佛說無量壽經 四十八願
四十八次把自己押上
法藏說每一願，都把同一件最珍重的事押在句末。不是若願成便更好，也不是若未成便以別法彌補；只要眼前所說不能實現，他便一次又一次宣告：「不取正覺」〔T12n0360 0267c17〕。
於是，眾生不再只是佛成道後等待救助的人。惡趣是否永斷，身心是否安穩，所聞之法是否不失，乃至一件衣服能否不勞營求，全都進入法藏自己的成佛之中。四十八願最深的聲音，不是我要得到什麼，而是你若還沒有出路，我便不把自己的道路稱作完成。
從最低之處開始
第一願沒有先寫寶樹、宮殿或天樂，而先說國中不可有地獄、餓鬼、畜生。第二願更不容一個已到彼國的生命，命終又回到三惡道。所願的清淨，首先是一條不再墜落的底線。
此後才有金色之身、不分好醜、宿命、天眼、聞法與神足。莊嚴不是蓋在苦上面的華飾；它必須從苦的根部開始，讓一個生命不再因形貌被分高下，不再困在一世所見，也不再只聽見自己的聲音。
乃至十念，也被宏願接住
願文走到十方眾生，距離忽然拉得極遠。那些人尚在別的世界；法藏卻把門開到「乃至十念」〔T12n0360 0268a27〕。念數雖少，至心信樂與願生之向並未被省去；願末也明列五逆、誹謗正法的除限。門開得近，不等於正法與心向可以拿走。
第十八願以得生承接這份願向，下一願在臨終時使佛與大眾現前，再下一願使聞名、係念、培德、迴向者所願不落空。人在生命邊緣所能發出的微小聲音，沒有被無量光壽淹沒；正因佛願無量，那聲音才不會太小。
到了安穩之地，仍然向外走
若淨土只讓來生者永遠離苦，故事本可在一生補處停住。經卻另寫一種菩薩：他因自己的本願，仍「為眾生故，被弘誓鎧」〔T12n0360 0268b09〕，遊歷佛國，供養諸佛，教化無量有情。
鎧甲在這裡不是退避的牆。它護著一顆願心重新走進眾生之中。被救度者漸漸成為救度者，得到道路的人又替別人開路；安穩沒有使大悲停止，反而讓大悲可以走得更遠。
最後一願仍在路上
願文末段屢次從聞名開始。名字被聽見以後，身根得全，三昧現前，德本具足，常見諸佛，也能隨願聞法。最末兩願都落在不退：一切所得不是片刻光景，而是再也不從佛道退回。
四十八願因此沒有把人安放在一個靜止的幸福裡。它從不墮惡趣起步，經過得生、聞法、見佛與修行，最後把生命送上不退之路。法藏不肯獨自完成的正覺，也不讓任何被攝受者只停在被攝受之中。
一尊佛的願，由無量眾生的離苦而成；無量眾生的路，又因那尊佛拒絕獨自成就而展開。四十八次相同的句末，遂如四十八次回身：每一次都從正覺回到眾生，也從眾生重新走向正覺。
Forty-Eight Times He Puts Himself at Stake
Each time Dharmākara states a vow, he places the same most precious thing at the end of the sentence. He does not say that it would be better if the vow were fulfilled, or that some other Dharma could make up for its failure. So long as what he has just named does not come to pass, he declares again and again: “I will not attain perfect awakening.”
Sentient beings are therefore no longer people waiting to be rescued after a buddha has awakened. Whether the evil destinies have been ended, whether body and mind are at ease, whether the Dharma heard is retained, and even whether a garment may be obtained without laborious seeking—all of these enter into Dharmākara’s own attainment of buddhahood. The deepest voice of the Forty-Eight Vows is not “What will I obtain?” but “If you still have no way out, I will not call my own path complete.”
Beginning at the Lowest Place
The First Vow does not begin with jeweled trees, palaces, or celestial music. It first says that hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals must not exist in the land. The Second Vow further refuses to let any being who has reached that land fall back into the three evil destinies after death. The first measure of the purity that is vowed is a floor beneath which no life will fall again.
Only afterward do there appear golden bodies, freedom from divisions of beauty and ugliness, knowledge of former lives, the divine eye, hearing the Dharma, and supernormal travel. Adornment is not ornament laid over suffering. It must begin at suffering’s root, so that a life is no longer ranked by appearance, no longer confined to what one lifetime can see, and no longer hears only its own voice.
Even Ten Thoughts Are Held by the Vast Vow
When the vows turn toward sentient beings in the ten directions, the distance suddenly becomes immense. Those beings are still in other worlds, yet Dharmākara opens the gate as near as “even ten thoughts.” Though the number is small, wholehearted trust and joy and the direction of desiring birth there have not been removed. The vow also expressly retains its exception for the five heinous acts and slander of the right Dharma. Bringing the gate near does not mean that the right Dharma and the direction of the mind may be taken away.
The Eighteenth Vow receives that direction through birth in the land. The next vow brings the Buddha and the great assembly before one at the final moment of life, and the vow after that keeps the aspiration of those who hear the Name, hold the land in mind, cultivate virtue, and dedicate and direct merit from going unfulfilled. The small voice a person can raise at the edge of life is not drowned out by immeasurable light and life. Because the Buddha’s vow is immeasurable, that voice is not too small.
Having Reached a Place of Peace, One Still Goes Outward
If the Pure Land only kept those born there forever free from suffering, the account could have ended with final-birth bodhisattvahood. Yet the sūtra describes another kind of bodhisattva: by the freedom of their own original vows, they still “don the armor of vast vows for the sake of sentient beings,” travel through buddha-lands, make offerings to the buddhas, and teach and transform measureless beings.
Here the armor is not a wall of retreat. It protects a vow-mind as it enters once more among sentient beings. Those who are delivered gradually become deliverers; those who receive a road open roads for others. Peace does not bring great compassion to a stop. It lets great compassion travel farther.
The Final Vow Is Still on the Road
The closing vows repeatedly begin with hearing the Name. Once the Name has been heard, the faculties become complete, samādhi appears, roots of virtue are fulfilled, the buddhas are constantly seen, and the Dharma may be heard according to one’s vow. The final two vows come to rest in non-retrogression: what has been attained is not a passing scene, but a course from which one no longer retreats on the Buddha-path.
The Forty-Eight Vows therefore do not place a person inside a motionless happiness. They begin with freedom from falling into the evil destinies, pass through birth there, hearing the Dharma, seeing the buddhas, and cultivation, and finally set life upon the road of non-retrogression. The perfect awakening Dharmākara refuses to complete alone also refuses to let anyone who has been embraced remain only a recipient.
One buddha’s vows are fulfilled through the freedom of measureless beings from suffering; the path of those beings, in turn, opens because that buddha refused to awaken alone. The same ending spoken forty-eight times thus becomes forty-eight acts of turning back: each turns from perfect awakening toward sentient beings, and from sentient beings once more toward perfect awakening.
大正藏 T12n0360〔起 T12 0267c17〕。段／行首〔T12 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T12 0267c17〕「『設我得佛，國有地獄、餓鬼、畜生者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天壽終之後復更三惡道者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不悉真金色者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天形色不同有好醜者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不悉識宿命，下至知百千億那由他諸劫事者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不得天眼，下至見百千億那由他諸佛國者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不得天耳，下至聞百千億那由他諸佛所說不悉受持者，不取正覺。 〔T12 0268a03〕「『設我得佛，國中人天不得見他心智，下至知百千億那由他諸佛國中眾生心念者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不得神足於一念頃，下至不能超過百千億那由他諸佛國者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天若起想念貪計身者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不住定聚必至滅度者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，光明有能限量，下至不照百千億那由他諸佛國者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，壽命有能限量，下至百千億那由他劫者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中聲聞有能計量，乃至三千大千世界眾生緣覺於百千劫悉共計挍知其數者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天壽命無能限量——除其本願脩短自在——若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天乃至聞有不善名者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方世界無量諸佛不悉咨嗟稱我名者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方眾生至心信樂欲生我國，乃至十念，若不生者，不取正覺，唯除五逆、誹謗正法。 「『設我得佛，十方眾生發菩提心修諸功德，至心發願欲生我國，臨壽終時，假令不與大眾圍遶現其人前者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方眾生聞我名號、係念我國，殖諸德本、至心迴向欲生我國，不果遂者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天不悉成滿三十二大人相者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方佛土諸菩薩眾來生我國，究竟必至一生補處——除其本願自在所化，為眾生故，被弘誓鎧，積累德本度脫一切；遊諸佛國修菩薩行，供養十方諸佛如來；開化恒沙無量眾生，使立無上正真之道；超出常倫諸地之行，現前修習普賢之德——若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩承佛神力供養諸佛，一食之頃不能遍至無量無數億那由他諸佛國者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩在諸佛前現其德本，諸所求欲供養之具若不如意者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩不能演說一切智者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩不得金剛那羅延身者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人、天、一切萬物嚴淨光麗，形色殊特，窮微極妙，無能稱量。其諸眾生乃至逮得天眼，有能明了辨其名數者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩乃至少功德者，不能知見其道場樹無量光色高四百萬里者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩若受讀經法，諷誦持說而不得辯才智慧者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩智慧辯才若可限量者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國土清淨，皆悉照見十方一切無量無數不可思議諸佛世界，猶如明鏡覩其面像；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，自地以上至于虛空，宮殿、樓觀、池流、華樹——國土所有一切萬物——皆以無量雜寶百千種香而共合成，嚴飾奇妙超諸人天，其香普薰十方世界，菩薩聞者皆修佛行；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方無量不可思議諸佛世界眾生之類，蒙我光明觸其體者，身心柔軟超過人天；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方無量不可思議諸佛世界眾生之類，聞我名字不得菩薩無生法忍、諸深總持者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方無量不可思議諸佛世界，其有女人聞我名字，歡喜信樂，發菩提心，厭惡女身，壽終之後復為女像者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方無量不可思議諸佛世界，諸菩薩眾聞我名字，壽終之後常修梵行至成佛道；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，十方無量不可思議諸佛世界，諸天人民聞我名字，五體投地稽首作禮，歡喜信樂修菩薩行，諸天世人莫不致敬；若不爾者，不取正覺。 〔T12 0269a03〕「『設我得佛，國中人天欲得衣服隨念即至，如佛所讚應法妙服自然在身；若有裁縫、染治、浣濯者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中人天所受快樂不如漏盡比丘者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩隨意欲見十方無量嚴淨佛土，應時如願，於寶樹中皆悉照見，猶如明鏡覩其面像；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，至于得佛，諸根缺陋不具足者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，皆悉逮得清淨解脫三昧，住是三昧一發意頃，供養無量不可思議諸佛世尊而不失定意；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，壽終之後生尊貴家；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，歡喜踊躍，修菩薩行，具足德本；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，皆悉逮得普等三昧，住是三昧至于成佛，常見無量不可思議一切如來；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，國中菩薩隨其志願，所欲聞法自然得聞；若不爾者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，不即得至不退轉者，不取正覺。 「『設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，不即得至第一、第二、第三法忍，於諸佛法不能即得不退轉者，不取正覺。』」
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
大正藏 T12n0360，自法藏陳說第一願至第四十八願。段首（…）＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔一·離惡趣至聞法受持〕（0267c17）
一、法藏比丘發願：如果我成佛，我的國土中仍有地獄、餓鬼、畜生，我就不成就正覺。
二、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾壽命結束以後，還會再次墮入地獄、餓鬼、畜生三種惡道，我就不成就正覺。
三、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能全部具有純淨的金色身，我就不成就正覺。
四、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾形貌色相仍有差別，還分美好與醜陋，我就不成就正覺。
五、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能全都了知自己的過去世，最低限度不能知道百千億那由他劫以來的往事，我就不成就正覺。
六、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能得到天眼，最低限度不能看見百千億那由他個諸佛國土，我就不成就正覺。
七、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能得到天耳，最低限度不能聽聞百千億那由他諸佛所說之法，或聽聞後不能全部領受、憶持，我就不成就正覺。
〔二·他心神足至諸佛稱名〕（0268a03）
八、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能得到知道他人心念的智慧，最低限度不能了知百千億那由他諸佛國土中眾生的心念，我就不成就正覺。
九、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能得到神足通，在一念之間最低限度不能越過百千億那由他個諸佛國土，我就不成就正覺。
十、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾還會生起分別想念，貪著、執取這個身體，我就不成就正覺。
十一、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能安住於決定不退的行列，不能必定到達滅度，我就不成就正覺。
十二、如果我成佛，我的光明仍能被計量，最低限度不能照耀百千億那由他個諸佛國土，我就不成就正覺。
十三、如果我成佛，我的壽命仍能被計量，最低限度不能長達百千億那由他劫，我就不成就正覺。
十四、如果我成佛，我國中的聲聞眾仍能計算其數；即使三千大千世界的一切眾生都成為緣覺，用百千劫共同計算，仍能知道他們的數量，我就不成就正覺。
十五、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾壽命不能達到無人可以限量；但依他們自己的本願，能自在決定壽命長短者除外。若不能如此，我就不成就正覺。
十六、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾乃至還會聽到不善之事的名稱，我就不成就正覺。
十七、如果我成佛，十方世界無量諸佛不能全都讚歎並稱揚我的名號，我就不成就正覺。
〔三·得生、來迎與一生補處〕（0268a26）
十八、如果我成佛，十方眾生以至誠心信受歡喜，願意往生我的國土，乃至只有十念；他們若不能往生，我就不成就正覺。只有造作五逆重罪與誹謗正法者除外。
十九、如果我成佛，十方眾生發起無上菩提心，修習種種功德，以至誠心發願往生我的國土；到他們臨命終時，我若不與大眾環繞出現在他們面前，我就不成就正覺。
二十、如果我成佛，十方眾生聽聞我的名號，繫念我的國土，培植種種功德根本，再以至誠心將功德迴向而願生我的國土；他們的願望若不能實現，我就不成就正覺。
二十一、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾不能全都成就圓滿三十二種大人相，我就不成就正覺。
二十二、如果我成佛，從其他佛土前來往生我國的菩薩眾，不能究竟到達一生補處，我就不成就正覺。但依自己原有大願而能自在教化眾生者除外：他們為了眾生，披上弘大誓願如同鎧甲，累積功德根本，度脫一切眾生；遊歷諸佛國土，修習菩薩行，供養十方諸佛如來；開導、教化多如恒河沙的無量眾生，使他們安立於無上正真佛道；超越通常各階位的修行，當下修習普賢菩薩之德。若不能如此，我就不成就正覺。
〔四·供佛、辯才與國土莊嚴〕（0268b15）
二十三、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩依承佛的神力供養諸佛，在吃一頓飯的短時間內不能遍至無量無數億那由他個諸佛國土，我就不成就正覺。
二十四、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩在諸佛面前顯現自己所修的功德根本時，凡是想用來供養的器具與物品不能隨心如意地現前，我就不成就正覺。
二十五、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩不能演說一切智，我就不成就正覺。
二十六、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩不能得到如金剛般堅固、如那羅延力士般強健的身體，我就不成就正覺。
二十七、如果我成佛，我國中的人、天眾與一切萬物不能清淨、光明、美麗，形貌色彩殊勝獨特，精微到極致而無人能夠稱說計量；甚至已有天眼的眾生仍能清楚辨別它們的名稱與數量，我就不成就正覺。
二十八、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩即使功德很少，仍不能知道、看見那棵具有無量光明色彩、高達四百萬里的道場樹，我就不成就正覺。
二十九、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩領受、讀習經法，諷誦、受持並為人解說以後，仍不能得到辯才與智慧，我就不成就正覺。
三十、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩所具智慧與辯才仍能被限量，我就不成就正覺。
三十一、如果我成佛，我的國土不能極其清淨，不能全都照見十方一切無量、無數、不可思議的諸佛世界，如同明淨鏡面照出人的面容形象，我就不成就正覺。
三十二、如果我成佛，從地面以上一直到虛空，所有宮殿、樓閣、池水、流水與花樹，以及國土中的一切萬物，不能全由無量種雜寶與百千種香共同合成；它們不能莊嚴奇妙、超越一切人間與天上之物；香氣不能普遍薰滿十方世界，使聞到的菩薩全都修行佛道，我就不成就正覺。
〔五·光明觸身至世人致敬〕（0268c15）
三十三、如果我成佛，十方無量、不可思議諸佛世界中的各類眾生，蒙受我的光明照觸身體以後，身心不能變得柔和安適，而且柔軟程度不能超過人間與天上的眾生，我就不成就正覺。
三十四、如果我成佛，十方無量、不可思議諸佛世界中的各類眾生，聽聞我的名字以後，不能得到菩薩的無生法忍與種種甚深總持，我就不成就正覺。
三十五、如果我成佛，十方無量、不可思議諸佛世界中，若有女人聽聞我的名字，歡喜信受，發起無上菩提心，並厭離女身；她們壽命結束以後若還會再次成為女性形像，我就不成就正覺。
三十六、如果我成佛，十方無量、不可思議諸佛世界中的菩薩眾，聽聞我的名字，在壽命結束以後不能常修清淨梵行，直到成就佛道，我就不成就正覺。
三十七、如果我成佛，十方無量、不可思議諸佛世界中的天眾與人民，聽聞我的名字以後，不能五體投地、低頭頂禮，不能歡喜信受並修菩薩行，或不能受到諸天與世人的共同敬重，我就不成就正覺。
〔六·衣食自然至普等三昧〕（0269a03）
三十八、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾想得到衣服時，衣服不能隨念立即出現；那種佛所稱讚、合乎正法的妙好衣服不能自然穿在身上，反而還需要裁剪縫製、染色整治或洗滌，我就不成就正覺。
三十九、如果我成佛，我國中的人與天眾所享受的安樂，不能等同斷盡煩惱的比丘所受之樂，我就不成就正覺。
四十、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩隨自己的意願想看十方無量莊嚴清淨的佛土時，不能立即如願，不能在寶樹中全都照見，如同明淨鏡面照出人的面容形象，我就不成就正覺。
四十一、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，直到成佛以前，眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意等諸根仍會有所缺損、醜陋而不具足，我就不成就正覺。
四十二、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，不能全都得到清淨解脫三昧；或雖住在這一三昧中，不能在發起一念的短時間內供養無量、不可思議諸佛世尊，同時保持禪定之心而不散失，我就不成就正覺。
四十三、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，壽命結束不能投生在尊貴之家，我就不成就正覺。
四十四、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，不能歡喜踊躍、修菩薩行並具足功德根本，我就不成就正覺。
四十五、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，不能全都得到普遍平等的三昧；或住在這一三昧中，直到成佛以前不能經常看見無量、不可思議的一切如來，我就不成就正覺。
〔七·隨願聞法至三法忍〕（0269a29）
四十六、如果我成佛，我國中的菩薩不能依自己的志向與願望，自然而然聽聞想聽的佛法，我就不成就正覺。
四十七、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，不能立即到達永不退轉的階位，我就不成就正覺。
四十八、如果我成佛，其他國土的菩薩眾聽聞我的名字以後，不能立即得到第一、第二、第三法忍，對諸佛之法不能立即達到永不退轉，我就不成就正覺。
Taishō canon T12n0360, from Dharmākara’s statement of the first vow through the Forty-Eighth Vow. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.
〔一 · Freedom from the Evil Destinies through Hearing and Retaining the Dharma〕（0267c17）
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Bhikṣu Dharmākara vowed: If I attain buddhahood and hell beings, hungry ghosts, or animals still exist in my land, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land, after the end of their lives, again fall into the three evil destinies of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not all possess bodies the color of pure gold, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodily forms and complexions of the humans and devas in my land differ, so that some are beautiful and others ugly, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not all know their own former lives—at the very least, the events of hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas in the past—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not obtain the divine eye—at the very least, the ability to see hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not obtain the divine ear—at the very least, the ability to hear the Dharma taught by buddhas in hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands, and to receive and retain all they hear—I will not attain perfect awakening.
〔二 · Knowledge of Other Minds and Supernormal Travel through Praise of the Name by the Buddhas〕（0268a03）
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not obtain the wisdom that knows the thoughts of others—at the very least, the thoughts of sentient beings in hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not obtain the supernormal power of travel and, within a single thought, cannot at the very least pass beyond hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land still give rise to discriminating thoughts and greedily grasp at the body, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not abide in the rightly fixed group and certainly reach extinction, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and my light can still be measured—at the very least, if it does not illuminate hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and my lifespan can still be measured—at the very least, if it does not extend for hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the śrāvakas in my land can still be counted—if all the sentient beings in the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system were to become pratyekabuddhas and, for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, calculate together and still know their number—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the lifespans of the humans and devas in my land are not beyond anyone’s power to measure—except for those who, in accord with their own original vows, freely determine whether their lives will be longer or shorter—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land so much as hear the name of anything unwholesome, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the immeasurable buddhas throughout the worlds of the ten directions do not all praise and proclaim my Name, I will not attain perfect awakening.
〔三 · Birth There, the Welcoming Assembly, and Final-Birth Bodhisattvahood〕（0268a26）
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If I attain buddhahood and sentient beings throughout the ten directions, with wholehearted trust and joy, desire to be born in my land—even with as few as ten thoughts—and yet are not born there, I will not attain perfect awakening. The sole exceptions are those who commit the five heinous acts or slander the right Dharma.
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If I attain buddhahood and sentient beings throughout the ten directions give rise to the aspiration for awakening, cultivate many kinds of merit, and with a mind of utmost sincerity vow to be born in my land, yet at the final moment of their lives I do not appear before them surrounded by a great assembly, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and sentient beings throughout the ten directions hear my Name, keep my land in mind, plant roots of virtue, and with a mind of utmost sincerity dedicate and direct their merit toward birth in my land, yet their aspiration is not fulfilled, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans and devas in my land do not all fully possess the thirty-two marks of a great person, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas who come to be born in my land from other buddha-lands do not ultimately reach the rank of final-birth bodhisattvas, I will not attain perfect awakening. The exception is those who, in accord with their own original vows, freely teach and transform: for the sake of sentient beings they don the armor of vast vows, accumulate roots of virtue, and deliver all beings; they travel through the buddha-lands, cultivate bodhisattva practices, and make offerings to the buddha-tathāgatas of the ten directions; they instruct and transform measureless sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā and establish them in the unsurpassed, true, and right path; they transcend the customary course of practice on the various grounds and directly cultivate the virtues of Samantabhadra. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect awakening.
〔四 · Offerings to Buddhas, Eloquence, and the Adornment of the Land〕（0268b15）
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land, relying on the Buddha’s spiritual power, cannot make offerings to buddhas throughout immeasurable and innumerable koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands within the time it takes to eat one meal, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land, when manifesting their roots of virtue before the buddhas, cannot obtain at will whatever implements and articles they wish to use as offerings, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land cannot expound all-knowledge, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land do not obtain bodies as firm as adamant and as strong as Nārāyaṇa, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the humans, devas, and all things in my land are not pure, radiant, and beautiful, their forms and colors surpassingly distinctive and subtle beyond measure—so that no one can describe or calculate them, and even sentient beings who have obtained the divine eye can clearly distinguish their names and number—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and even bodhisattvas of little merit in my land cannot know and see the tree at the site of awakening, with its immeasurable lights and colors and a height of four million li, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land receive and read the scriptural Dharma, recite, retain, and explain it for others, yet do not obtain eloquence and wisdom, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the wisdom and eloquence of the bodhisattvas in my land can be measured, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and my land is not utterly pure and does not illuminate and reveal all the immeasurable, innumerable, inconceivable buddha-worlds throughout the ten directions, as a clear mirror reflects the image of a person’s face, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and, from the ground upward into the sky, all the palaces, towers, pools, streams, flowering trees, and everything else in the land are not together formed from immeasurable kinds of precious substances and hundreds of thousands of fragrances; if they are not wondrously adorned and do not surpass all things among humans and devas; and if their fragrance does not permeate the worlds of the ten directions so that every bodhisattva who smells it cultivates the practice of a buddha, I will not attain perfect awakening.
〔五 · The Touch of Light through the Reverence of the World〕（0268c15）
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If I attain buddhahood and the many classes of sentient beings throughout the immeasurable, inconceivable buddha-worlds of the ten directions, when touched upon their bodies by my light, do not become gentle and at ease in body and mind—surpassing humans and devas in softness—I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the many classes of sentient beings throughout the immeasurable, inconceivable buddha-worlds of the ten directions, upon hearing my Name, do not obtain the bodhisattva’s patience of non-arising and profound dhāraṇīs, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and women in the immeasurable, inconceivable buddha-worlds of the ten directions hear my Name, rejoice in joyful trust, give rise to the aspiration for awakening, and become weary of the female form, yet after the end of their lives again take on a female form, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas throughout the immeasurable, inconceivable buddha-worlds of the ten directions, upon hearing my Name, do not constantly cultivate pure conduct after the end of their lives until they attain the Buddha-path, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the devas and people throughout the immeasurable, inconceivable buddha-worlds of the ten directions, upon hearing my Name, do not cast all five limbs to the ground, bow their heads in homage, rejoice in joyful trust, and cultivate bodhisattva practice—or if they do not receive the reverence of devas and people—I will not attain perfect awakening.
〔六 · Garments and Ease through the Samādhi of Universal Equality〕（0269a03）
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If I attain buddhahood and, when the humans and devas in my land wish for clothing, it does not appear as soon as they think of it; if wondrous garments commended by the buddhas and conforming to the Dharma do not naturally clothe their bodies, and instead must be cut and sewn, dyed and treated, or washed, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the ease enjoyed by the humans and devas in my land is not equal to that enjoyed by a bhikṣu whose outflows are exhausted, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land, whenever they wish to see the immeasurable adorned and pure buddha-lands of the ten directions, do not immediately see them all within the jeweled trees according to their wishes, as a clear mirror reflects the image of a person’s face, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, possess faculties that are defective, disfigured, or incomplete at any time before their attainment of buddhahood, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, do not all attain the Samādhi of Pure Liberation; or if, while abiding in this samādhi, they cannot within the arising of a single thought make offerings to immeasurable, inconceivable World-Honored Buddhas without losing their concentrated minds, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, are not born into honored families after the end of their lives, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, do not rejoice and leap with joy, cultivate bodhisattva practice, and fully possess roots of virtue, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, do not all attain the Samādhi of Universal Equality; or if, while abiding in this samādhi, they do not constantly see all the immeasurable, inconceivable tathāgatas until they attain buddhahood, I will not attain perfect awakening.
〔七 · Hearing the Dharma According to One’s Vow through the Three Patiences〕（0269a29）
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in my land do not naturally hear whatever Dharma they wish to hear according to their aspirations and vows, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, do not immediately reach non-retrogression, I will not attain perfect awakening.
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If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, do not immediately attain the first, second, and third patiences and immediately reach non-retrogression in the Dharmas of the buddhas, I will not attain perfect awakening.
這一講依慧遠《義疏》所立攝法身、攝淨土、攝眾生三綱，參照憬興《連義述文贊》對求佛身、求佛土、利眾生與七段願文的開合，再以曇鸞《往生論註》照見本願如何成為今日不虛作之力。三面古鏡的分科不盡相同，我們不把四十八願排成四十八則利益說明，而是隨經看見：一尊佛的身、一座國土與無量眾生的出路，如何被同一願心結成不可分的一事。
願在前面開路，誓在後面封住退路
四十八願幾乎都從設我得佛起句，以不取正覺作結。前一句指向尚待成就的佛果，後一句卻把佛果能否成立，反過來繫在每一項願事上。願若未滿，法藏便不獨自取得正覺；眾生未離惡趣、國土未成清淨、菩薩未得不退，便都不是與成佛無關的旁事。
因此，這一再重複的文式並非徒然羅列宏願。它每重複一次，就把正覺的內容說得更具體一次。成佛要顯為光明與壽命，也要顯為他人能聞名、得生、聞法、供佛、修行；要有清淨國土，也要使住其中者不再退回苦道。佛果不是先在一處完成，再從餘力分給眾生；法藏把眾生所得直接寫進自己成佛的條件。
願與誓也由此各有力量。願是向所求之果伸出去，誓是以正覺約束自己不從所求退回。你讀到第四十八次不取正覺時，面前不只是同一句話出現了四十八遍，而是一個生命四十八次拒絕把自己的完成與眾生的完成拆開。
三綱不是三座分開的倉庫
古德以攝法身、攝淨土、攝眾生收束全篇。這三綱不是把願文平均分成三堆；攝眾生之願最多，而法身與淨土的莊嚴也都向眾生發生作用。佛光之所以無量，是要照百千億那由他佛國；國土之所以香潔，是使十方菩薩聞香而修佛行。法身、土、眾生在願文中彼此穿透，不能各自封閉。
經也沒有從最華麗的宮殿起講。第一願先斷地獄、餓鬼、畜生，第二願再斷命終復入三惡道；接著才說身色平等、宿命與諸通、離身見貪計，直到第十一願住定聚而必至滅度。淨土的第一個尺度不是景物稀有，而是眾生不再掉回最深的苦，也不再由形色好醜分出高下。
宿命、天眼、天耳、他心與神足，在這裡也不是炫示異能。能知久遠因緣、見無量佛國、聞佛說法而受持、知眾生心念、頃刻遍至佛土，都是把生命從狹小當下打開。第十願更深入能知能見者自身，不讓想念再轉為對此身的貪計；第十一願遂把方向安定於必至滅度。前十一願由離外在苦處，一路進到不再抓住身心、也不再迴伏的道路。
光、壽與名，都不是只為莊嚴一佛
攝法身的願文主要顯在第十二、十三與十七願。光明無量，使佛德能到達無量佛國；壽命無量，使救度不被短促時限截斷；十方諸佛咨嗟稱名，則使一國之佛成為十方眾生可聞的名字。三願一是照耀，一是久住，一是宣揚，都在打開通往眾生的路。
第十四願又說聲聞眾不可計量，第十五願說國中人天壽命無量，卻保留本願修短自在；第十六願使國中乃至不聞不善之名。佛的無量壽沒有吞沒眾生自己的願，清淨也不只是壓住惡行，而是連引起惡念的名字都不成為共同世界的聲音。法身之德因此不是孤峰，而是眷屬、時間與語言都被重新安置的中心。
你若只把光壽看成佛的規模，便會漏掉經句中反覆出現的照、聞與稱。光要照到他方，名要由諸佛稱揚，壽要支持長遠攝化；所謂無量，始終帶著一個向外的方向。
第十八至二十願，三道相鄰而不相代替的門
第十八願說：「十方眾生至心信樂欲生我國，乃至十念，若不生者，不取正覺，唯除五逆、誹謗正法。」〔T12n0360 0268a26〕 至心信樂、欲生與乃至十念連在同一願裡，所得是往生；它沒有先要求眾生已具國中菩薩的一切德行，卻也沒有把心的方向從願文中拿走。
古註解釋十念之重，不放在時計長短，而說：「輕重之義在心、在緣、在決定，不在時節久近多少也。」〔T40n1819 0834b25〕 又明十念為「隨所觀緣心無他想，十念相續名為十念。但稱名號亦復如是。」〔T40n1819 0834c16〕 所以乃至不是把願心稀釋到若有若無；念數雖少，所重仍在心是否專一相續、所緣是否決定。古註據此願說：「緣佛願力故，十念念佛便得往生」〔T40n1819 0844a05〕，把往生直繫於佛願之力。
願末的唯除也不可被沉默刪去。古註以否認佛、佛法、菩薩、菩薩法等決定之見說明誹謗正法之相，原文是：「若言無佛無佛法、無菩薩無菩薩法。如是等見，若心自解、若從他受，其心決定，皆名誹謗正法。」〔T40n1819 0834b04〕 經把極廣的攝受與嚴重遮障同寫一願，兩面都須照見，才不會把慈悲說成沒有正法，也不會把遮障說成願力之外另有一尊拒人的佛。
古註會通兩經時，又把三種情形明白分開。若五逆與誹謗正法二罪俱具，則「以此二種罪故，所以不得往生。」〔T40n1819 0834a18〕 若具五逆而不誹謗正法，依《觀無量壽經》所說下品下生，古註判為「經許得生」〔T40n1819 0834a22〕；若只誹謗正法而沒有五逆等其餘罪，仍是「雖更無餘罪，必不得生。」〔T40n1819 0834a24〕 三者不相混：兩罪俱具不得生，五逆而不謗法者依《觀經》得生，謗法而無五逆者亦不得生。
第十九願另說發菩提心、修諸功德、至心願生，並以臨終大眾現前為所願；第二十願則由聞名、係念國土、殖諸德本與至心迴向，保證願生之事果遂。三願相鄰，卻各有自己的句法與重心：十八顯至心信樂與十念得生，十九顯發心修德與來迎，二十顯聞名係念、殖德迴向與願遂。把三願疊成一句，反而看不見經如何為不同眾生開出不同入路。
往生不是把菩薩留在一座安樂國裡
第二十一願從三十二大人相起，第二十二願便把國中菩薩推到一生補處。但經隨即留下極重要的開口：有人因本願自在，為眾生故「被弘誓鎧，積累德本度脫一切」〔T12n0360 0268b10〕，遊諸佛國、供養諸佛、開化恒沙眾生，並現前修習普賢之德。一生補處不是休止處；愈近佛果，反而愈能依自己的弘願回到無量眾生之中。
鎧本來使人在險處不受傷損。經以弘誓為鎧，不是把菩薩隔絕於眾生，而是使他進入生死教化時不失所向。願所保護的，正是願者能夠不退地往外走。這也回應全篇反覆的不取正覺：法藏不把眾生留在自己的佛果之外，往生的菩薩也不把他方眾生留在自己的安穩之外。
第二十三至三十願展開這種往外的能力：一食之頃遍供諸佛，供具應念而至，能說一切智，具堅固身；國中萬物嚴淨光麗、窮微極妙而無能稱量，即使得天眼也不能辨其名數；國中菩薩乃至少功德者，也能知見具無量光色、高四百萬里的道場樹；又由受讀、諷誦、持說而得辯才智慧，且其智慧辯才不可限量。供養不是只把珍物送到佛前；它使菩薩與無量佛土相接。辯才也不是口才勝人；它由受持經法而生，終要能演說一切智。淨土所成就的菩薩，因此既有能行之身，也有能聞、能持、能說之智。
國土如鏡，也如一場無言說法
第三十一願說國土清淨，照見十方不可思議佛世界，「猶如明鏡覩其面像」〔T12n0360 0268c08〕。第四十願又說國中菩薩可於寶樹中隨意見諸佛土，也用同一明鏡之喻。鏡不把所現之像占為己有，清淨國土也不以自身莊嚴遮斷他方世界；住一土而見十方，安住與開放同時成立。
第三十二願從地面寫到虛空，宮殿、樓觀、池流、華樹皆以眾寶與香合成；可是願文沒有停在奇妙景觀，而以香薰十方、聞者皆修佛行收尾。香不靠語句，仍能使菩薩起行；國土也不只是修行完成後的獎賞，它本身成為持續教化眾生的法緣。
我們於是看見，攝淨土並非替眾生換一個更悅目的住處。鏡使十方佛土顯現，香使聞者修佛行，樹使所欲見者應時如願；每一項莊嚴都有動詞，都把住處轉成見佛、聞法與起行之處。土若不能使人向道，再稀有的寶物也還沒有抵達此經所願的清淨。
光明觸身，名號又把利益帶到他方
第三十三願以光明觸體，使十方眾生身心柔軟。第三十四願轉由聞名，使人得無生法忍與諸深總持；其後又有發菩提心、修梵行、禮敬修菩薩行等願。光、名與眾生的身心行持接連出現，顯示佛德不是遠方可供瞻仰的莊嚴，而會在有情身上形成柔軟、信樂、持法與實行。
第三十五願依經所舉，應答的是聞名信樂、發菩提心而厭惡女身者，願其命終不再受女像；文字有它所面對的具體願求，不宜越過原句替所有身相另作總判。第三十六、三十七願則不分男女，令聞名者常修梵行至成佛道，或禮敬、信樂而修菩薩行。經的重心從身相所願，繼續推到佛道與實行。
第三十八至四十願看似回到衣服、快樂與所見，實際仍使日用不被營求拖住，使所受之樂不落有漏，使寶樹成為見十方淨土之處。第四十一願以下更集中於他方菩薩聞名所得：諸根具足；得清淨解脫三昧，並在一發意頃供養無量諸佛而不失定；生尊貴家；歡喜修菩薩行而具足德本；得普等三昧而常見諸佛；再由國中隨願聞法，收束到不退轉與三法忍。
最後兩願不是在四十八條末尾添上兩項較高利益，而是把全篇方向定住。第一願不使眾生墮三惡道，第四十七、四十八願使菩薩於佛法不退；從不再下墮，到必定向菩提前行，經把離苦與成佛連成一條完整道路。你在願文中所得的不只是被保護的安穩，也是不能再把眾生留在身後的菩薩方向。
四十八願至此像一張由內向外不斷展開的網。佛身以光、壽、名攝受，國土以鏡、香、樹教化，眾生則由離惡趣、得往生，一路到供佛、聞法、三昧、忍與不退。三綱各有著力，卻共同回答篇首之問：法藏把成佛繫在眾生身上，也使得生者終將以自己的弘願再走向眾生。正覺因此不是一個人的終點，而是無量生命互相開路的開始。
承衍——願如何成為不虛作之力
慧遠以攝法身、攝淨土、攝眾生三義統攝四十八願，又分七段細辨其所願；憬興同樣以三意與七段讀全篇，並以願為悕求、誓為邀制，顯出設我得佛與不取正覺在每願首尾相應。兩家名目略異，所見共同之處是佛身、國土與眾生利益不是散列願望，而由誓約貫成佛果。
對末二願，憬興另把第四十七願判作「此初、加力不退願也。」〔T37n1748 0153a27〕，把第四十八願判作「此後、自力不退願也。」〔T37n1748 0153a28〕 這是古註對兩願的細辨；本經第四十七願自說聞名即至不退，第四十八願自列三忍與不退，兩願各守自身文字。此處保存古註分判，不把它改寫成經文，也不替第一、第二、第三法忍另作配位。
曇鸞則從果上回照因願，說三種莊嚴皆由四十八願等清淨願心所成，故「因淨故果淨，非無因、他因有也。」〔T40n1819 0841b08〕 又說今日佛力與昔日本願相成：「願以成力、力以就願」〔T40n1819 0840a14〕。他再取第十八願得生、第十一願住正定聚、第二十二願超常菩薩行為三證，結為「以斯而推，他力為增上緣。」〔T40n1819 0844a20〕 三面古鏡由因願看到果力，又由果力證成願事不空；四十八次不取正覺，至此成為眾生今日仍可被攝受的成就。
This teaching follows the three governing themes established in Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Meaning: vows embracing the Dharma-body, vows embracing the Pure Land, and vows embracing sentient beings. It reads these alongside Jingxing’s divisions of seeking a buddha’s body, seeking a buddha-land, and benefiting sentient beings, together with his sevenfold arrangement of the vows. Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land then lets us see how the original vows become a power that does not act in vain today. The three ancient mirrors do not divide the vows in precisely the same way. We therefore do not arrange the Forty-Eight Vows as forty-eight separate descriptions of benefits. We follow the sūtra to see how one buddha’s body, one land, and the ways out opened for measureless beings are bound together by one vow-mind as an indivisible matter.
The Vow Opens the Road Ahead; the Pledge Seals Off Retreat Behind
Nearly every one of the Forty-Eight Vows begins, “If I attain buddhahood,” and ends, “I will not attain perfect awakening.” The opening points toward a buddha-fruit still to be accomplished. The ending, however, binds the very possibility of that buddha-fruit to the fulfillment of each vowed matter. If the vow remains unfulfilled, Dharmākara will not attain perfect awakening by himself. Sentient beings’ freedom from the evil destinies, the purity of the land, and bodhisattvas’ non-retrogression are not incidental matters unrelated to buddhahood.
This repeated form is therefore not a mere list of grand aspirations. Each repetition gives the content of perfect awakening another concrete dimension. Buddhahood must appear as light and lifespan, but also as other beings hearing the Name, gaining birth there, hearing the Dharma, making offerings to buddhas, and cultivating the path. It must appear as a pure land, but also as those who dwell there no longer returning to the destinies of suffering. The buddha-fruit is not first completed in isolation and then distributed to sentient beings out of what remains. Dharmākara writes what sentient beings will receive directly into the conditions of his own buddhahood.
Vow and pledge each have their own strength. The vow reaches toward the fruit being sought. The pledge binds Dharmākara through perfect awakening itself so that he cannot turn back from what he seeks. When we reach the forty-eighth refusal to attain perfect awakening, we have not merely met the same sentence forty-eight times. We have witnessed one life refuse, forty-eight times, to separate its own completion from the completion of sentient beings.
The Three Governing Themes Are Not Three Separate Storehouses
The ancient masters gather the whole passage under embracing the Dharma-body, embracing the Pure Land, and embracing sentient beings. These themes do not divide the vows into three equal piles. The vows embracing sentient beings are the most numerous, while the adornments of the Dharma-body and the land also act upon sentient beings. The Buddha’s light is immeasurable so that it may illuminate hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands. The land is fragrant and pure so that bodhisattvas throughout the ten directions may smell its fragrance and cultivate the practice of a buddha. Buddha-body, land, and sentient beings interpenetrate throughout the vows and cannot be sealed away from one another.
Nor does the sūtra begin with its most magnificent palaces. The First Vow first ends the existence of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals in the land. The Second ends any return to the three evil destinies after death. Only then does it speak of equality in bodily color, knowledge of former lives and the supernormal powers, freedom from greedy grasping at the body, and finally, in the Eleventh Vow, abiding in the rightly fixed group and certainly reaching extinction. The first measure of a Pure Land is not rare scenery. It is that sentient beings no longer fall into the deepest suffering and are no longer divided into higher and lower by beauty and ugliness.
Knowledge of former lives, the divine eye, the divine ear, knowledge of other minds, and supernormal travel are not displays of exceptional powers here. Knowing causes and conditions across distant time, seeing immeasurable buddha-lands, hearing and retaining the Dharma taught by buddhas, knowing the thoughts of sentient beings, and reaching buddha-lands in an instant all open life beyond the narrow present. The Tenth Vow goes deeper, turning toward the one who knows and sees: thoughts must no longer become greedy calculation and grasping at this body. The Eleventh then settles the direction in right fixity and certain extinction. The first eleven vows move from freedom from external destinations of suffering all the way to a road on which body and mind are no longer grasped and no retreat remains.
Light, Life, and Name Do Not Adorn One Buddha Alone
The vows embracing the Dharma-body appear chiefly in the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Seventeenth Vows. Measureless light lets a buddha’s virtue reach measureless buddha-lands. Life beyond measure keeps rescue from being cut short by a brief span. Praise and proclamation of the Name by the buddhas of the ten directions make the buddha of one land a Name that sentient beings throughout the ten directions can hear. One vow illuminates, one abides for a long time, and one proclaims; all three open roads toward sentient beings.
The Fourteenth Vow makes the assembly of śrāvakas beyond measure. The Fifteenth makes the lifespans of humans and devas beyond measure, while preserving the freedom of those whose original vows determine a longer or shorter life. The Sixteenth keeps even the name of anything unwholesome from being heard in the land. The Buddha’s lifespan beyond measure does not swallow the vows of sentient beings. Purity does not merely suppress unwholesome acts; even names that call unwholesomeness to mind cease to form the soundscape of the shared world. The virtues of the Dharma-body are therefore not a solitary peak, but a center around which assemblies, time, and language are all rearranged.
If we see light and life only as measures of the Buddha’s greatness, we miss how often the verbs illuminate, hear, and proclaim recur. Light must reach other lands, the Name must be praised by the buddhas, and life must sustain long activity of embrace and transformation. In this sūtra, the immeasurable always bears an outward direction.
Vows Eighteen through Twenty: Three Adjacent Gates That Do Not Replace One Another
The Eighteenth Vow says: “If I attain buddhahood and sentient beings throughout the ten directions, with wholehearted trust and joy, desire to be born in my land—even with as few as ten thoughts—and yet are not born there, I will not attain perfect awakening. The sole exceptions are those who commit the five heinous acts or slander the right Dharma.” Wholehearted trust and joy, the desire for birth there, and even ten thoughts occur together in a single vow, and the result is birth in the land. The vow does not first require sentient beings to possess every virtue of the bodhisattvas already dwelling there. Yet neither does it remove the direction of the mind from the text.
The ancient commentary does not weigh the ten thoughts by the length of a clock. It says that the question of weight lies in the mind, the object, and decisiveness, not in whether the period is long or short or the number great or small. It further explains the ten thoughts as the mind remaining without another thought upon the contemplated object for ten thoughts in succession, adding that merely uttering the Name is likewise. “Even” therefore does not thin out the vow-mind until it becomes indeterminate. Though the number of thoughts is small, their gravity remains in whether the mind is single and continuous and whether its object is decisive. On this basis the ancient commentary says that, through the power of the Buddha’s vow, ten thoughts recollecting the Buddha bring birth there, directly joining that birth to the Buddha’s vow-power.
The exception at the end of the vow must not be silently removed. The ancient commentary describes slander of the right Dharma through views that deny buddhas, the Buddha-Dharma, bodhisattvas, or the bodhisattva Dharma, whether such a settled conviction has arisen from one’s own understanding or been received from another. The sūtra writes extraordinarily broad embrace and grave obstruction into the same vow. Both must be seen. Otherwise compassion is made to stand without the right Dharma, or obstruction is made to look like a second buddha standing outside vow-power and refusing people.
When bringing two sūtras into relation, the ancient commentary explicitly distinguishes three cases. When the five heinous acts and slander of the right Dharma are both present, the two offenses prevent birth there. When the five heinous acts are present without slander of the right Dharma, the lowest level of the lowest grade in the Sūtra of Contemplation on the Buddha of Measureless Life is said to be permitted birth. When slander of the right Dharma is present without the five heinous acts or other offenses, birth is still said to be impossible. The three cases are not conflated: both offenses together prevent birth; the five heinous acts without slander of the Dharma are received according to the Contemplation Sūtra; slander of the Dharma without the five heinous acts also prevents birth.
The Nineteenth Vow separately speaks of giving rise to the aspiration for awakening, cultivating merits, and vowing with utmost sincerity to be born there, with the great assembly appearing at the final moment of life. The Twentieth begins with hearing the Name, keeping the land in mind, planting roots of virtue, and dedicating and directing with utmost sincerity, and assures the fulfillment of the aspiration for birth. The three vows are adjacent, but each has its own grammar and center. The Eighteenth reveals wholehearted trust and joy and birth through ten thoughts; the Nineteenth reveals arousal of the aspiration, cultivation of merit, and the welcoming assembly; the Twentieth reveals hearing the Name, holding the land in mind, planting virtue, dedicating and directing, and fulfillment of the aspiration. To collapse them into one sentence is to lose the different entrances the sūtra opens for different sentient beings.
Birth There Does Not Keep Bodhisattvas Enclosed in a Land of Peace and Bliss
The Twenty-First Vow begins with the thirty-two marks of a great person, and the Twenty-Second immediately brings the bodhisattvas in the land to final-birth bodhisattvahood. Yet the sūtra at once leaves an immensely important opening: some, through the freedom of their original vows and for the sake of sentient beings, “don the armor of vast vows, accumulate roots of virtue, and deliver all.” They travel through buddha-lands, make offerings to buddhas, teach and transform sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, and directly cultivate the virtue of Samantabhadra. Final-birth bodhisattvahood is not a resting place. The nearer one draws to the buddha-fruit, the more freely one can return among measureless sentient beings through one’s own vast vow.
Armor ordinarily protects someone in a dangerous place. The sūtra makes a vast vow into armor, not to isolate bodhisattvas from sentient beings, but to keep them from losing their direction when they enter birth and death to teach. What the vow protects is precisely their ability to travel outward without retreat. This answers the recurring refusal to attain perfect awakening throughout the passage: Dharmākara does not leave sentient beings outside his buddha-fruit, and bodhisattvas born in the land do not leave beings in other lands outside their own peace.
Vows Twenty-Three through Thirty unfold this outward capacity. Within the time of a meal, bodhisattvas make offerings throughout the buddha-lands; implements of offering appear in response to a thought; they can expound all-knowledge and possess firm bodies. All things in the land are pure, radiant, beautiful, and subtle beyond measure, so that even one with the divine eye cannot distinguish their names and numbers. Even bodhisattvas of little merit can see the tree at the site of awakening, with immeasurable lights and colors and a height of four million li. By receiving and reading, reciting, retaining, and explaining the scriptural Dharma, they gain wisdom and eloquence, and that wisdom and eloquence are beyond measure. Offering is not merely carrying precious objects before a buddha; it joins bodhisattvas to immeasurable buddha-lands. Eloquence is not victory in speech; it arises from receiving and retaining the Dharma and ultimately enables the exposition of all-knowledge. Bodhisattvas formed in the Pure Land therefore possess both a body able to act and the wisdom to hear, retain, and teach.
The Land Is Like a Mirror and Also Like a Wordless Teaching
The Thirty-First Vow says that the pure land reveals the inconceivable buddha-worlds of the ten directions “as a clear mirror reflects the image of a person’s face.” The Fortieth says that bodhisattvas in the land may see buddha-lands at will within the jeweled trees, using the same simile of the mirror. A mirror does not take possession of the image it reveals. In the same way, the Pure Land does not use its own adornment to cut off other worlds. Abiding in one land and remaining open to the ten directions occur together.
The Thirty-Second Vow moves from the ground into the sky: palaces, towers, pools, streams, and flowering trees are all formed from precious substances and fragrances. Yet the vow does not stop at a marvelous landscape. It ends with fragrance permeating the ten directions and every bodhisattva who smells it cultivating the practice of a buddha. Fragrance teaches without relying on sentences. The land is not a reward given when cultivation is over; it becomes a continuing condition through which sentient beings are taught and transformed.
Embracing the Pure Land therefore does not merely exchange one dwelling place for another that is more pleasing to the eye. The mirror reveals the buddha-lands of the ten directions. Fragrance moves those who smell it to cultivate the Buddha-path. The trees show the lands one wishes to see as soon as the wish arises. Every adornment has a verb and turns a dwelling place into a place of seeing buddhas, hearing the Dharma, and beginning practice. If a land cannot turn beings toward the path, the rarest jewels have not yet reached the purity vowed in this sūtra.
Light Touches the Body, and the Name Carries Benefit into Other Lands
The Thirty-Third Vow lets light touch the bodies of sentient beings throughout the ten directions and make body and mind gentle. The Thirty-Fourth turns from light to hearing the Name, through which beings obtain the patience of non-arising and profound dhāraṇīs. The following vows add giving rise to the aspiration for awakening, cultivating pure conduct, making homage, and practicing the bodhisattva path. Light, Name, and the conduct of sentient beings appear in succession, showing that a buddha’s virtues are not distant adornments for contemplation. They take form in sentient beings as gentleness, joyful trust, retention of Dharma, and practice.
The Thirty-Fifth Vow answers the particular aspiration stated by the sūtra: women who hear the Name, have joyful trust, give rise to the aspiration for awakening, and become weary of the female form vow not to take on a female form after death. The wording addresses a particular wish. We should not cross beyond its sentence and supply a comprehensive judgment on every bodily form. The Thirty-Sixth and Thirty-Seventh Vows no longer distinguish men and women. They enable those who hear the Name to cultivate pure conduct until buddhahood, or to make homage, have joyful trust, and cultivate bodhisattva practice. The emphasis proceeds from the form wished for to the Buddha-path and actual practice.
Vows Thirty-Eight through Forty may appear to return to clothing, pleasure, and what is seen. In fact, they keep daily needs from consuming life in seeking, keep experienced ease from remaining conditioned by outflows, and make the jeweled trees a place for seeing pure lands throughout the ten directions. From the Forty-First Vow onward, the focus falls more fully on what bodhisattvas in other lands receive through hearing the Name: complete faculties; the Samādhi of Pure Liberation, within which they can make offerings to immeasurable buddhas in one thought without losing concentration; birth into honored families; joyful bodhisattva practice and complete roots of virtue; and the Samādhi of Universal Equality, within which they constantly see the buddhas. The sequence then passes to hearing the Dharma in the land according to one’s vow and concludes in non-retrogression and the three patiences.
The last two vows are not merely two loftier benefits added at the end of a list. They set the direction of the entire passage. The First Vow keeps sentient beings from falling into the three evil destinies. The Forty-Seventh and Forty-Eighth keep bodhisattvas from retreating in the Buddha-Dharma. From no longer falling downward to certainly advancing toward awakening, the sūtra joins freedom from suffering and buddhahood into one complete road. What is received in the vows is not only protected peace, but the bodhisattva direction that can no longer leave sentient beings behind.
The Forty-Eight Vows now appear as a net continually opening from within toward the outside. The buddha-body embraces through light, life, and Name. The land teaches through mirrors, fragrance, and trees. Sentient beings move from freedom from the evil destinies and birth in the land through offerings to buddhas, hearing the Dharma, samādhi, patience, and non-retrogression. Each of the three governing themes has its own point of force, yet together they answer the question at the beginning: Dharmākara binds buddhahood to sentient beings, and he enables those born in the land to travel once again toward beings through their own vast vows. Perfect awakening is therefore not one person’s endpoint, but the beginning of measureless lives opening roads for one another.
Carrying Forward — How Vow Becomes a Power That Does Not Act in Vain
Huiyuan gathers the Forty-Eight Vows under embracing the Dharma-body, embracing the Pure Land, and embracing sentient beings, and further distinguishes seven sections. Jingxing likewise reads the whole passage through three meanings and seven sections, and distinguishes vow as hopeful seeking from pledge as binding constraint, so that “If I attain buddhahood” and “I will not attain perfect awakening” answer one another at the beginning and end of every vow. Their terminology differs slightly, but both see that buddha-body, land, and benefits to sentient beings are not scattered wishes. A pledge binds them into the buddha-fruit.
Concerning the final two vows, Jingxing further calls the Forty-Seventh “the vow of non-retrogression through added power” and the Forty-Eighth “the vow of non-retrogression through one’s own power.” This is the ancient commentary’s finer distinction between the two. The Forty-Seventh Vow itself says that hearing the Name immediately brings non-retrogression, while the Forty-Eighth itself lists the three patiences and non-retrogression. Each vow retains its own wording. We preserve the ancient division without rewriting it as the sūtra’s own statement, and without assigning the first, second, and third patiences to stages the passage itself does not name.
Tanluan looks back from the fruit toward the causal vows. He says that all three kinds of adornment are established by the pure vow-mind of the original Forty-Eight Vows; because the cause is pure, the result is pure, and the result does not arise without a cause or from another cause. He also joins the present buddha-power to the former original vows: “The vow brings the power to completion, and the power fulfills the vow.” He then takes the Eighteenth Vow concerning birth, the Eleventh concerning the rightly fixed group, and the Twenty-Second concerning practice beyond the customary bodhisattva grounds as three scriptural proofs, concluding that other-power is the predominant condition. The three ancient mirrors move from vows in the causal stage to power in the fruit, and from that power back to the truth that the vowed matters were never empty. The forty-eight refusals to attain perfect awakening thus become an accomplishment through which sentient beings can still be embraced today.
考據Apparatus
全段定位 本段承法藏當眾具說所願，自第一願國無三惡道起，至第四十八願他方菩薩聞名得三法忍、不退轉止。四十八段皆以成佛為前提、以佛身、國土或眾生所得為願事、以不取正覺為自誓；古德遂不把它讀成四十八條散列的願望，而以攝法身、攝淨土、攝眾生三綱統攝。
一、科判定位
憬興《無量壽經連義述文贊》在本段起首判：「此後、正申己願也。」〔T37n1748 0150b24〕 其對應範圍為 T1748 0150b24–0153b06；本經則自 T360 0267c17–0269b06，四十八願各成一段，共二千零七十五個字符。首願為「設我得佛，國有地獄、餓鬼、畜生者，不取正覺。」〔T12n0360 0267c17〕，末願為「設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，不即得至第一、第二、第三法忍，於諸佛法不能即得不退轉者，不取正覺。」〔T12n0360 0269b04〕 前後閉合，下一段才起法藏立誓感瑞。
慧遠《無量壽經義疏》以三綱七段收束全篇：「於中合有四十八願，義要唯三，文別有七。義要三者，一攝法身願、二攝淨土願、三攝眾生願。」〔T37n1745 0103b07〕 其細分為：初十一願攝眾生，十二、十三攝法身，十四至十六再攝眾生，十七再攝法身，十八至三十再攝眾生，三十一、三十二攝淨土，三十三至四十八又攝眾生。這一科判既保留逐願次序，又使四十八願不散為四十八個彼此孤立的題目。
憬興另用求佛身、求佛土、利眾生三意立同一大綱：「四十八願，略有三意：一、求佛身願也。二、求佛土願，即三十一、第三十二願也。三、利眾生願，即餘四十三也。」〔T37n1748 0150c28〕 兩家用語有攝、求之別，三綱與七段則相合。
二、異譯對勘（四本逐願開合·誌錄不判）
甲、願數與列法
| 本 | 願段 | 願數 | 逐字硬證與計數口徑 |
|---|---|---|---|
| T361 | 0281a13–0281c22 | 24 | 經自問「何等為二十四願者？」〔T12n0361 0281a13〕；由一至二十四逐號閉合。 |
| T362 | 0301a23–0302b14 | 24 | 經自問「何為二十四願？」〔T12n0362 0301a23〕；第一願至第二十四願逐號閉合。 |
| T363 | 0319a26–0320c28 | 36 | 經未自稱三十六願；首段以「世尊！我發誓言：願如世尊證得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；所居佛剎，具足無量不可思議功德莊嚴。」〔T12n0363 0319a27〕總起，其後「我得菩提成正覺已」〔T12n0363 0319b04〕逐段三十五見，合計三十六段。 |
| T310 會五 | 0093b14–0094c26 | 48 | 願式逐段四十八見；首作「若我證得無上菩提，國中有地獄、餓鬼、畜生趣者，我終不取無上正覺。」〔T11n0310 0093b14〕，末至第四十八願閉合。 |
以下以 T360 願次為縱軸。＝ 表有獨立而義位相近的願；合 表該本一願合入多項；分 表一項功能散入數願；移 表相近功能改繫另一主體；約 表只具部分功能；— 表願列中無獨立近對，不表示全經其他段落全無其義。T363 的數字是依上述三十六段順次編號，並非經文自署願號。
| T360 願次與題要 | T361 二十四願 | T362 二十四願 | T363 三十六段 | T310 會五 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 國無三惡道 | ＝1 | ＝1 | 合1（三惡道眾生入剎） | ＝1 |
| 2 命終不更三惡道 | ＝2 | — | 合1 | ＝2 |
| 3 悉真金色 | ＝3 | 合15（三十二相同列） | 合1 | ＝3 |
| 4 形色無好醜 | ＝4 | ＝9 | 約2（同如諸佛土） | ＝4 |
| 5 識宿命 | ＝5 | 合22（諸通同列） | ＝4 | ＝5 |
| 6 得天眼 | ＝6 | 合22 | ＝5 | ＝6 |
| 7 得天耳、聞法受持 | ＝9 | 移17作佛德，無聞法受持 | — | ＝7 |
| 8 知他心 | ＝7 | ＝10 | ＝6 | ＝8 |
| 9 神足遍佛國 | ＝8 | 移17作佛德 | 合3（兼供佛） | ＝9 |
| 10 不起身見貪計 | ＝10 | 約11（無淫怒癡） | 約2（遠離分別） | ＝10 |
| 11 住定聚至滅度 | ＝11 | 約8（終得佛道） | ＝7（住正信位） | ＝11 |
| 12 佛光無量 | 合13（見光→作善→生益，非觸光） | 合24（見光→作善→生益，非觸光） | 移10作生眾身光 | ＝12 |
| 13 佛壽無量 | ＝14 | ＝19 | — | ＝13 |
| 14 聲聞數無量 | ＝12 | ＝20 | — | ＝14 |
| 15 人天壽命無量 | ＝15 | ＝21 | ＝11 | ＝15 |
| 16 不聞不善名 | ＝16 | 分11–12（不善心行，非不聞不善名） | ＝12 | ＝16 |
| 17 諸佛咨嗟稱名 | ＝17 | 合4（兼聞名、生益） | — | ＝17 |
| 18 至心信樂乃至十念得生 | —（名、生分見17、19，無十念別願） | 分4–5（無十念別願） | 分13–14（無十念別願） | ＝18 |
| 19 發心修德、臨終來迎 | ＝18 | ＝7 | 分13–14 | ＝19 |
| 20 聞名係念、殖德迴向得生 | ＝19 | 分5–6 | ＝14 | ＝20 |
| 21 三十二大人相 | ＝21 | 合15（金色同列） | 合15 | ＝21 |
| 22 一生補處與本願自在 | ＝20 | 約8 | 分15–16（補處與本願自在分見） | ＝22 |
| 23 一食頃遍供諸佛 | 合22（與供具同願） | 合13（與供具同願） | 分3、17、19–21 | ＝23 |
| 24 供養具如意 | 合22 | 合13 | 分17、19–21、24 | ＝24 |
| 25 演說一切智 | ＝24 | ＝16 | 分18、23（智慧與說法分見） | ＝25 |
| 26 金剛那羅延身 | — | — | ＝22 | ＝26 |
| 27 萬物嚴淨、不可稱量 | — | 約3 | 約25（光瑩如鏡） | ＝27 |
| 28 少功德亦見道場樹 | — | — | — | ＝28 |
| 29 受讀持說得辯才智慧 | 約24 | 合16 | 合18 | ＝29 |
| 30 智慧辯才無量 | 約24 | 合16 | 分18、23（辯才見18，無邊智慧見23） | ＝30 |
| 31 國土清淨如鏡照見諸界 | — | 約3 | ＝25 | ＝31 |
| 32 寶物妙香薰十方、聞香修行 | — | 約3 | 約24（香供諸佛） | ＝32 |
| 33 蒙光觸體、身心柔軟 | 約13（見光生益，非觸體柔軟） | 約24（見光生益，非觸體柔軟） | — | ＝33 |
| 34 聞名得無生忍、總持 | — | — | 約31、33（有無生忍，無總持） | ＝34 |
| 35 女人聞名發心、不復女像 | — | 合2（無婦人、蓮華化生同列） | ＝27 | ＝35 |
| 36 聞名常修梵行至佛道 | — | 約7 | ＝28 | ＝36 |
| 37 聞名禮敬、修菩薩行、眾所敬 | — | 約4、7 | ＝29 | ＝37 |
| 38 衣服應念自然在身 | — | 約3 | 約30（作衣迴向、後生彼剎） | ＝38 |
| 39 所受快樂如漏盡比丘 | — | — | ＝26（樂過諸天） | ＝39 |
| 40 寶樹中隨意見諸佛土 | — | — | 約25（國土如鏡，非樹中） | ＝40 |
| 41 聞名至佛諸根具足 | — | — | — | ＝41 |
| 42 聞名得解脫三昧、念頃供佛 | — | — | ＝32 | ＝42 |
| 43 聞名命終生尊貴家 | — | — | — | ＝43 |
| 44 聞名踊躍、修行具德本 | — | — | 約29 | ＝44 |
| 45 聞名得普等三昧、常見諸佛 | — | — | 約32、34（定與見佛分見，無至佛常見） | ＝45 |
| 46 自土隨願聞法 | — | — | ＝35 | ＝46 |
| 47 聞名即至不退轉 | 約18（生後阿惟越致） | 約7（生後阿惟越致） | 約36（得諸忍，無明文不退轉） | ＝47 |
| 48 聞名得三法忍、不退轉 | — | — | 約33、36（諸忍分見，無明文不退轉） | ＝48 |
四十八行顯出三種開合：第一，T361、T362 均標二十四願，但不是把 T360 後二十四願整段刪去，而是合願、移位與另立願並行。T361 第二十二願把往供與供具合在一段：「我國諸菩薩欲共供養八方上下無數諸佛，皆令飛行，欲得萬種自然之物，則皆在前」〔T12n0361 0281c14〕。T362 第十五願則把金色與相好合寫：「身皆紫磨金色，三十二相、八十種好，皆令如佛。」〔T12n0362 0302a05〕
第二，兩個二十四願本各有 T360 願列所無的獨立分項：T361 另立自然飲食為第二十三願；T362 另把自然飲食列第十四願，並把佛自身的洞視、徹聽、飛行與智慧辯說列為第十七、十八願。故二十四不是四十八的等距壓縮。
第三，T363 以三十六段反覆願式收攝，有多段供養諸佛的不同運作，也以每段速成菩提作共同收束；T310 會五則保持四十八頂層次序，但願內仍有增減。例如第十八願作「聞我名已，所有善根心心迴向願生我國，乃至十念若不生者，不取菩提；唯除造無間惡業、誹謗正法及諸聖人。」〔T11n0310 0093c22〕 此較 T360 多出誹謗諸聖人一項，仍只誌錄，不用一本到另一本文中補字。
三、經論宗依（眼）
四十八願的眼，在願不離成就。每願先說所欲成辦之事，末以不取正覺自要；因而它既是因地願心，也是果德可否成立的條件。曇鸞《往生論註》以三種莊嚴承此因果：「應知此三種莊嚴成就，由本四十八願等清淨願心之所莊嚴。因淨故果淨，非無因、他因有也。」〔T40n1819 0841b07〕
願成之後又不只留作過去事。曇鸞釋不虛作住持，說：「依本法藏菩薩四十八願、今日阿彌陀如來自在神力，願以成力、力以就願，願不徒然、力不虛設，力願相符畢竟不差，故曰成就。」〔T40n1819 0840a13〕 昔願成為今日佛力，今日佛力又使願事不空；願、力、成就由此成一條因果線。
四、本段釋要
本段不是四十八種互不相干的利益，可依古德三綱讀其全體：
- 攝法身：第十二、十三願明光明與壽命，第十七願明十方諸佛咨嗟稱名。法身之德不是自我莊嚴的終點；光照諸國、名聞十方，已向眾生開門。
- 攝淨土：第三十一願以明鏡喻國土清淨、照見諸佛世界；第三十二願從地至空列宮殿、池流、華樹與眾寶妙香，並以聞香修佛行收束。土之莊嚴因此不只可觀，也能發行。
- 攝眾生：餘四十三願占全篇最大部分。前十一願從離三惡道、無好醜，開到宿命、諸通、離身見與正定聚；十四至十六願明眷屬、壽量與離不善名；十八以後又分攝往生者、所生果報、自他國菩薩與聞名得益。所攝既有國中人天、聲聞、菩薩，也有十方眾生與他方菩薩。
第十八願逐字為：「設我得佛，十方眾生至心信樂欲生我國，乃至十念，若不生者，不取正覺，唯除五逆、誹謗正法。」〔T12n0360 0268a26〕 本段對此願之義只依曇鸞原文。曇鸞直取此願證他力為增上緣，說：「緣佛願力故，十念念佛便得往生，得往生故即免三界輪轉之事，無輪轉故所以得速。」〔T40n1819 0844a05〕 十念的重量也不以時間長短衡量：「輕重之義在心、在緣、在決定，不在時節久近多少也。」〔T40n1819 0834b25〕 其所謂十念，是「隨所觀緣心無他想，十念相續名為十念。但稱名號亦復如是。」〔T40n1819 0834c16〕
對唯除之義，曇鸞並讀《無量壽經》與《觀無量壽經》，以是否誹謗正法分釋兩經，又明誹謗之相：「若言無佛無佛法、無菩薩無菩薩法。如是等見，若心自解、若從他受，其心決定，皆名誹謗正法。」〔T40n1819 0834b04〕 此處照錄其判，不增入近代宗派語彙，也不把古德的會釋改寫成經文自身未說的句子。
第十八至二十願又各有重心：十八明至心信樂與乃至十念，十九明發菩提心、修功德及臨終來迎，二十明聞名係念、殖德迴向而願生得遂。三願相鄰而不相互代替。第二十二願則顯一生補處不是封閉的終站；有菩薩因本願自在，仍被弘誓鎧、遊佛國、供諸佛、化恒沙眾生。末二願再將聞名推至不退與三法忍，使全篇由離苦起，收在菩薩道不退。
五、諸家異釋（分欄並錄）
| 義位 | 憬興《連義述文贊》T1748 | 慧遠《義疏》T1745 | 曇鸞《往生論註》T1819 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 全願總綱 | 求佛身、求佛土、利眾生三意，並分七段 | 攝法身、攝淨土、攝眾生三義，亦分七段 | 不逐願重科，以清淨願心成國土、佛、菩薩三種莊嚴 |
| 願與誓 | 「汎言願者，即悕求義，所謂設我得佛等。又言誓者，即邀制義，不取正覺是也。」〔T37n1748 0151a07〕 | 「諸願不滿，終不成佛。假設所願不滿得成，誓終可不取」〔T37n1745 0103b20〕 | 願成為今日不虛作住持力，願與力相符而成就 |
| 第十八願 | 本檔不取其多家會釋作本段義準 | 不作本段義準 | 以心、緣、決定釋十念之重，並直取願力為增上緣 |
| 末二願 | 第四十七判加力不退，第四十八判自力不退，並釋三忍 | 於三綱中皆歸攝眾生 | 取第十一、十八、二十二願為三證，顯往生、正定聚與超常菩薩行皆緣本願力 |
三家同以願事必成為全篇骨幹；對逐願名目、十八願會釋及末二願忍位細判各有其位。此處分欄並存，不合成一說。
六、術語
| 名相 | 所據釋義與範圍 |
|---|---|
| 願／誓 | 願是悕求所成之事；誓以不取正覺自限。兩者在每一願首尾相接，不是兩份分離文書。 |
| 正定聚 | 第十一願說國中人天住定聚、必至滅度。曇鸞據此說：「緣佛願力故住正定聚，住正定聚故必至滅度無諸迴伏之難，所以得速。」〔T40n1819 0844a09〕 |
| 至心信樂 | 第十八願中願生之心相；與欲生、十念相連。其義不以現代心理術語重述。 |
| 十念 | 曇鸞明說此處不取固定時節，而取憶念相續、心無他想；但稱名號亦同。 |
| 一生補處 | 第十八至二十二願所攝果位之一；第二十二願又明本願自在者可為度眾生而續行普賢之德。 |
| 弘誓鎧 | 以鎧喻大願護持菩薩入眾生界；經文與積累德本、度脫一切並列。 |
| 總持 | 第三十四願以諸深總持與無生法忍並列；不將一切總持化約成同一法門。 |
| 普等三昧 | 第四十五願之定，所住者常見無量如來；憬興釋名：「普者即普遍義，等者即齊等義。」〔T37n1748 0153a22〕 |
| 第一、第二、第三法忍 | 第四十八願原文只列三忍而未在本段自行配位；古德另有細判，今不將一說補入原典。 |
七、譬喻·修辭
四十八願以同一句式反覆起落：設我得佛先把成佛置於未來條件，不取正覺再把願事反繫於成佛本身。反覆四十八次，不只是文式整齊；每一次都把佛果繫在一項佛身、國土或眾生願事上，使正覺不能被讀成離開所願之果。
經內有兩個明顯譬像。第一是明鏡：第三十一願說國土照見十方佛界，第四十願說寶樹中顯諸佛土，皆以鏡中見面像形容清淨顯現。第二是弘誓鎧：第二十二願不以一生補處收束所有菩薩，而寫有本願自在者「被弘誓鎧」〔T12n0360 0268b10〕，大願如鎧，不使入眾生界的菩薩退失其行。
數量修辭也層層擴大：百千億那由他佛國、恒沙眾生、無量無數不可思議世界反覆出現；但每段仍落回具體所得，如聞法、見佛、供養、衣服、身心柔軟、諸根具足。無量不是把內容沖淡，而是把一項可辨的願事推向無邊有情。
八、徵引承衍
- 願成力：曇鸞以四十八願與今日佛力相互成就，明願不徒然、力不虛設；這是全篇由因地通果位的直接承衍。
- 三願證速得菩提：曇鸞從第十八願得生、第十一願住正定聚、第二十二願超出常倫諸地之行，連成三證；並結為「以斯而推，他力為增上緣。」〔T40n1819 0844a20〕 他力之義在此有古德原文所依，不借近代敘事另立。
- 清淨願心入一法句：國土、佛、菩薩三類莊嚴都由清淨願心成就，後又略入清淨句；四十八願因而不是只在願目處被引用，而成為《往生論註》解整體莊嚴的因。
- 異譯開合：憬興已明記早譯願數、開合與次第不同；今逐願表把各本原生排列保留，不以會集消去差異。
九、校本定位
本單元取 T12n0360 0267c17–0269b06。此範圍校勘層實有 <app> 二十四項，即二十四個異讀 loci；另有 <note> 四十二項，其中四十一項是直接附於正文目標字句的校注記錄，一項是 <app> 內的參照注。正文 gaiji 零、正文 inline note 零。第十七願的咨嗟一語，校勘層以咨為 lem，見證為 CBETA 與麗本校記；以諮為 rdg，見證為大正原讀。本帙依 CBETA 正文取「咨嗟稱我名者」〔T12n0360 0268a24〕，不以大正原讀諮改入正文。
四十八個文字區塊逐願閉合，正文內沒有夾註，也未見缺字顯示。原典保留每願外層說話引號、法藏自語的內層引號及句末標點；第三十二願兩組破折號、第二十二願兩組破折號皆屬讀本標點，不拆成另願。
校本上最需要守住的是願次與願內分句的區別。例如第二十二願雖含除其本願自在所化以下長段，仍是一願；第三十二願雖列地上、虛空、宮殿、樓觀、池流、華樹、眾寶與香，也仍以一個若不爾者閉合。T363 在卷上、卷中之間續列願段，物理卷界不另增願；T310 第十八願所多的誹謗諸聖人也只屬該本文字。諸本各守原形，不擅補、刪、合成同一讀本。
Placement of the passage as a whole. This passage continues Dharmākara’s public declaration of his vows, beginning with the First Vow that the land be free of the three evil destinies and ending with the Forty-Eighth Vow that bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing the Name, attain the three patiences and non-retrogression. Each of the forty-eight passages makes buddhahood the premise, takes some quality of the Buddha’s body, the land, or what sentient beings receive as the matter vowed, and makes refusal to attain perfect awakening the self-binding pledge. The ancient masters therefore do not read these as forty-eight scattered aspirations. They gather them under three governing themes: embracing the Dharma-body, embracing the Pure Land, and embracing sentient beings.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
At the beginning of this passage, Jingxing’s Linked-Meaning Expository Praise on the Sūtra of Measureless Life judges: 「此後、正申己願也。」—“What follows is the direct statement of his own vows” 〔T37n1748 0150b24〕. The corresponding span in T1748 is 0150b24–0153b06; in this sūtra it is T360 0267c17–0269b06. Each of the Forty-Eight Vows forms one passage, for a total of 2,075 characters. The first is 「設我得佛，國有地獄、餓鬼、畜生者，不取正覺。」—“If I attain buddhahood and hell beings, hungry ghosts, or animals exist in my land, I will not attain perfect awakening” 〔T12n0360 0267c17〕. The last is 「設我得佛，他方國土諸菩薩眾聞我名字，不即得至第一、第二、第三法忍，於諸佛法不能即得不退轉者，不取正覺。」—“If I attain buddhahood and the bodhisattvas in other lands, upon hearing my Name, do not immediately attain the first, second, and third patiences and immediately reach non-retrogression in the Dharmas of the buddhas, I will not attain perfect awakening” 〔T12n0360 0269b04〕. The span closes there. Only the next passage begins Dharmākara’s pledge and the auspicious responses to it.
Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Meaning of the Sūtra of Measureless Life gathers the whole under three governing themes and seven sections: 「於中合有四十八願，義要唯三，文別有七。義要三者，一攝法身願、二攝淨土願、三攝眾生願。」—“Together there are Forty-Eight Vows. Their doctrinal essentials are only three, while the text has seven distinct sections. The three doctrinal essentials are: first, vows embracing the Dharma-body; second, vows embracing the Pure Land; third, vows embracing sentient beings” 〔T37n1745 0103b07〕. More finely, the first eleven vows embrace sentient beings; Vows Twelve and Thirteen embrace the Dharma-body; Fourteen through Sixteen again embrace sentient beings; Seventeen again embraces the Dharma-body; Eighteen through Thirty again embrace sentient beings; Thirty-One and Thirty-Two embrace the Pure Land; and Thirty-Three through Forty-Eight again embrace sentient beings. This outline preserves the order of the individual vows while preventing the Forty-Eight Vows from scattering into forty-eight isolated subjects.
Jingxing establishes the same broad structure through seeking a buddha’s body, seeking a buddha-land, and benefiting sentient beings: 「四十八願，略有三意：一、求佛身願也。二、求佛土願，即三十一、第三十二願也。三、利眾生願，即餘四十三也。」—“The Forty-Eight Vows have, in brief, three intentions. First are vows seeking a buddha’s body. Second are vows seeking a buddha-land, namely the Thirty-First and Thirty-Second Vows. Third are vows benefiting sentient beings, namely the remaining forty-three” 〔T37n1748 0150c28〕. The two masters differ in speaking of embracing or seeking, but agree in their three governing themes and seven sections.
II. Collation with the Alternate Translations (Four Recensions, Vow-by-Vow Grouping and Division) — recorded without adjudication
A. Number and Arrangement of the Vows
| Recension | Span | Number | Verbatim evidence and method of counting |
|---|---|---|---|
| T361 | 0281a13–0281c22 | 24 | The sūtra itself asks 「何等為二十四願者？」—“What are the Twenty-Four Vows?” 〔T12n0361 0281a13〕; the numbering closes successively from one through twenty-four. |
| T362 | 0301a23–0302b14 | 24 | The sūtra itself asks 「何為二十四願？」—“What are the Twenty-Four Vows?” 〔T12n0362 0301a23〕; the numbering closes successively from the First through the Twenty-Fourth Vow. |
| T363 | 0319a26–0320c28 | 36 | The sūtra does not call them Thirty-Six Vows. Its first passage opens generally with 「世尊！我發誓言：願如世尊證得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；所居佛剎，具足無量不可思議功德莊嚴。」—“World-Honored One, I make this pledge: may I, like the World-Honored One, realize unsurpassed perfect awakening, and may the buddha-land in which I dwell fully possess immeasurable, inconceivable adornments of merit” 〔T12n0363 0319a27〕. Afterward, the formula 「我得菩提成正覺已」—“After I attain awakening and perfect awakening” 〔T12n0363 0319b04〕 occurs thirty-five times, making thirty-six passages in all. |
| T310, Assembly Five | 0093b14–0094c26 | 48 | The vow formula occurs in forty-eight successive passages. The first reads 「若我證得無上菩提，國中有地獄、餓鬼、畜生趣者，我終不取無上正覺。」—“If I realize unsurpassed awakening and the destinies of hell beings, hungry ghosts, or animals exist in my land, I will never attain unsurpassed perfect awakening” 〔T11n0310 0093b14〕, and the sequence closes with the Forty-Eighth Vow. |
The following table takes the numbering of T360 as its vertical axis. = marks a distinct vow occupying a closely corresponding doctrinal position; joined means that one vow in the recension combines several functions; divided means that one function is distributed across several vows; shifted means that a similar function is assigned to another subject; partial means that only part of the function is present; and — means that the vow-list contains no distinct close counterpart, not that the meaning is absent everywhere else in that sūtra. The numbers for T363 follow the sequence of the thirty-six passages just described and are not vow-numbers supplied by the sūtra itself.
| T360 vow and subject | T361 Twenty-Four Vows | T362 Twenty-Four Vows | T363 thirty-six passages | T310 Assembly Five |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. No three evil destinies in the land | =1 | =1 | joined 1: beings in the three evil destinies enter the land | =1 |
| 2. No return to the three evil destinies after death | =2 | — | joined 1 | =2 |
| 3. All possess bodies the color of true gold | =3 | joined 15: listed together with the thirty-two marks | joined 1 | =3 |
| 4. No differences of beauty and ugliness in bodily form | =4 | =9 | partial 2: equal to beings in buddha-lands | =4 |
| 5. Knowledge of former lives | =5 | joined 22: the supernormal powers listed together | =4 | =5 |
| 6. Divine eye | =6 | joined 22 | =5 | =6 |
| 7. Divine ear, hearing and retaining the Dharma | =9 | shifted 17 to a virtue of the Buddha, without hearing and retaining the Dharma | — | =7 |
| 8. Knowledge of other minds | =7 | =10 | =6 | =8 |
| 9. Supernormal travel throughout buddha-lands | =8 | shifted 17 to a virtue of the Buddha | joined 3: also making offerings to buddhas | =9 |
| 10. No greedy calculation concerning the body | =10 | partial 11: no lust, anger, or delusion | partial 2: freedom from discrimination | =10 |
| 11. Abiding in the rightly fixed group and reaching extinction | =11 | partial 8: ultimately attaining the Buddha-path | =7: abiding in the position of right trust | =11 |
| 12. Immeasurable buddha-light | joined 13: seeing the light leads to good conduct and benefit in birth, not contact with light | joined 24: seeing the light leads to good conduct and benefit in birth, not contact with light | shifted 10 to the bodily light of those born there | =12 |
| 13. Immeasurable buddha-lifespan | =14 | =19 | — | =13 |
| 14. Immeasurable number of śrāvakas | =12 | =20 | — | =14 |
| 15. Lifespans of humans and devas beyond measure | =15 | =21 | =11 | =15 |
| 16. Not hearing the name of anything unwholesome | =16 | divided 11–12: no unwholesome mental conduct, rather than not hearing an unwholesome name | =12 | =16 |
| 17. The buddhas praise and proclaim the Name | =17 | joined 4: also hearing the Name and receiving benefit through birth | — | =17 |
| 18. Wholehearted trust and joy, even ten thoughts, and birth there | —: Name and birth occur separately in 17 and 19, without a distinct ten-thought vow | divided 4–5, without a distinct ten-thought vow | divided 13–14, without a distinct ten-thought vow | =18 |
| 19. Arousing the aspiration, cultivating merit, and the welcoming assembly at death | =18 | =7 | divided 13–14 | =19 |
| 20. Hearing the Name, keeping the land in mind, planting virtue, dedicating and directing, and birth | =19 | divided 5–6 | =14 | =20 |
| 21. Thirty-two marks of a great person | =21 | joined 15: listed together with golden color | joined 15 | =21 |
| 22. Final-birth bodhisattvahood and freedom through the original vow | =20 | partial 8 | divided 15–16: final-birth bodhisattvahood and freedom through the original vow appear separately | =22 |
| 23. Making offerings throughout the buddha-lands within one meal | joined 22: with implements of offering | joined 13: with implements of offering | divided 3, 17, and 19–21 | =23 |
| 24. Implements of offering appearing at will | joined 22 | joined 13 | divided 17, 19–21, and 24 | =24 |
| 25. Expounding all-knowledge | =24 | =16 | divided 18 and 23: wisdom and teaching the Dharma appear separately | =25 |
| 26. Adamantine Nārāyaṇa body | — | — | =22 | =26 |
| 27. All things pure, radiant, and beyond measure | — | partial 3 | partial 25: bright as a mirror | =27 |
| 28. Even those of little merit see the tree at the site of awakening | — | — | — | =28 |
| 29. Receiving, reading, retaining, and teaching brings wisdom and eloquence | partial 24 | joined 16 | joined 18 | =29 |
| 30. Immeasurable wisdom and eloquence | partial 24 | joined 16 | divided 18 and 23: eloquence in 18, boundless wisdom in 23 | =30 |
| 31. The pure land reflects all worlds like a mirror | — | partial 3 | =25 | =31 |
| 32. Fragrance from jewels permeates the ten directions and prompts practice | — | partial 3 | partial 24: fragrant offerings to buddhas | =32 |
| 33. Contact with light makes body and mind gentle | partial 13: seeing the light gives rise to benefit, not bodily contact and gentleness | partial 24: seeing the light gives rise to benefit, not bodily contact and gentleness | — | =33 |
| 34. Hearing the Name brings the patience of non-arising and dhāraṇīs | — | — | partial 31 and 33: non-arising patience is present, dhāraṇīs are not | =34 |
| 35. Women hear the Name, arouse the aspiration, and do not again take female form | — | joined 2: no women and birth by transformation in lotuses are listed together | =27 | =35 |
| 36. Hearing the Name leads to pure conduct until buddhahood | — | partial 7 | =28 | =36 |
| 37. Hearing the Name leads to homage, bodhisattva practice, and the reverence of others | — | partial 4 and 7 | =29 | =37 |
| 38. Garments naturally clothe the body in response to thought | — | partial 3 | partial 30: making garments, dedicating merit, and later birth in that land | =38 |
| 39. Enjoyment equal to that of a bhikṣu whose outflows are exhausted | — | — | =26: joy surpassing the devas | =39 |
| 40. Seeing buddha-lands at will within jeweled trees | — | — | partial 25: the land is like a mirror, not within the trees | =40 |
| 41. Complete faculties through hearing the Name until buddhahood | — | — | — | =41 |
| 42. Hearing the Name brings the Samādhi of Liberation and offerings to buddhas in one thought | — | — | =32 | =42 |
| 43. Hearing the Name leads to birth in an honored family | — | — | — | =43 |
| 44. Hearing the Name brings joyful bodhisattva practice and complete roots of virtue | — | — | partial 29 | =44 |
| 45. Hearing the Name brings the Samādhi of Universal Equality and constant vision of buddhas | — | — | partial 32 and 34: concentration and seeing buddhas appear separately, without constant vision until buddhahood | =45 |
| 46. Hearing the Dharma in the land according to one’s vow | — | — | =35 | =46 |
| 47. Hearing the Name immediately brings non-retrogression | partial 18: non-retrogression after birth there | partial 7: non-retrogression after birth there | partial 36: the patiences are attained, but non-retrogression is not expressly stated | =47 |
| 48. Hearing the Name brings the three patiences and non-retrogression | — | — | partial 33 and 36: the patiences occur separately, but non-retrogression is not expressly stated | =48 |
The forty-eight rows reveal three patterns of grouping and division. First, both T361 and T362 call their sets Twenty-Four Vows. They do not simply delete the latter twenty-four vows of T360; they combine vows, shift functions, and establish other vows of their own. The Twenty-Second Vow in T361 combines travel to make offerings with implements of offering: 「我國諸菩薩欲共供養八方上下無數諸佛，皆令飛行，欲得萬種自然之物，則皆在前」—“When the bodhisattvas in my land wish together to make offerings to innumerable buddhas throughout the eight directions, above, and below, they will all fly there; when they wish for myriad kinds of naturally appearing things, all will be present before them” 〔T12n0361 0281c14〕. The Fifteenth Vow in T362 combines golden color and the major and minor marks: 「身皆紫磨金色，三十二相、八十種好，皆令如佛。」—“Their bodies will all be the color of refined purple-gold, with the thirty-two marks and eighty excellences, all made equal to those of a buddha” 〔T12n0362 0302a05〕.
Second, each of the two twenty-four-vow recensions contains distinct items absent as separate vows from T360. T361 establishes naturally appearing food as its Twenty-Third Vow. T362 similarly makes naturally appearing food its Fourteenth Vow, and makes the Buddha’s own far-reaching sight, penetrating hearing, flight, wisdom, and eloquent teaching its Seventeenth and Eighteenth Vows. Twenty-four is therefore not an evenly compressed version of forty-eight.
Third, T363 gathers the material through thirty-six recurring vow passages, with several different modes of making offerings to buddhas and swift attainment of awakening as the common conclusion of the passages. T310 Assembly Five retains forty-eight top-level vows, but still adds and omits material within individual vows. Its Eighteenth Vow, for example, reads: 「聞我名已，所有善根心心迴向願生我國，乃至十念若不生者，不取菩提；唯除造無間惡業、誹謗正法及諸聖人。」—“After hearing my Name, if they dedicate and direct every root of goodness, thought after thought, vowing to be born in my land—even for ten thoughts—and are not born there, I will not attain awakening; the sole exceptions are those who commit deeds of immediate retribution, slander the right Dharma, or slander the noble ones” 〔T11n0310 0093c22〕. This adds slander of the noble ones to the wording of T360. The difference is recorded without using one recension to supplement another.
III. Scriptural and Treatise Grounding (the “eye”)
The eye of the Forty-Eight Vows is that vow is inseparable from accomplishment. Each vow first states what is to be brought about and ends by binding Dharmākara through refusal to attain perfect awakening. It is therefore both the vow-mind of the causal stage and a condition on whether the virtues of the fruit can be established. Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land carries this causality into the three kinds of adornment: 「應知此三種莊嚴成就，由本四十八願等清淨願心之所莊嚴。因淨故果淨，非無因、他因有也。」—“Know that the accomplishment of these three kinds of adornment is adorned by the pure vow-mind of the original Forty-Eight Vows and the like. Because the cause is pure, the result is pure; the result does not arise without a cause or from some other cause” 〔T40n1819 0841b07〕.
Once accomplished, the vows do not remain only as events of the past. Explaining the sustaining activity that does not act in vain, Tanluan writes: 「依本法藏菩薩四十八願、今日阿彌陀如來自在神力，願以成力、力以就願，願不徒然、力不虛設，力願相符畢竟不差，故曰成就。」—“Relying on the original Forty-Eight Vows of Bodhisattva Dharmākara and the present sovereign spiritual power of Amitābha Tathāgata, the vow brings the power to completion and the power fulfills the vow. The vow is not in vain and the power is not exercised in vain; power and vow accord and never diverge in the end. Therefore it is called accomplishment” 〔T40n1819 0840a13〕. The former vows become the Buddha’s power today, and the Buddha’s power today keeps the vowed matters from being empty. Vow, power, and accomplishment thus form one causal line.
IV. Essentials of the Commentary on This Passage
This passage is not forty-eight unrelated benefits. Its whole structure may be read through the three governing themes of the ancient masters:
- Embracing the Dharma-body. The Twelfth and Thirteenth Vows establish immeasurable light and life, while the Seventeenth has the buddhas of the ten directions praise and proclaim the Name. The virtues of the Dharma-body do not end in self-adornment. Light illuminates the lands and the Name is heard throughout the ten directions, already opening the gate toward sentient beings.
- Embracing the Pure Land. The Thirty-First Vow uses the mirror to describe the land’s purity and its revelation of the buddha-worlds. The Thirty-Second enumerates palaces, pools, streams, flowering trees, jewels, and wondrous fragrances from the ground into the sky, and ends with those who smell the fragrance cultivating the practice of a buddha. The land’s adornment is therefore not only visible; it also gives rise to practice.
- Embracing sentient beings. The remaining forty-three vows form the largest part of the passage. The first eleven lead from freedom from the three evil destinies and from divisions of beauty and ugliness through knowledge of former lives, the supernormal powers, freedom from views that grasp at the body, and the rightly fixed group. Vows Fourteen through Sixteen concern the assembly, lifespan, and freedom from hearing unwholesome names. From the Eighteenth onward, the vows further embrace those seeking birth there, the results received after birth, bodhisattvas in the land and in other lands, and benefits through hearing the Name. Those embraced include humans and devas, śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, sentient beings throughout the ten directions, and bodhisattvas in other lands.
The verbatim Eighteenth Vow is: 「設我得佛，十方眾生至心信樂欲生我國，乃至十念，若不生者，不取正覺，唯除五逆、誹謗正法。」—“If I attain buddhahood and sentient beings throughout the ten directions, with wholehearted trust and joy, desire to be born in my land—even with as few as ten thoughts—and yet are not born there, I will not attain perfect awakening. The sole exceptions are those who commit the five heinous acts or slander the right Dharma” 〔T12n0360 0268a26〕. The meaning of this vow is read here only through Tanluan’s own words. He directly takes this vow as evidence that other-power is the predominant condition: 「緣佛願力故，十念念佛便得往生，得往生故即免三界輪轉之事，無輪轉故所以得速。」—“Through the power of the Buddha’s vow, ten thoughts recollecting the Buddha bring birth there. Because one attains birth there, one is freed from revolving through the three realms; because there is no revolving, one attains swiftly” 〔T40n1819 0844a05〕. Nor does he weigh the ten thoughts by length of time: 「輕重之義在心、在緣、在決定，不在時節久近多少也。」—“The meaning of weight lies in the mind, in the object, and in decisiveness; it does not lie in whether the period is long or short or the number great or small” 〔T40n1819 0834b25〕. The ten thoughts mean: 「隨所觀緣心無他想，十念相續名為十念。但稱名號亦復如是。」—“With the mind following the contemplated object and having no other thought, ten thoughts in succession are called ten thoughts. Merely uttering the Name is likewise” 〔T40n1819 0834c16〕.
Regarding the sole exception, Tanluan reads the Sūtra of Measureless Life together with the Sūtra of Contemplation on the Buddha of Measureless Life, distinguishes the two according to slander of the right Dharma, and explains the form of that slander: 「若言無佛無佛法、無菩薩無菩薩法。如是等見，若心自解、若從他受，其心決定，皆名誹謗正法。」—“If one says there are no buddhas and no Buddha-Dharma, no bodhisattvas and no bodhisattva Dharma—views such as these, whether understood in one’s own mind or received from another, when held with settled conviction, are all called slander of the right Dharma” 〔T40n1819 0834b04〕. His judgment is recorded without adding modern sectarian language and without rewriting the ancient reconciliation as something the sūtra itself did not say.
Vows Eighteen through Twenty each retain their own center. Eighteen speaks of wholehearted trust and joy and even ten thoughts. Nineteen speaks of giving rise to the aspiration for awakening, cultivating merit, and the welcoming assembly at the final moment of life. Twenty speaks of hearing the Name, keeping the land in mind, planting roots of virtue, dedicating and directing, and the fulfillment of birth there. Their adjacency does not make them interchangeable. The Twenty-Second Vow then reveals that final-birth bodhisattvahood is not a closed endpoint: through the freedom of their original vows, bodhisattvas may still don the armor of vast vows, travel through buddha-lands, make offerings to the buddhas, and teach sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā. The last two vows carry hearing the Name into non-retrogression and the three patiences, so that the passage begins in freedom from suffering and closes in non-retrogression on the bodhisattva path.
V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators — recorded without adjudication
| Doctrinal position | Jingxing, Linked-Meaning Expository Praise, T1748 | Huiyuan, Commentary on the Meaning, T1745 | Tanluan, Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land, T1819 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Governing structure of all the vows | Three intentions—seeking a buddha’s body, seeking a buddha-land, and benefiting sentient beings—and seven sections | Three meanings—embracing the Dharma-body, embracing the Pure Land, and embracing sentient beings—and seven sections | Does not redivide every vow; the pure vow-mind accomplishes the three adornments of land, Buddha, and bodhisattvas |
| Vow and pledge | 「汎言願者，即悕求義，所謂設我得佛等。又言誓者，即邀制義，不取正覺是也。」—“Generally speaking, a vow means hopeful seeking, as in ‘If I attain buddhahood’ and the like. A pledge means binding constraint, as in ‘I will not attain perfect awakening’” 〔T37n1748 0151a07〕 | 「諸願不滿，終不成佛。假設所願不滿得成，誓終可不取」—“Until all the vows are fulfilled, he will never become a buddha. Even supposing he could attain it while what was vowed remained unfulfilled, the pledge means that in the end he could refuse to take it” 〔T37n1745 0103b20〕 | The vows become the present sustaining power that does not act in vain; vow and power accord in accomplishment |
| The Eighteenth Vow | The several reconciliations he records are not taken as the doctrinal standard of this passage | His reading is not taken as the doctrinal standard of this passage | Explains the weight of the ten thoughts through mind, object, and decisiveness, and directly takes vow-power as the predominant condition |
| Final two vows | The Forty-Seventh is non-retrogression through added power; the Forty-Eighth is non-retrogression through one’s own power; he also explains the three patiences | Both belong to embracing sentient beings within the three governing themes | Takes the Eleventh, Eighteenth, and Twenty-Second Vows as three proofs that birth there, the rightly fixed group, and practice beyond the customary bodhisattva course all depend on the power of the original vow |
All three masters take the necessary accomplishment of the vowed matters as the skeleton of the passage. Their labels for individual vows, their reconciliations of the Eighteenth Vow, and their finer judgments concerning the patiences in the final two vows remain distinct. They are preserved in parallel rather than combined into one reading.
VI. Terms
| Term | Grounded sense and range |
|---|---|
| Vow and pledge | A vow is hopeful seeking of what is to be accomplished; a pledge binds Dharmākara through refusal to attain perfect awakening. They join the opening and ending of each vow rather than forming two separate documents. |
| Rightly fixed group | The Eleventh Vow says that the humans and devas in the land abide in the rightly fixed group and certainly reach extinction. Tanluan explains: 「緣佛願力故住正定聚，住正定聚故必至滅度無諸迴伏之難，所以得速。」—“Through the power of the Buddha’s vow they abide in the rightly fixed group. Because they abide in the rightly fixed group, they certainly reach extinction without the difficulties of repeated turning back; therefore they attain swiftly” 〔T40n1819 0844a09〕. |
| Wholehearted trust and joy | The quality of mind directed toward birth there in the Eighteenth Vow, joined to the desire for birth and ten thoughts. Its meaning is not rewritten through modern psychological language. |
| Ten thoughts | Tanluan expressly treats these not as a fixed period, but as a continuous recollection in which the mind has no other thought; merely uttering the Name is likewise. |
| Final-birth bodhisattva | One fruit-position embraced by Vows Eighteen through Twenty-Two. The Twenty-Second further says that those free through their original vows may continue cultivating the virtues of Samantabhadra in order to deliver sentient beings. |
| Armor of vast vows | The armor is a simile for a great vow protecting a bodhisattva who enters among sentient beings; the sūtra sets it beside accumulating roots of virtue and delivering all beings. |
| Dhāraṇī | The Thirty-Fourth Vow sets profound dhāraṇīs beside the patience of non-arising; it does not reduce every dhāraṇī to one practice gate. |
| Samādhi of Universal Equality | The concentration of the Forty-Fifth Vow, in which one constantly sees immeasurable tathāgatas. Jingxing explains the name: 「普者即普遍義，等者即齊等義。」—“Universal means all-pervading; equality means equal and even” 〔T37n1748 0153a22〕. |
| First, second, and third patiences | The Forty-Eighth Vow lists the three patiences but does not itself assign them to distinct stages in this passage. Ancient masters offer more detailed judgments, but no one reading is added to the source text. |
VII. Similes and Rhetoric
The Forty-Eight Vows repeatedly rise and fall through the same sentence form. “If I attain buddhahood” first places buddhahood under a future condition; “I will not attain perfect awakening” then binds buddhahood itself to the vowed matter. Repeated forty-eight times, the form is more than verbal symmetry. Each repetition joins the buddha-fruit to one quality of buddha-body, land, or sentient beings and prevents perfect awakening from being read apart from the vowed result.
Two prominent images occur within the sūtra. The first is the clear mirror: the Thirty-First Vow says that the land reveals the buddha-worlds throughout the ten directions, and the Fortieth that the jeweled trees reveal the buddha-lands, both comparing pure manifestation to seeing one’s face in a mirror. The second is the armor of vast vows. The Twenty-Second Vow does not make final-birth bodhisattvahood the conclusion for every bodhisattva, but describes those free through their original vows as 「被弘誓鎧」—“donning the armor of vast vows” 〔T12n0360 0268b10〕. A great vow is like armor: it keeps bodhisattvas who enter the realm of sentient beings from losing their practice.
The rhetoric of number also expands in successive layers: hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands, sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, and immeasurable, innumerable, inconceivable worlds recur throughout the passage. Yet each passage returns to a specific reception: hearing the Dharma, seeing buddhas, making offerings, obtaining clothing, gentleness of body and mind, or completeness of the faculties. The immeasurable does not dilute content; it extends a discernible vowed matter toward boundless sentient beings.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- Vows becoming power. Tanluan joins the Forty-Eight Vows to the Buddha’s present power in mutual accomplishment. The vow is not in vain and the power is not exercised in vain. This is the direct carrying forward of the passage from causal vows into the fruit.
- Three vows proving swift awakening. Tanluan joins birth through the Eighteenth Vow, abiding in the rightly fixed group through the Eleventh, and practice beyond the customary grounds through the Twenty-Second as three proofs, concluding: 「以斯而推，他力為增上緣。」—“Reasoning from these, other-power is the predominant condition” 〔T40n1819 0844a20〕. Other-power here rests on an ancient master’s verbatim text and is not established through a modern narrative.
- The pure vow-mind enters the single Dharma-statement. The three classes of adornment—land, Buddha, and bodhisattvas—are all accomplished through the pure vow-mind and afterward are gathered into the statement of purity. The Forty-Eight Vows are thus not cited only at the level of individual vows, but become the cause through which the Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in That Land explains the adornments as a whole.
- Grouping and division in the alternate translations. Jingxing already records that the early translations differ in number, grouping, and sequence. The vow-by-vow table preserves each recension’s native arrangement rather than erasing differences through conflation.
IX. Placement Among the Recensions
This unit takes T12n0360 0267c17–0269b06 as its base. Within this range the collation layer has twenty-four <app> elements, representing twenty-four loci with variant readings. It also has forty-two <note> elements: forty-one are collation records attached directly to target words and phrases in the body, and one is a cross-reference note within an <app>. The body contains no gaiji and no inline note. In the Seventeenth Vow, the first graph of the phrase meaning “praise and proclaim” is the lemma in the collation layer, supported by the CBETA text and the Korean witness; another graph is the reading of the original Taishō edition. This edition follows the CBETA body text and reads 「咨嗟稱我名者」—“those who praise and proclaim my Name” 〔T12n0360 0268a24〕, without substituting the original Taishō graph.
All forty-eight textual blocks close as individual vows. The body has no inline annotation and displays no missing character. The source preserves the outer speech marks around each vow, the inner speech marks around Dharmākara’s own words, and the sentence-ending punctuation. The two pairs of dashes in the Thirty-Second Vow and the two pairs in the Twenty-Second are punctuation of the reading text and do not create additional vows.
What most needs to be preserved in placing the text among the recensions is the difference between vow-number and clauses within a vow. Although the Twenty-Second Vow contains a long passage beginning with the exception for those free through their original vows, it remains one vow. Although the Thirty-Second enumerates the ground, sky, palaces, towers, pools, streams, flowering trees, jewels, and fragrances, it still closes with one “if this is not so.” T363 continues its vow passages across the physical boundary between its first and middle fascicles, but the fascicle boundary does not create another vow. The additional phrase concerning slander of the noble ones in the Eighteenth Vow of T310 belongs only to that recension. Each text retains its own form; the recensions are not supplemented, cut down, or conflated into one reading.