The Infinite Life Sutra (With Active Table of Contents)

4.5/5 ( ratings)

“In the Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra, the Buddha begins by describing to his attendant Ananda a past life of the buddha Amitabha. He states that in a past life, Amitabha was once king who renounced his kingdom, and became a bodhisattva monk named Dharmakara .Under the guidance of the buddha Lokesvararaja , innumerable buddha-lands throughout the ten directions were revealed to him. After meditating for five eons as a bodhisattva, he then made a great series of vows to save all sentient beings, and through his great merit, created the realm of Sukhavati . This land of Sukhavati would later come to be known as the Pure Land in Chinese translation.
The sutra describes in great detail Sukhavati and its inhabitants, and how they are able to attain rebirth there. The text also provides a detailed account of the various levels and beings in the Mahayana Buddhist cosmology.
The sutra also contains the forty-eight vows of Amitabha Buddha to save all sentient beings. The eighteenth vow is among the most important as it forms a basic tenet of the Pure Land school. This vow is most commonly known as shi nian bi sheng yuan, because it states that if a sentient being makes even "ten recitations" of the Amitabha Buddha's name they will attain "certain rebirth" into the Pure Land.
Lastly the sutra shows the Buddha discoursing at length to the next Buddha to come, Maitreya, describing the various forms of evil that Maitreya must avoid to achieve his goal of becoming a Buddha, as well as other admonitions and advice.” - Wikipedia