佛說無量壽經 上輩

Before the Final Moment

The sūtra first directs its gaze to this life. Some hope to see the Buddha of Measureless Life in this very life. That hope does not begin only as death approaches. While one can still give rise to a resolve, still choose, and still practice, it has already changed the direction of one’s life.

Those of the highest grade first leave household life behind, abandon desire, and become renunciants. They release the old center of life and no longer let desire decide where they are going. What follows renunciation is not a blank. The sūtra immediately speaks of arousing the aspiration, recollecting the Buddha, cultivating virtue, and vowing for birth. What has been relinquished has weight; what one turns toward has still greater weight.

A Mind Acquires Its Direction

Giving rise to the aspiration for awakening means that this road does not lead only to personal security. Its aim is buddhahood, so its breadth cannot end with oneself. Birth in that land is not a way to leave all beings behind while seeking happiness elsewhere alone.

The sūtra also says to recollect the Buddha of Measureless Life single-mindedly. “Single-mindedly” does not mean remembering him now and then; “recollect” means keeping the Buddha as the mind’s undivided object, not adding one more object to a crowd of desires. Once the mind has a definite direction, merit does not lose its way and the vow for birth is no temporary hope.

Cultivating many kinds of merit gives this intention visible practice; vowing for birth in that land gives all practice a common destination. The path of the highest grade is therefore not named after a single act. What one’s body relinquishes, what one’s mind arouses, what one’s recollection holds, what one’s conduct cultivates, and where one’s vow returns all turn at once toward one buddha and his land.

After the Buddha Appears, the Sūtra Uses Only the Word “Follow”

As life approaches its end, the Buddha of Measureless Life appears before that person together with the great assembly. The scene is quiet. The sūtra does not intensify fear or demand that the practitioner prove anything alone. The Buddha recollected throughout this life and the assembly of the pure land become what is seen before one’s eyes.

What follows is not hesitation: the person immediately follows that buddha and is born in his land. On seeing him, one follows him. The sūtra adds no other direction and does not change the final object of reliance. This life’s recollection and the vision at life’s end meet within the word “follow.”

The welcoming appearance therefore does not take a stranger to a strange place. Those of the highest grade have long recollected him and vowed through their merit for birth in his land. At life’s end, the one recollected appears and what was vowed becomes a journey. There is no new decision about where to go; the destination of a lifetime finally becomes fully visible.

From a House in This World to a Flower of the Seven Precious Substances

After arrival in that land, the sūtra says that one spontaneously undergoes transformation-birth within a flower of the seven precious substances. One first leaves the household in this life, yet after birth there one is not left without refuge. One receives birth within a flower of the seven precious substances. The former life sustained by desire has been relinquished; the new life does not arise from worldly gestation or family lineage.

What follows spontaneous transformation-birth is not a temporary rest, but dwelling in non-retrogression. The mind that once gave rise to the aspiration for awakening no longer retreats from the Buddha-path after reaching that land. The vow not only arrives in a country; it enters a form of life that does not retreat.

The sūtra adds that wisdom is courageous and supernormal powers are freely exercised. Wisdom is neither hesitant nor powerless, and activity is no longer obstructed at every turn. Completion of birth in the highest grade is not merely the acquisition of a secure dwelling. Only when the mind no longer retreats from buddhahood and wisdom and activity unfold does the full life born within that flower appear.

The Words “This Very Life” Still Stand Before Us

Having spoken of life’s end, birth in that land, and non-retrogression, the sūtra does not leave us in a distant future. It returns to this very life and to three things that can still be aroused: cultivating merit, vowing for birth in that land, and—before them both—giving rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed awakening.

Who appears before us at the final moment is not separate from where the mind turns now. Give rise to the aspiration in this life, cultivate virtue in this life, and vow for birth in this life. At life’s end, the Buddha and the great assembly appear, and one follows the Buddha. The sūtra gathers a long life into a few words and places a distant buddha-land within the aspiration aroused, practice cultivated, and vow established today.

The story of those in the highest grade does not end with leaving home, nor does it end with seeing the Buddha. Renunciation lets the mind turn; aspiration keeps the vow from being only for oneself; single-minded recollection keeps the direction from scattering; merit turns the vow into practice. When the Buddha of Measureless Life truly appears, one follows him, is born within a flower, and dwells in non-retrogression. From this life to life’s end, from this land to that land, the direction never changes.

Taishō canon T12n0360, from the Buddha’s general announcement to Ānanda of the three grades through the concluding exhortation on the highest grade. The figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔一 · General Announcement of the Three Grades〕（0272b15）The Buddha told Ānanda: among all gods and humans throughout the worlds of the ten directions, those who vow with utmost sincerity for birth in the land of the Buddha of Measureless Life fall into three grades.

〔二 · Five Causal Practices of the Highest Grade〕（0272b16）Those of the highest grade leave household life behind, abandon desire, and become renunciants. They give rise to the aspiration for awakening and single-mindedly recollect the Buddha of Measureless Life. They also cultivate many kinds of merit and vow for birth in the land of the Buddha of Measureless Life.

〔三 · At Life’s End, the Buddha and the Great Assembly Appear〕（0272b18）As the lives of these beings are about to end, the Buddha of Measureless Life appears before them together with the great assembly.

〔四 · Following the Buddha to Birth and Transformation-Birth in a Flower of the Seven Precious Substances〕（0272b19）They immediately follow the Buddha of Measureless Life and are born in his land, where they spontaneously undergo transformation-birth within a flower of the seven precious substances.

〔五 · Three Attainments after Birth〕（0272b20）After birth in that land, they dwell in non-retrogression, are courageous in wisdom, and freely exercise supernormal powers.

〔六 · Concluding Exhortation on Seeing the Buddha in This Life〕（0272b21）The Buddha therefore again told Ānanda: beings who wish to see the Buddha of Measureless Life in this very life should give rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed awakening, cultivate merit, and vow for birth in his land.

This exposition follows the four temporal positions identified by Jingxing’s Linked-Meaning Expository Praise: causal practice in present existence, the manifestation of signs in the death-existence, following the Buddha in the intermediate existence, and attaining benefits in the birth-existence. It consults the five causes of the highest grade expressly listed in Huiyuan’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Measureless Life and uses Tanluan’s accounts of the aspiration for awakening, transformation-birth in a pure flower, and the power of the original vows to illuminate their destination. The three ancient mirrors make clear that these nine short lines do not merely name a “highest grade.” They set out a complete causal sequence from arousing the mind and practicing in this life, through the appearance of the Buddha and the assembly at life’s end, all the way to birth in non-retrogression.

After Announcing the Three Grades, the Sūtra Gives the Highest Grade in Full

The sūtra begins by telling Ānanda that among the gods and humans throughout the worlds of the ten directions, those who vow with utmost sincerity for birth in that land fall into three grades. The scope is the gods and humans of the ten directions; the beginning is an utterly sincere vow for birth; the distinction is into three grades. This general statement establishes their common direction before entering their differences. The three grades are not three unrelated Dharma-gates. All share the vow for birth in that land, while each unfolds according to its causal practices, conditions at life’s end, and attainments.

The body of the highest grade gives its causal practice in one sentence, yet omits none of its five parts: those of the highest grade leave household life behind, abandon desire, and become renunciants; give rise to the aspiration for awakening; single-mindedly recollect the Buddha of Measureless Life; cultivate many kinds of merit; and vow for birth in that land. Five actions flow continuously from leaving home and abandoning desire to vowing for birth. If one stares only at renunciation, the mind, recollection, practice, and vow that follow disappear. If one keeps only single-minded recollection, the aspiration for awakening and the many kinds of merit are omitted. The sūtra allows no single item to monopolize the meaning of the highest grade.

After the five causes, the sūtra uses time to describe life’s end, following the Buddha, and the benefits after birth. It closes by turning, with “therefore,” back to this very life. From present causes to the conditions at death, from the event of birth to its result in that land, and then from that result back to exhorting causes in the present—the beginning and end illuminate one another. The outline of the highest grade is therefore not a general label meaning “those who practice more.” It is a sequence jointly constituted by the five causes, the welcoming appearance, following the Buddha, transformation-birth, three benefits, and the concluding exhortation.

The common passage immediately before this one ends with the exception of those who commit the five heinous acts or slander the right Dharma, but the present passage does not repeat that sentence. Ancient readers have variously distinguished the three grades of this sūtra from the lowest grade in the Contemplation Sūtra, distinguished persons and practices according to arousal of the mind, repentance, or right contemplation, or understood the two offenses of heinous acts and slander of the right Dharma as having to be combined. These three approaches cannot be reduced to a single account. The difficult sentence must remain, but it cannot be added as a sixth causal practice of the highest grade. The present passage expressly enumerates only the five already stated.

Leaving Home and Abandoning Desire: Bodily Conduct Turns First

The sūtra places leaving home, abandoning desire, and becoming a renunciant as the first cause. Leaving home does not mean merely changing where one lives, nor does abandoning desire mean merely possessing fewer comforts. Placed together before becoming a renunciant, they say that domestic life and desire-soaked living no longer form the center of bodily conduct. Those of the highest grade first accept their vow through a change of identity and way of life. Ancient doctrinal divisions therefore call this abandoning the worldly and leaving home. In comparing the three grades, they take renunciation to characterize the highest and lay life to characterize the middle and lowest, thereby clarifying their difference in bodily conduct.

Yet the sūtra does not say that becoming a renunciant completes the path. The sentence immediately continues with giving rise to the aspiration for awakening, showing that external relinquishment must possess a direction of mind. It then continues with single-minded recollection, showing that the mind’s direction must have an object to which recollection is bound. It then adds cultivating merit and vowing for birth in that land, showing that recollection of the Buddha must become conduct and that all conduct must share a destination. Without the four causes that follow, leaving household life and abandoning desire would leave only an outward form and would not yet transmit the complete path of the highest grade.

We can therefore see the sūtra’s measure. It neither belittles renunciation nor isolates renunciation as the only criterion. The highest grade first expressly contains the bodily conduct of abandoning the worldly and becoming a renunciant. Within that conduct, however, the aspiration for awakening, single-minded recollection, merit, and the vow for birth must run continuously. The body turns first; mind and practice then become complete. Only all five together form one causal whole.

The Aspiration for Awakening Keeps the Vow for Birth from Seeking Only One’s Own Pleasure

The second cause is giving rise to the aspiration for awakening. The sūtra places this mind after leaving home and before single-minded recollection, so that everything practiced afterward first receives a Mahāyāna direction. In carrying forward the three grades of this sūtra, an ancient treatise says directly that although practices are superior or inferior among the three grades of birth, none fails to arouse the aspiration for unsurpassed awakening. Superior and inferior practices distinguish the grades; the aspiration for awakening is their common foundation. Because the highest grade possesses all five causes, still less may its vow for birth be reduced to a wish to enjoy that land.

The treatise further unfolds this aspiration in stages. The aspiration for unsurpassed awakening is the mind that vows to become a buddha. The mind that vows to become a buddha is the mind that vows to deliver beings. The mind that vows to deliver beings is the mind that embraces beings and brings them to birth in a land where a buddha is present. Vowing to become a buddha is not a quest for the highest personal rank apart from beings; precisely because buddhahood is what is vowed, the mind to deliver beings is within it. Delivering beings is also more than abstract goodwill: beings are to be born in a land where a buddha is present, hear the Dharma, and not retreat. The aspiration therefore joins the vow for Pure Land birth.

This point most directly prevents the highest grade from becoming a story of individual superiority. We see those of the highest grade leave home, recollect single-mindedly, and cultivate merit, but the principal mind established by the sūtra is unsurpassed awakening. If one seeks only personal security, the second of the five causes has been lost. If one vows to become a buddha without the mind to deliver beings, the aspiration itself has been emptied. By placing the vow for birth within the aspiration for awakening, the sūtra keeps that vow from its very beginning from closing around a single person.

Single-Minded Recollection, the Cultivation of Merit, and the Vow for Birth Each Have Their Own Work

The third cause is single-minded recollection of the Buddha of Measureless Life: the mind’s object does not scatter elsewhere. In discussing the gate of aspiration, the ancient tradition says that the mind constantly forms the aspiration, recollects single-mindedly, and will ultimately be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss. Constantly forming the aspiration keeps single-minded recollection from becoming an occasional memory; recollecting single-mindedly keeps the aspiration from being only a verbal direction. The object of recollection is the Buddha of Measureless Life, and the destination of the aspiration is his land. Buddha and land correspond within recollection and aspiration.

The fourth cause, cultivating many kinds of merit, is not enumerated item by item in this short passage. The expression “many kinds” preserves the breadth of the practices and prevents merit from being narrowed into another name for a single spoken recitation. At the same time, the sūtra places the cultivation of merit immediately after single-minded recollection and does not allow many good acts to scatter into an accumulation without shared direction. Single-minded recollection unifies the mind’s direction; merit turns that direction into many forms of wholesome conduct. The two stand side by side without displacing each other.

The fifth cause, the vow for birth in that land, gathers the preceding four into a single destination. It is not one more wish added outside the five causes. The sūtra attaches it directly to the cultivation of merit, showing that what is cultivated has dedication, direction, and purpose. The ancient explanation of dedication is to turn one’s own merit and give it to all beings, making the vow that all together be born in the Pure Land of Peace and Bliss of Amitābha Tathāgata. Merit thereby does not return only to oneself, and the vow for birth does not carry only oneself forward.

Read together, these three clauses perform distinct tasks. Single-minded recollection treats scattering of direction; cultivating merit fills that direction with actual practice; vowing for birth in that land fixes its destination. No one of them can completely substitute for either of the others. By writing them within a single sentence, the sūtra transmits causal practice that recollects the Buddha without discarding the many wholesome deeds, cultivates what is wholesome without losing recollection of the Buddha, and vows for birth without abandoning beings.

At Life’s End, the Real Buddha Appears with the Great Assembly

The sūtra turns from causal practice to the time of death. As the lives of these beings are about to end, the Buddha of Measureless Life appears before them together with the great assembly. They immediately follow that buddha and are born in his land, spontaneously undergo transformation-birth within a flower of the seven precious substances, dwell in non-retrogression, are courageous in wisdom, and freely exercise supernormal powers. The words “these beings” carry forward all five preceding causes. The appearance at life’s end is not an accidental vision unrelated to practice in this life. Nor is the one who comes merely a buddha-name or an image in a dream: the Buddha of Measureless Life and the great assembly appear together. In comparing the three grades, the ancient tradition accordingly takes the highest grade as welcomed by Amitābha’s real body, the middle as greeted by a transformation body, and the lowest as seeing the Buddha in a dream. The wording of the present passage itself is precisely that the Buddha and the assembly appear before the person.

This appearance answers both the object of single-minded recollection and the destination of the vow for birth. The Buddha of Measureless Life, recollected single-mindedly in this life, is no abstract name at life’s end. Nor must the practitioner grope alone toward the land in which birth was vowed. The Buddha and the assembly appear: the object of recollection becomes what is seen, and when the condition of the welcoming appearance matures, the destination of the vow becomes the place to which one can follow the Buddha and be born.

Here we also see that the passage does not write life’s end as a final test faced in isolation. The five causes are practiced by the practitioner in this life; the appearance is the condition accomplished by the Buddha and the assembly. The sūtra joins both sides within the same causal sequence. It neither erases aspiration, single-minded recollection, and merit nor says that birth is a solitary crossing through birth and death by one’s own power. Causal practice and the welcoming appearance meet at life’s end; only then does the next sentence speak of following the Buddha.

After Seeing the Buddha, One Follows the Buddha to Birth

The sūtra uses only the word “follow” to write the movement after the Buddha appears. “Immediately” means that one does not wait for another condition; “follow” identifies clearly the one on whom one relies. “That buddha” and “his land” link the one who comes to welcome with the destination of birth. Those of the highest grade do not see the Buddha but remain in this world, nor do they go to that land by themselves without seeing the Buddha. Seeing, following, and birth come one after another.

Ancient doctrinal analysis classifies the sentence as following the Buddha in the intermediate existence precisely because the sūtra uses following the Buddha to connect life’s end and transformation-birth in that land. The passage does not elaborate the form of the intermediate existence or add imagined scenes along the route. All that can be established is what the sūtra says: the Buddha of Measureless Life first appears before them, the beings immediately follow that buddha, and the destination is his land. Refusing to fill the difficulty with imagination makes the trust and reliance contained in the word “follow” still clearer.

Following the Buddha also gathers the sequence of the five causes to completion. Leaving home and abandoning desire are what the body relinquishes; the aspiration for awakening is what the mind arouses; single-minded recollection is what thought holds; merit is what practice cultivates; the vow for birth is the destination. At life’s end, the Buddha who was recollected appears, the land that was vowed becomes accessible, and the practitioner completes the movement from here to there by following. The direction held during the causal stage has not changed. At the time of the result, it has simply become wholly manifest.

Spontaneous Transformation-Birth in a Flower of the Seven Precious Substances Reveals the Retinue of Perfect Awakening

After following the Buddha to birth, the sūtra says that one spontaneously undergoes transformation-birth within a flower of the seven precious substances. “Thereupon” links this directly with “immediately follow”: after birth in that land one enters transformation-birth without an intervening stage. The flower of the seven precious substances states the place of birth; spontaneous transformation-birth states the manner in which a body is received. In this passage the sūtra does not describe how quickly or slowly the flower opens, nor does it divide this transformation-birth into superior and inferior periods of waiting. After transformation-birth in the flower, those of the highest grade directly dwell in non-retrogression.

A later tradition carries this meaning forward by calling those born there the Tathāgata’s pure-flower assembly, transformation-born from the flower of perfect awakening. It explains that all the retinue of that land are born within the Tathāgata’s pure flower and that, as retinue, they are equal with no route for favoring some and dispossessing others. This equality does not say that every grade of merit in that land is entirely without distinction. It means that birth in the retinue is not decided by worldly parents, clan, caste, or miscellaneous karma and that no one is favored or deprived because of worldly origin.

The sūtra itself bears this transformation through the flower of the seven precious substances. Those of the highest grade have a distinctive bodily practice in this life—leaving home to become renunciants. Yet after birth there, they do not carry worldly family origin into a new life as its ground. They spontaneously receive birth within a flower of the buddha-land. What they relinquished was desire-bound domestic life; what they receive is a body in the retinue embraced by the merit of perfect awakening. The flower is not decorative scenery. It is the place of birth and basis of transformation-birth expressly named in the passage.

Non-Retrogression, Wisdom, and Supernormal Power Are Three Aspects of Attainment after Birth

After transformation-birth the sūtra gives three statements: they dwell in non-retrogression, are courageous in wisdom, and freely exercise supernormal powers. The first concerns stage; the second concerns the virtue of wisdom; the third concerns activity. Dwelling in non-retrogression means that the direction toward the Buddha-path is no longer lost. Courageous wisdom means that clear understanding is neither slow nor powerless. Freedom in supernormal powers means that the virtue attained has unobstructed activity. Together the three describe benefits in the birth-existence and should not be blended into a vague reward of pleasure.

Non-retrogression, in particular, carries forward the aspiration for awakening. If the highest grade vowed only for enjoyment, “non-retrogression” would have no Buddha-path from which not to retreat. Precisely because the aspiration is for unsurpassed awakening, birth into the rightly fixed group and progress toward awakening correspond to the vow and practice. Ancient tradition explains non-retrogression through the power of the Buddha’s vows: supported by that vow-power, one dwells in the rightly fixed group; dwelling there, one necessarily reaches extinction without the difficulties of turning back or sinking down. What this clarifies is sustaining by the Buddha’s power, not cancellation of the preceding five causes.

Wisdom and supernormal powers are not for the practitioner’s private admiration. Since the aspiration for awakening includes the mind to deliver beings, courageous wisdom gives the capacity to illuminate and benefit them, and freedom in supernormal powers is more than an unusual ability. The Commentary on the Treatise describes the path after birth as first entering the rightly fixed group, entering the great assembly, dwelling securely in practice, and eventually reaching the stage of teaching and transforming. Although the present passage does not unfold those later developments, its language of wisdom and freedom already shows that birth is not static residence.

If the three benefits are read only as personal acquisition, they become separated from the preceding aspiration for awakening. If they are read only as future adornments, their roots in the five causes practiced in this life are forgotten. The order of the sūtra is clear: first arouse the mind, recollect single-mindedly, cultivate merit, and vow for birth; at life’s end meet the Buddha and assembly appearing; follow the Buddha, undergo transformation-birth within a flower, and then dwell in non-retrogression with courageous wisdom and freedom in supernormal powers. The virtues of the result give the causal vow its destination, and the causal vow keeps the virtues of the result joined to the Buddha-path and beings.

Seeing the Buddha in This Life: The Concluding Exhortation Returns to Mind, Practice, and Vow

The passage ends by saying that beings who wish to see the Buddha of Measureless Life in this very life should give rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed awakening, cultivate merit, and vow for birth in his land. “This very life” brings the seemingly distant scene at life’s end back to the present. The sūtra does not ask people merely to wait until death or make seeing the Buddha a result unrelated to the present. It points out that for those who wish to see the Buddha today, what can be established today is still the aspiration for awakening, the practice of merit, and the vow for birth.

The concluding exhortation repeats only three of the five causes. This does not withdraw leaving home and becoming a renunciant or single-minded recollection. It uses the aspiration for unsurpassed awakening to gather the mind, cultivating merit to gather practice, and the vow for birth in that land to gather the destination. The concrete forms of the five causes in the preceding highest grade remain intact. If these three sentences were extracted as a separate road requiring fewer causes, the complete causal sequence of the highest grade before “therefore” would cease to function.

Nor is seeing the Buddha in this life a guarantee that a later teacher may promise on the Buddha’s behalf. The sūtra gives a causal sequence: the desire is clear, what is aroused is the aspiration for unsurpassed awakening, what is done is the cultivation of merit, and what is vowed is birth in that land. The appearance at life’s end and following the Buddha to birth were stated above as the result for these beings. A Dharma teacher can point only to the relationship already stated by the sūtra, without adding a timetable or turning the concluding exhortation into a command that pressures others.

Carrying Forward — How Do the Five Causes Correspond with the Buddha’s Vow-Power?

What precedes is the sūtra’s own meaning from the five causes to the three benefits. Three ancient mirrors may now illuminate it from the side—not as the sūtra itself, but as three views of the same event through doctrinal divisions, stages, and the power of the original vows. Jingxing classifies the passage as causal practice in present existence, the manifestation of signs in the death-existence, following the Buddha in the intermediate existence, and attainment of benefits in the birth-existence. In comparing the three grades, he also distinguishes the three welcoming conditions of a real body, a transformation body, and a dream-vision. The temporal sequence of the nine lines and the distinctive form of the highest grade are therefore not hidden by the passage’s brevity.

Huiyuan expressly sets out the five causal statements as abandoning the worldly and leaving home, arousing the aspiration for awakening, single-minded recollection of the Buddha of Measureless Life, cultivating many kinds of merit, and using all the preceding good to vow for birth in that land. He then explains non-retrogression as firmness of stage and courageous wisdom as excellence of accomplished virtue. This mirror gives each of the five causes its place and keeps the three benefits after birth from becoming one undifferentiated mass. Jingxing and Huiyuan do not agree in every detail on how the stage of the highest grade corresponds to the three births of the highest class in the Contemplation Sūtra. Their accounts must therefore remain separate and cannot be written backward into this sūtra as its one explicit assignment.

Tanluan takes the aspiration for awakening common to the three grades as the mind that vows to become a buddha, deliver beings, and bring beings to birth in a land where a buddha is present. He also unfolds the farther meaning of transformation-birth in a pure flower and the sustaining power of the original vows within the rightly fixed group. His five gates of mindful practice are bodily worship of Amitābha Buddha; verbal praise of the Buddha’s Name and its meaning; constantly forming the aspiration, recollecting single-mindedly, and aspiring for birth; contemplating with wisdom the adornments of the land, Buddha, and bodhisattvas; and not abandoning suffering beings but dedicating and directing one’s merit universally to them. The first four practices enter the Pure Land of Peace and Bliss. Dedication and direction of merit has both outgoing and returning aspects: one aspires to be born in that land together with beings, then after birth returns into birth and death to teach and transform them. The aspiration for birth is therefore not closed within self-benefit. This mirror makes two truths visible at once: the five causes of the highest grade really are beings’ practice, and the appearance of the Buddha and the assembly at life’s end and birth into non-retrogression really are accomplishment through the Buddha’s vow-power. Vow and power accord. The practitioner is not thrown back upon isolated self-power, and arousing the mind and cultivating virtue are not erased as though nothing need be done.

Each of the three ancient mirrors has its own doctrinal judgment, yet in the end we must return to the sūtra’s own exhortation. The sūtra does not explain the highest grade through a separate path requiring fewer causes. It places aspiration, merit, and the vow for birth once more in this very life. This is the passage’s steadiest point: the Buddha who appears at life’s end begins with the mind aroused now, the practice cultivated now, and the land vowed for now.