The 48 Vows ...
This translation of the Primal Vows from the Larger Pure
Land Sutra is from "The Three Pure Land Sutras," Hisao Inagaki,
Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto, 1994, pp. 241-51. This volume presents a
comprehensive study of the Pure Land tradition.
LARGER SUTRA
.....When he had finished this task, he went to the
Buddha, knelt down at his feet, walked round him three times, joined his
palms in worship and sat down. He then said to the Buddha, 'I have adopted
the pure practices for the establishment of a glorious Buddha-land.' The
Buddha said to him, 'You should proclaim this. Know that now is the right
time. Encourage and delight the entire assembly. Hearing this, other
bodhisattvas will practise this Dharma and so fulfill their innumerable
great vows.' The Bhiksu replied, 'I beg you to grant me your attention.
Then I will fully proclaim my vows.
(1) If, when I attain Buddhahood, there should be in my
land a hell, a realm of hungry spirits or a realm of animals, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(2) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should after death fall again into the three evil realms, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(3) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not all be the colour of pure gold, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(4) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not all be of one appearance, and should there be any
difference in beauty, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(5) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not remember all their former lives, not knowingly at least
the events which occurred during the previous hundred thousand kotis of
nayutas of kalpas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(6) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the divine eye of seeing at least a hundred
thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(7) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the divine ear of hearing the teachings of
at least a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddhas and should not
remember all of them, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(8) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the faculty of knowing the thoughts of others, at
least those of all sentient beings living in a hundred thousand kotis of
nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(9) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the supernatural power of travelling anywhere in
one instant, even beyond a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(10) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should give rise to thoughts of self-attachment, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(11) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should not dwell in the Definitely Assured State and unfailingly
reach Nirvana, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(12) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my light should be
limited, unable to illuminate at least a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas
of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(13) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my life-span should
be limited, even to the extent of a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
kalpas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(14) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the number of the
grdvakas in my land could be known, even if all the beings") and
pratyekabuddhas living in this universe of a thousand million worlds
should count them during a hundred thousand kalpas, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(15) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should have limited life-spans, except when they wish to shorten
them in accordance with their original vows, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(16) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should even hear of any wrongdoing, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(17) If, when I attain Buddhahood, innumerable Buddhas
in the lands of the ten directions should not all praise and glorify my
Name, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(18) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in
the lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully entrust
themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name even ten
times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment. Excluded, however, are those who commit the five gravest
offences and abuse the right Dharma.
(19) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in
the lands of the ten directions, who awaken aspiration for Enlightenment,
do various meritorious deeds and sincerely desire to be born in my
land, should not, at their death, see me appear before them surrounded by
a multitude of sages, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(20) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in
the lands of the ten directions who, having heard my Name, concentrate
their thoughts on my land, do various meritorious deeds and sincerely
transfer their merits towards my land with a desire to be born there,
should not eventually fulfill their aspiration, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(21) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should not all be endowed with the thirty-two physical
characteristics of a Great Man, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(22), If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
Buddha-lands of the other directions who visit my land should not
ultimately and unfailingly reach the Stage of Becoming a Buddha after One
More Life, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. Excepted are those who
wish to teach and guide sentient beings in accordance with their original
vows. For they wear the armour of great vows, accumulate merits, deliver
all beings from birth-and-death, visit Buddhalands to perform the
bodhisattva practices, make offerings to Buddhas, Tathagatas, throughout
the ten directions, enlighten uncountable sentient beings as numerous as
the sands of the River Ganges, and establish them in the highest, perfect
Enlightenment. Such bodhisattvas transcend the course of practice of the
ordinary bodhisattva stages and actually cultivate the virtues of
Samantabhadra.
(23) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my
land, who would make offerings to Buddhas through my divine power, should
not be able to reach immeasurable and innumerable kotis of nayutas of
Buddha-lands in the short time it takes to eat a meal, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(24) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my
land should not be able, as they wish, to perform meritorious acts of
worshipping the Buddhas with the offerings of their choice, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(25) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my
land should not be able to expound the Dharma with the all-knowing wisdom,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(26) If, when I attain Buddhahood, there should be any
bodhisattva in my land not endowed with the body of the Vaj'ra-god Ndrdyaa,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(27) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings
should be able, even with the divine eye, to distinguish by name and
calculate by number all the myriads of manifestations provided for the
humans and devas in my land, which are glorious and resplendent and have
exquisite details beyond description, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(28) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my
land, even those with little store of merit, should not be able to see the
Bodhi-tree which has countless colours and is four million li in height,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(29) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my
land should not acquire eloquence and wisdom in upholding sutras and
reciting and expounding them, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(30) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the wisdom and
eloquence of bodhisattvas in my land should be limited, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(31) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my land should not be
resplendent, revealing in its light all the immeasurable, innumerable and
inconceivable Buddha-lands, like images reflected in a clear
mirror, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(32) If, when I attain Buddhahood, all the myriads of
manifestations in my land, from the ground to the sky, such as palaces,
pavilions, ponds, streams and trees, should not be composed both of
countless treasures, which surpass in excellence anything in the
worlds of humans and devas, and of a hundred thousand kinds of aromatic
wood, whose fragrance pervades all the worlds of the ten directions,
causing all bodhisattvas who sense it to perform Buddhist practices, then
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(33) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in
the immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions, who
have been touched by my light, should not feel peace and happiness in
their bodies and minds surpassing those of humans and devas, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(34) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in
the immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions, who
have heard my Name, should not gain the bodhisattva's insight into the
non-arising of all dharmas and should not acquire various profound
dharanis,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(35) If, when I attain Buddhahood, women in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions who,
having heard my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration for
Enlightenment and wish to renounce womanhood, should after death be reborn
again as women, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(36) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions, who
have heard my Name, should not, after the end of their lives, always
perform sacred practices until I they reach Buddhahood, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(37) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
the immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions,
who, having heard my Name, prostrate themselves on the ground to revere
and worship me, rejoice in faith, and perform the bodhisattva
practices, should not be respected by all devas and people of the world,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(38) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should not obtain clothing, as soon as such a desire arises in
their minds, and if the fine robes as prescribed and praised by the
Buddhas should not be spontaneously provided for them to wear, and if
these clothes should need sewing, bleaching, dyeing or washing, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(39) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in
my land should not enjoy happiness and pleasure comparable to those of a
monk who has exhausted all the passions, may not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(40) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in
my land who wish to see the immeasurable glorious Buddhalands of the ten
directions, should not be able to view all of them reflected in the
jewelled trees, just as one sees one's in face reflected in a clear
mirror, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(41) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should, at any time before
becoming Buddhas, have impaired, inferior or incomplete sense organs, may
I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(42) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should not all attain the
samadhi called 'pure emancipation' and, while dwelling therein, without
losing concentration, should not be able to make offerings in one instant
to immeasurable and inconceivable Buddhas, World-Honoured Ones, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(43) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should not after death be
reborn into noble families, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(44) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should not rejoice so
greatly as to dance and perform the bodhisattva practices and should not
acquire stores of merit, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(45) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should not all attain the
samadhi called 'universal equality' and, while dwelling therein, should
not always be able to see all the immeasurable and inconceivable
Tathagatas, until those bodhisattvas, too, become Buddhas, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(46) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my
land should not be able to hear spontaneously whatever teachings they may
wish, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(47) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should not instantly reach
the Stage of Non-retrogression, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(48) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
lands of the other directions who hear my Name should not instantly gain
the first, second and third insights into the nature of dharmas and firmly
abide in the truths realized by all the Buddhas, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
The Buddha said to Ananda, The Bhiksu
Dharmakara, having thus proclaimed those vows, spoke the following verses:
