Amitabha Sutra
Encyclopedia
The Amitābha
Sūtra ' onMouseout='HidePop("86511")' href="/topics/Japanese_language">Japanese
: Amida Kyō) is a popular colloquial name for the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. The Amitābha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna
Buddhist
text, and it is one of the primary sūtras recited and upheld in the Pure Land Buddhist
schools.
into Chinese
by Tripiṭaka
Master Kumārajīva
in 402 CE, but may have existed in India
as early as year 100 CE, composed in a Prakrit
language.
gave at Jeta Grove in Śrāvastī
to his disciple Śāriputra. The talk concerned the wondrous adornments that await the righteous in the western pure land
of Sukhāvatī
(Chinese: 西方極樂國), as well as the beings that reside there, including the buddha Amitābha. The text also describes what one must do to be reborn there.
Buddhism, the sūtra is often recited as part of the evening service , and is also recited as practice for practitioners. The Jōdoshū
and Jōdo Shinshū
schools also recite this sūtra when necessary. It is frequently recited at Chinese and Japanese Buddhist funeral services, in the hope that the merit generated by reciting the sūtra may be transmitted to the departed.
A common format for the recitation of the Amitābha Sūtra (in the Chinese tradition) may include some or all of the following:
Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
Sūtra ' onMouseout='HidePop("86511")' href="/topics/Japanese_language">Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: Amida Kyō) is a popular colloquial name for the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. The Amitābha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
text, and it is one of the primary sūtras recited and upheld in the Pure Land Buddhist
Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...
schools.
History
The Amitābha Sūtra was translated from SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
into Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
by Tripiṭaka
Tripiṭaka
' is a traditional term used by various Buddhist sects to describe their various canons of scriptures. As the name suggests, a traditionally contains three "baskets" of teachings: a , a and an .-The three categories:Tripitaka is the three main categories of texts that make up the...
Master Kumārajīva
Kumarajiva
Kumārajīva; was a Kuchean Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator. He first studied teachings of the Sarvastivada schools, later studied under Buddhasvāmin, and finally became a Mahāyāna adherent, studying the Madhyamaka doctrine of Nagarjuna. Kumārajīva settled in Chang'an, which was the imperial...
in 402 CE, but may have existed in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as early as year 100 CE, composed in a Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
language.
Content
The bulk of the Amitābha Sūtra, considerably shorter than other Pure Land sūtras, consists of a discourse which the BuddhaGautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
gave at Jeta Grove in Śrāvastī
Sravasti
Śrāvastī or Sāvatthī , a city of ancient India, was one of the six largest cities in India during Gautama Buddha's lifetime. The city was located in the fertile Gangetic plains in the present day Gonda District of Uttar Pradesh near Balrampur some 120 km north of Lucknow...
to his disciple Śāriputra. The talk concerned the wondrous adornments that await the righteous in the western pure land
Pure land
A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...
of Sukhāvatī
Sukhavati
Sukhāvatī refers to the western Pure Land of the Buddha Amitābha in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Sukhāvatī translates to "Land of Bliss."-In other languages:In traditional Mahayana Buddhist countries, there are a number of translations for Sukhāvatī....
(Chinese: 西方極樂國), as well as the beings that reside there, including the buddha Amitābha. The text also describes what one must do to be reborn there.
In Buddhist traditions
In Pure Land and ChánZen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhism, the sūtra is often recited as part of the evening service , and is also recited as practice for practitioners. The Jōdoshū
Jodo Shu
, also known as Jōdo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Hōnen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shinshū....
and Jōdo Shinshū
Jodo Shinshu
, also known as Shin Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Today, Shin Buddhism is considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.-Shinran :...
schools also recite this sūtra when necessary. It is frequently recited at Chinese and Japanese Buddhist funeral services, in the hope that the merit generated by reciting the sūtra may be transmitted to the departed.
A common format for the recitation of the Amitābha Sūtra (in the Chinese tradition) may include some or all of the following:
- Praise for the Incense Offering (盧香讚)
- Praise to the Lotus Pond (蓮池讚)
- The Amitābha Sūtra (阿彌陀經)
- Pure Land Rebirth DhāraṇīDharaniA ' is a type of ritual speech similar to a mantra. The terms dharani and satheesh may be seen as synonyms, although they are normally used in distinct contexts....
(往生咒). - Amitābha GāthāGathaGatha is a type of metered and often rhythmic poetic verse or a phrase in the ancient Indian languages of Prakrit and Sanskrit. The word is originally derived from the Sanskrit/Prakrit root gai , which means, to speak, sing, recite or extol. Hence gatha can mean either speech, verse or a song...
(彌陀偈) - Recitation of Amitābha Buddha's Name (佛號)
- Transfer of Merit (迴向)
Mantras
In the Taishō Tripiṭaka, the Amitābha Sūtra is proceeded by the Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī:See also
- Infinite Life SutraInfinite Life SutraThe Infinite Life Sūtra, or Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, and the primary text of Pure Land Buddhism. It is the longest of the three major texts of Pure Land Buddhism...
(Longer Pure Land Sutra) - Contemplation of Amitabha SutraContemplation SutraThe Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra , is one of the three major Buddhist sūtras found within the Pure Land branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Amitāyus is another name for the buddha Amitābha, the preeminent figure in Pure Land Buddhism, and this sūtra focuses mainly on meditations involving complex visualization...
- Mahayana sutrasMahayana sutrasMahāyāna sutras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that are accepted as canonical by the various traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism. These are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibetan Buddhist canon, and in extant Sanskrit manuscripts...
External links
- The Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. Lapis Lazuli Texts.
- The Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra, translated by Nishu Utsuki
- English translation of the Amitabha Sutra
- Chinese / English bilingual version of the Amitabha Sutra