344c10）if there are sentient beings who wish to be born in that land, they give rise to three kinds of mind and are born there at once. What are the three? The first is the mind of utmost sincerity; the second is the profound mind; the third is the mind that dedicates and directs and makes the vow. One who is complete in these three minds will necessarily be born in that land.

〔三 · Three Kinds of Sentient Beings, Differing in the Dharma They Receive〕（0344c13）There are, further, three kinds of sentient beings who are to attain birth there. What are the three? The first are those who are kindly of mind and do not kill, and who are complete in the various observances of the precepts. The second are those who read and recite the Vaipulya scriptures of the Great Vehicle. The third are those who cultivate the six recollections (recollection of the Buddha, of the Dharma, of the Saṅgha, of the precepts, of relinquishment, and of the gods) and dedicate and direct what they have cultivated, vowing to be born in that buddha-land.

〔四 · The Time and Season of the Practice〕（0344c16）Complete in merit such as this, in one day or up to seven days one attains birth in that land.

〔五 · At the End of Life the Holy Ones Come to Welcome〕（0344c17）At the time of birth in that land, because this person has been energetic and courageous, Amitābha Tathāgata, together with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, countless manifested buddhas, a hundred thousand bhikṣus and the great assembly of śrāvakas, measureless gods, and palaces of the seven precious substances — the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, holding the adamantine terrace in his hands, comes with the bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta before the practitioner. Amitābha Buddha sends forth a great light that shines upon the practitioner’s body, and together with the many bodhisattvas he stretches out his hand to welcome him. Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and countless bodhisattvas praise the practitioner and urge his mind onward. When the practitioner has seen this, he rejoices and leaps for joy. He sees his own body mounted upon the adamantine terrace, following behind the Buddha; and in the time of a single snap of the fingers he is born in that land.

〔六 · The Benefit Obtained after Birth There〕（0344c25）Once born in that land, he sees the Buddha’s form-body complete in all its marks, and sees the bodhisattvas complete in their forms and marks. The light and the jeweled groves are expounding the wondrous Dharma; and having heard it he at once awakens to the patience of non-arising. In the space of an instant he serves the buddhas one after another, ranging through the worlds of the ten directions, and before each of the buddhas receives the prediction in turn. Returning to his own land, he attains measureless hundreds of thousands of gates of dhāraṇī (dhāraṇī has two capacities: it can hold the good dharmas, and it can block the evil ones; hence it is also called total retention). This is what is called one of the highest birth of the highest grade.

The Middle Birth of the Highest Grade

〔七 · The Name of the Position; the Dharma Received〕（0345a04）As for the middle birth of the highest grade — such a one need not necessarily receive, hold, read, and recite the Vaipulya scriptures, but he understands well the drift of their meaning; toward the ultimate meaning his mind is neither startled nor shaken; he believes deeply in cause and effect and does not slander the Great Vehicle. With this merit he dedicates and directs it, vowing to seek birth in the land of Ultimate Bliss.

〔八 · The Terrace Is Borne and the Response Comes〕（0345a07）When one who practises this practice is about to end his life, Amitābha Buddha, together with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta and a measureless great assembly, with his retinue surrounding him, bears the purple-gold terrace and comes before the practitioner, and praises him, saying: “Son of the Dharma! You have practised the Great Vehicle and understood the ultimate meaning; therefore I have come today to welcome you.”

〔九 · The Outstretched Hand; the Speed of the Going〕（0345a11）Together with a thousand manifested buddhas he stretches out his hand at one and the same time. The practitioner sees himself seated upon the purple-gold terrace, joining his palms with fingers interlaced and praising the buddhas; and in the space of a single thought he is born within the lotus pond of the seven precious substances in that land.

〔十 · The Time of the Flower’s Opening on Arrival There〕（0345a13）This purple-gold terrace is like a great jeweled flower, and after a single night it opens.

〔十一 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0345a14）The practitioner’s body takes on the colour of purple-tinged gold, and beneath his feet too are lotus flowers of the seven precious substances. The Buddha and the bodhisattvas together send forth light that shines upon the practitioner’s body, and his eyes at once open and are bright. Because of what he had learned in former lives, he hears everywhere all manner of sounds, purely expounding the utterly profound ultimate truth. He then descends from the golden terrace, pays homage to the Buddha, joins his palms, and praises the World-Honored One. After seven days have passed, at that very time he attains non-retrogression in unsurpassed perfect awakening.

〔十二 · The Benefit Obtained in Other Quarters〕（0345a19）At that very time he is able to fly to the ten directions, serving the buddhas one after another and cultivating all manner of samādhis in the places of the buddhas. After one small kalpa has passed he attains the patience of non-arising and receives the prediction there present. This is what is called one of the middle birth of the highest grade.

The Lowest Birth of the Highest Grade

〔十三 · The Name of the Position; the Dharma Received〕（0345a22）As for the lowest birth of the highest grade — such a one also believes in cause and effect and does not slander the Great Vehicle; he only gives rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path. With this merit he dedicates and directs it, vowing to seek birth in the land of Ultimate Bliss.

〔十四 · The Welcome at the End of Life〕（0345a24）When that practitioner is about to end his life, Amitābha Buddha, together with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta and with many of his retinue, bears a golden lotus flower, manifests five hundred manifested buddhas, and comes to welcome this person. The five hundred manifested buddhas stretch out their hands at one and the same time and praise him, saying: “Son of the Dharma! You are now pure, and you have given rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path; I have come to welcome you.” When he sees this, he at once sees his own body seated upon a golden lotus flower. When he is seated, the flower closes; and following behind the World-Honored One he at once attains birth within the lotus pond of the seven precious substances.

〔十五 · The Time of the Flower’s Opening〕（0345a29）Only after one day and one night does the lotus flower open, and only within seven days does he attain the sight of the Buddha. Though he sees the Buddha’s body, his mind is not yet clear about the many marks and signs; only after three sevens of days does he see them clear and distinct.

〔十六 · The Benefit Obtained〕（0345b03）He hears all manner of sounds, and all are expounding the wondrous Dharma. He roams through the ten directions and makes offerings to the buddhas. In the presence of the buddhas he hears the utterly profound Dharma; and after three small kalpas have passed he attains the hundred-dharma gate of illumination (entering the hundred-dharma gate of illumination, his wisdom grows and he reflects upon the meaning of the manifold gates of the Dharma) and abides in the Ground of Joy (realizing the holy place for the first time, and much joy arising). This is what is called one of the lowest birth of the highest grade.

〔十七 · General Conclusion〕（0345b05）This is called the image of birth in the highest grade, and it is named the fourteenth contemplation.

〔十八 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0345b06）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the fifteenth of the sixteen contemplations and the second of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.” The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

The Highest Birth of the Middle Grade

〔一 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0345b08）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the highest birth of the middle grade —

〔二 · Sifting the Capacity; the Dharma Received〕（0345b08）if there are sentient beings who receive and hold the five precepts, who keep the eight-precept fast, who cultivate the various precepts, who commit none of the five heinous acts and are without faults and evils;

〔三 · The Dedicating and Directing〕（0345b10）with roots of good such as these they dedicate and direct them, vowing to seek birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.

〔四 · At the End of Life the Holy Ones Come to Welcome〕（0345b11）When the practitioner is about to end his life, Amitābha Buddha, with many bhikṣus and with his retinue surrounding him, sends forth a golden light and comes to that person’s place, and expounds for him suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and no-self, and praises the going forth from home as the leaving behind of all sufferings. When the practitioner has seen this, his mind greatly rejoices. He sees his own body seated upon a lotus-flower terrace, kneeling upright with palms joined and doing homage to the Buddha. In the very instant before he has raised his head, he attains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss,

〔五 · The Flower Opens〕（0345b16）and the lotus flower opens straightway.

〔六 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0345b16）When that flower unfolds, he hears all manner of sounds praising the four truths (suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the path), and at that very time attains the way of the arhat (arhat here means non-arising, and is also called non-attachment: because the cause is gone there is non-arising, and because the fruit is ended there is non-attachment), the three knowledges (the knowledge of former lives, the knowledge of the divine eye, and the knowledge of the exhaustion of the outflows), the six supernormal powers, and completeness in the eight liberations. This is what is called one of the highest birth of the middle grade.

The Middle Birth of the Middle Grade

〔七 · The Name of the Position; Sifting the Capacity and the Dharma Received〕（0345b18）As for the middle birth of the middle grade — if there are sentient beings who for one day and one night keep the eight-precept fast, or for one day and one night keep the śrāmaṇera precepts, or for one day and one night keep the full precepts, with no defect in deportment.

〔八 · The Dedicating and Directing〕（0345b21）With merit such as this they dedicate and direct it, vowing to seek birth in the land of Ultimate Bliss.

〔九 · At the End of Life the Holy Ones Come to Welcome〕（0345b21）The fragrance of the precepts perfumes and cultivates him. When a practitioner such as this is about to end his life, he sees Amitābha Buddha with many of his retinue send forth a golden light and bear a lotus flower of the seven precious substances before the practitioner; and the practitioner hears for himself a voice in the air praising him and saying: “Good man! One good as you are, because you have followed and accorded with the teaching of the buddhas of the three times, I have come to welcome you.” The practitioner sees himself seated upon the lotus flower; the lotus flower then closes, and he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.

〔十 · The Flower Opens on Arrival There〕（0345b27）Within the jeweled pond, after seven days have passed the lotus flower unfolds.

〔十一 · The Benefit Obtained〕（0345b27）The flower having unfolded, he opens his eyes and joins his palms, praising the World-Honored One. Hearing the Dharma he rejoices, and becomes a stream-enterer (this name is rendered as cultivating the outflow-free, and also as going against the stream); and after half a kalpa has passed he becomes an arhat. This is what is called one of the middle birth of the middle grade.

The Lowest Birth of the Middle Grade

〔十二 · The Name of the Position; Sifting the Capacity and the Dharma Received〕（0345c01）As for the lowest birth of the middle grade — if there are good men or good women who are filial and care for father and mother, and who practise the humaneness and rightness of the world;

〔十三 · Meeting a Good Friend at the End of Life〕（0345c02）when this person is about to end his life, he meets a good friend who expounds for him at length the joyful things of the land of Amitābha Buddha, and also expounds the forty-eight great vows of the bhikṣu Dharmākara.

〔十四 · Attaining Birth There〕（0345c04）Having heard of this, he straightway ends his life. As in the time a strong man takes to bend and stretch his arm, he is born in the world of Ultimate Bliss in the West.

〔十五 · The Flower Opens; the Benefit Obtained〕（0345c05）Born there, after seven days he meets Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta; hearing the Dharma he rejoices and becomes a stream-enterer. After one small kalpa has passed, he becomes an arhat. This is what is called one of the lowest birth of the middle grade.

〔十六 · General Conclusion〕（0345c08）This is called the image of birth in the middle grade, and it is named the fifteenth contemplation.

〔十七 · The Judgment of Right and Wrong〕（0345c08）To make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the last of the sixteen contemplations and the lowest of the three grades of the good done in a scattered mind, from “The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī” down to “it is named the sixteenth contemplation.” At the end of this unit there is no sentence “to make this contemplation is called right contemplation,” as there is at the end of the contemplations before it. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

The Highest Birth of the Lowest Grade

〔一 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0345c10）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the highest birth of the lowest grade —

〔二 · Sifting the Capacity; the Appearance of the Evil Done〕（0345c10）there may be sentient beings who commit every sort of evil karma. Though they do not slander the Vaipulya scriptures, such foolish people make much evil dharma and have no shame or conscience.

〔三 · At the End of Life, Meeting a Good Friend and Hearing the Dharma〕（0345c12）When his life is about to end he meets a good friend, who praises for him the title-names at the head of the twelve divisions of the Great Vehicle scriptures. Because he has heard the names of these many scriptures, the gravest evil karma of a thousand kalpas is removed. One who is wise then teaches him further to join his palms and fold his hands, and to utter Namo Amitābha Buddha (na is ‘to entrust,’ wu is ‘one’s life,’ a is ‘without,’ mi is ‘measure,’ tuo is ‘life,’ fo is ‘the awakened’; hence it is said, entrusting one’s life to the Awakened One of Measureless Life). Because he utters the Buddha’s name, the offences of fifty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.

〔四 · The Manifested Ones Come to Welcome Him〕（0345c16）At that time that Buddha at once sends a manifested Buddha, a manifested Avalokiteśvara, and a manifested Mahāsthāmaprāpta to come before the practitioner and praise him, saying: “Well done! Good man! Because you have uttered the Buddha’s name, your every offence has been extinguished; I have come to welcome you.” When these words have been spoken, the practitioner at once sees the light of the manifested Buddha filling his chamber; having seen it he rejoices, and thereupon his life ends. Riding a jeweled lotus flower, following behind the manifested Buddha, he is born in a jeweled pool.

〔五 · The Season When the Flower Opens after Arrival〕（0345c21）When seven sevens of days have passed — forty-nine of them — the lotus flower then opens.

〔六 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0345c21）When that flower opens, the greatly compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta send out a great light and stand before that person, and expound for him the twelve divisions of scripture in their profundity. Having heard them he trusts and understands, and gives rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path. When ten small kalpas have passed he is fully possessed of the hundred-dharma gate of illumination and is able to enter the first ground. This is called one of the highest birth of the lowest grade.

〔七 · The Practitioner’s Benefit Raised Again〕（0345c25）He is able to hear the name of the Buddha, the name of the Dharma, and to hear the name of the Saṅgha — hearing the names of the Three Jewels, he thereby obtains birth in that land.”

The Middle Birth of the Lowest Grade

〔八 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0345c26）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the middle birth of the lowest grade —

〔九 · Sifting the Capacity; the Appearance of the Karma Made〕（0345c27）there may be sentient beings who break and transgress the five precepts, the eight precepts, and the full precepts. Such foolish people steal the goods of the Saṅgha, take by theft the goods of the Saṅgha present, teach the Dharma without purity, and have no shame or conscience; with every sort of evil dharma they adorn themselves. Such offenders, because of their evil karma, ought to fall into the hells.

〔十 · At the End, the Two Appearances, Good and Evil, Come Together〕（0346a02）When his life is about to end, the many fires of the hells arrive all at once. He meets a good friend who, out of great kindness and compassion, at once praises and expounds for him the awesome virtue of the ten powers of Amitābha Buddha, praises at length the light and the divine power of that Buddha, and praises also morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. When this person has heard it, the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed. The raging fires of the hells turn into a cool wind that blows heavenly flowers; and upon the flowers there are manifested Buddhas and bodhisattvas, who come to welcome this person. In the space of a single thought he obtains birth within a lotus flower in the pool of the seven precious substances.

〔十一 · The Season When the Flower Opens〕（0346a08）When six kalpas have passed, the lotus flower then opens.

〔十二 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0346a09）When that flower opens, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta console that person with a pure Brahmā voice and expound for him the profound scriptures of the Great Vehicle. Having heard this Dharma, he thereupon gives rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path. This is called one of the middle birth of the lowest grade.”

The Lowest Birth of the Lowest Grade

〔十三 · The Charge, and the Fixing of the Position〕（0346a12）The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī: “As for the lowest birth of the lowest grade —

〔十四 · Sifting the Capacity; the Appearance of the Evil Done〕（0346a12）there may be sentient beings who make unwholesome karma, the five heinous acts and the ten evils, and who are fully possessed of every sort of unwholesomeness. Such foolish people, because of their evil karma, ought to fall into the evil destinies and pass through many kalpas, undergoing suffering without end.

〔十五 · At the End of Life, Meeting a Good Friend; Ten Thoughts, Uttering the Name〕（0346a15）When such a foolish person draws near the end of his life he meets a good friend, who consoles him in every way and expounds the wondrous Dharma for him, teaching him to recollect the Buddha; but that person, pressed by pain, has no leisure to recollect the Buddha. The good companion tells him: “If you cannot recollect that Buddha, you should utter: entrusting my life to the Buddha of Measureless Life.” In this way, with a mind of utmost sincerity, he lets the sound go unbroken and is fully possessed of ten thoughts (a good mind continuing in succession up to ten thoughts), uttering Namo Amitābha Buddha. Because he utters the Buddha’s name, in thought after thought the offences of eighty koṭis of kalpas of birth-and-death are removed.

〔十六 · The Golden Flower Comes in Answer; Birth Obtained〕（0346a20）At the time when his life ends he sees a golden lotus flower, like the orb of the sun, standing before him; and in the space of a single thought he obtains birth in the world of Ultimate Bliss.

〔十七 · The Season When the Flower Opens〕（0346a22）Within the lotus flower twelve great kalpas are completed, and the lotus flower then opens.

〔十八 · The Benefit Obtained after the Flower Opens〕（0346a23）When that flower opens, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, with a voice of great compassion, at once expound at length for that person the real character of the dharmas and the Dharma by which offences are extinguished. Having heard it he rejoices, and thereupon gives rise to the aspiration for awakening. This is called one of the lowest birth of the lowest grade.

〔十九 · General Conclusion〕（0346a26）This is called the image of birth in the lowest grade, and it is named the sixteenth contemplation.”

Translated in the Liu Song by Kālayaśas, The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life, T12n0365, the section on the benefit obtained and the section on transmission, from “At that time, when the World-Honored One had spoken these words” down to the closing title at the end of the fascicle. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

The Benefit Obtained

〔一 · Gathering Up the Text Before, and the Benefit Obtained Thereafter〕（0346a27）At that time, when the World-Honored One had spoken these words —

〔二 · Those Able to Hear the Dharma〕（0346a27）Vaidehī, together with her five hundred attendant women, heard what the Buddha said,

〔三 · Seeing the Aspect of Ultimate Bliss〕（0346a28）and thereupon saw the vast and far-reaching aspect of the world of Ultimate Bliss,

〔四 · The Lady Obtains the Benefit of Non-Arising〕（0346a29）and was able to see the body of the Buddha and the two bodhisattvas. In her mind joy arose and she marveled at what had never been before; all at once she was greatly awakened, and obtained the patience of non-arising (which is to say, she ascended to the first ground).

〔五 · The Attendant Women Give Rise to the Mind〕（0346b01）The five hundred attendant women gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening, and vowed to be born in that land.

〔六 · Receiving the Prediction and Obtaining the Samādhi〕（0346b02）The World-Honored One gave a prediction to each of them, that they would all be born there; and that, having been born in that land, they would obtain the samādhi in which all the buddhas are present before one.

〔七 · The Gods Give Rise to the Mind〕（0346b04）Measureless gods gave rise to the mind set on the unsurpassed path.

The Transmission at the Palace

〔八 · The Occasion of the Request〕（0346b05）At that time Ānanda rose at once from his seat, came forward, and said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! By what name should this sūtra be called? And the essential of this Dharma — how is it to be received and held?”

〔九 · The Naming of the Sūtra〕（0346b06）The Buddha told Ānanda: “This sūtra is named Contemplating the Land of Ultimate Bliss, the Buddha of Measureless Life, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta; it is also named Purifying Away the Obstruction of Karma and Being Born Before All Buddhas.

〔十 · Teaching Him to Receive and Hold It〕（0346b08）You should receive and hold it, and let it not be forgotten or lost!

〔十一 · Comparison Showing What Excels〕（0346b09）One who practises this samādhi will in this very body be able to see the Buddha of Measureless Life and the two great beings. And if there be a good man or a good woman who merely hears the name of the Buddha and the names of the two bodhisattvas, the offences of measureless kalpas of birth-and-death are removed — how much more one who holds them in mind and recollects them!

〔十二 · The Name Given to One Who Recollects the Buddha, and His Companions〕（0346b12）If there be one who recollects the Buddha, know that this person is the fentuoli flower among men (the finest flower among men, also named the rare flower, also named the highest of the high flower among men, also named the wondrously fine flower among men); the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta are his excellent friends; he will sit at the site of the way (the place where the way is obtained is called the site of the way), and be born into the household of all the buddhas.”

〔十三 · The Entrusting of the Name〕（0346b15）The Buddha told Ānanda: “Hold these words well. One who holds these words holds the name of the Buddha of Measureless Life.”

〔十四 · Hearing the Dharma and Rejoicing〕（0346b16）When the Buddha had spoken these words, the venerable Maudgalyāyana, the venerable Ānanda, Vaidehī, and the rest heard what the Buddha said, and all rejoiced greatly.

The Gṛdhrakūṭa Section

〔十五 · The Buddha Returns to Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa〕（0346b18）At that time the World-Honored One, his feet stepping through empty space, returned to Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa.

〔十六 · Ānanda Expounds at Length〕（0346b18）At that time Ānanda expounded at length for the great assembly the matters set out above.

〔十七 · The Assembly Rejoices and Withdraws〕（0346b19）Measureless humans, gods, nāgas, spirits, and yakṣas heard what the Buddha said, all rejoiced greatly, paid homage to the Buddha, and withdrew.

〔十八 · The Closing Title〕（0346b21）The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life.