..續本文上一頁rn world of Bliss and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara!
I vow to be reborn with the sentient beings in the land of peaceful happiness.
Nama.h to the thought of taking refuge in and prostrating to that Western world of Bliss and the Bodhisattva Mahaasthaama!
I vow to be reborn with the sentient beings in the land of peaceful happiness.
Nama.h to the thought of taking refuge in and prostrating to that Western world of Bliss and the pure oceanic assembly of bodhisattvas!
I vow to be reborn with the sentient beings in the land of peaceful happiness.
Universally teaching the san.gha, father and mother, as well as being a good friend to the sentient beings of the dharma-dhaatu, he ends the three obstacles. Equally being reborn in the land of the Buddha Amitaabha, they take refuge and repent.
Endnotes
”Kot.i”. This is numeral understood to be 100 lakkhas (100,000), equalling 10,000,000.
”Ks.etra”. ”Field” or ”land” as in ”Buddha land”. This is a term for the sphere of spiritual influence that is exerted a single Buddha. There is a theory that there are four levels of influence that radiate outward from a nexus that is the Buddha”s site of enlightenment. The four are 1) The area of reality (dharmata), which beings are constantly abiding in peace and light; 2) the area where self and others receive the Buddha”s teachings and gain a real reward from it; 3) the area where skillful means and other teachings exist and general defilments have been eradicated; and 4) the area where purity and defilment coexist (Eitel). Presumably, this system supposes a land in which a Buddha at the height of his teaching career.
”Xun”. A standard measure of size defined as the distance typically spanning two arm-lengths, or about 8 feet.
”Li”. A standard measure of distance. About 1/5 of a mile. Four thousand li, then, is about eight hundred miles.
”Five powers”. Presumably the five spiritual powers, which are: 1) pyacaks.us, the ”heavenly eye”, which is the vision that can see anywhere in the realm of form; 2) pyashrotra, the ability to ear anything anywhere; 3) paracitta-j~naana, the ability to know the thoughts of others; 4) puurvanivaasaanusmr.ti-j~naana, the knowledge of former existences of self and others; 5) r.ddhi-saaks.aatkriiyaa, the power to be anywhere at any time.
”Short time”. The Chinese literally reads ”the period of a short meal”.
”Two ideas”. A reference to the two philosophical positions that are rejected in Buddhism: Eternalism and nihilism. These were refuted by the Buddha using emptiness to establish the temporary nature of existence. Because things are empty of any eternal essense, they are free to be created and destroyed. Because emptiness is only a description of things themselves as they exist temporarily, nihilism is refuted.
”Long night”. The long night is a metaphor for the time spent cycling through births in samsara. It is long because sentient beings remain in samsara for eons. It is dark like the night because they do so under the veil of ignorance.
”Three insights”. These are the knowledge of the past lives of sentient beings, the knowledge of future existences of sentient beings, and the knowledge of the present conditions of sentient beings. ”Six perfections”. These are the six paaramitaas: charity (daana), virtue (siila), perserverence (ksaanti), energy (viirya), meditation (dhyaana), and wisdom (praj~na). These six form a general outline of bodhisattva practice in most Mahayana texts.
”Five contrary slanders”.
”Gold-wheel king”. The metallic disc was an emblem of soveriegnty in ancient India. Sometimes the heirarchy of the nobility was represented with iron, copper, silver, and gold wheels, the gold being the highest. A gold-wheel king, then, is a king who has no superiors, an absolute soveriegn.
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