"Dharmâkara's Vows and the Vow of Mankind"

Gishin TOKIWA

As a revised Sanskrit version of the Pureland scripture of India we have the Amitâbhasya Sukhâvatîvyûha parivarta, edited by Atsuuji ASHIKAGA, Kyoto, Hôzôkan, 1965 ("The Structure of the Land of Bliss of the Buddha Amitâbha or Immeasurable-Light"). Of Chinese translation three earliest extant versions are: (1) [Da-]Amituo-jing, 2 juan; (2) Wuliang qingjing pingdeng jue jing, 2 juan; and (3) Wuliang shou jing, 2 juan.

They are common in that Shâkyamuni tells his disciples how under the guidance of an ancient buddha named Lokesvararâja a bhikshu or monk named Dharmâkara ("A Rich Source of the Awakened Truth") made vows to have his own buddhaland, and how his vows have come to be realized in the form of the Land of Bliss in a westernmost region, where he as Amitâbha Buddha now presides and propounds Awakened truths.

The number of vows is 24 in (1) and (2), 48 in (3), and 47 in the Sanskrit version, and the contents of the 24 vows are roughly common among the four versions, while (1) contains a vow which corresponds to the 35th in the latter two. In my understanding the first 24 vows plus the 35th vow of the latter two versions well represent the whole 47 or 48 vows. Since Chinese versions show some influences from Chinese thought, I take up the 25 vows from the Sanskrit version, to introduce them in English below (Ashikaga's version collated with the Oxford version by Max Müller and Bunyiu Nanjio, 1883, included in Vaidya's Buddhist Sanskrit Texts No. 17, 1961).

I shall limit my introduction of the scriptural contents to the vows alone, excluding the part thereafter which deals with the fulfillment of those vows; I want to have my investigation free from the Pureland Buddhists' faith in the Western Land of Bliss.

Shâkyamuni said, "Now Ananda, the monk Dharmâkara on that occasion said to the World-honoured one Lokesvararâja as follows:

Then hear me, the World-honoured One, talk on the distinctions of my vows, how upon my attaining the ultimate right awakening that buddhaland will be equipped with inconceivably excellent qualities which will decorate and form the land:

1. In case in that buddhaland there should be the body of a hell-abiding being or born of an animal or of the realm of hungry ghosts or of an evil spirit, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

2. In case in that Buddhaland those who would be reborn, upon dying from there, shoul fall down upon the body of a hell-abiding being or born of an animal or of the realm of hungry ghosts or of an evil spirit, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

3. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn, should all not become of one colour, that is, of golden colour, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

4. In case in that buddhaland should the manifoldness of heavenly and human beings be known except as mere names, verbal expressions, worldly conventions, counted as heavenly or human beings, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

5. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should all not have had their unbound supernatural power reached the highest point of perfection, to the extent that in one instant section of mind they pass over kotî-niyuta hundred thousand buddha-lands, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

6. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should all not have recollection of former existence to the extent of remembering things of kotîniyuta-hundred-thousand kalpas of time back, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

7. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should all not gain heavenly

eyes to the extent of seeing things of kotîniyuta-hundred-thousand worlds, so far

would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

8. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should all not gain heavenly

ears to the extent of simultaneously hearing right teachings from kotîniyuta-hundred-

thousand buddhalands, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

9. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should all not become skilled in knowing other minds to the extent of understanding the moves of minds belonging to kotîniyuta-hundred-thousand buddhalands, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

10. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should have the thought of possession arise, to the extent of being possessed of one's own body, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

11. In case in that buddhaland those who would be reborn should all not become established, that is, in rightness until attaining great nirvana, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

12. In case in that buddhaland where I have attained ultimate right awakening any being should accomplish counting the number of my disciples, to the extent that all the beings who belong to the three-thousand-great thousand worlds have become solitary awakeing-attainers being engaged in the counting, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

13. In case when I attain ultimate right awakening, in that buddhaland my radiance should be measurable to the extent of being limited by the size of kotînayuta-hundred-thousand buddhalands, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

14. In case in that buddhaland, where I have attained ultimate right awakening, the length of life of beings should be measurable, except on account of vows to shorten it, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

15. In case when I attained awakening the length of life should be fixed to the extent of being counted as kotînayuta-hundred-thousand kalpa time, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

16. In case when I attained awakening in that buddhaland there should be the name of evil among beings, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

17. In case, when I attained awakening, in immeasurable buddhalands, immeasurable, uncountable buddhas, world-honoured ones, should not announce my name, speak of the glory [of the buddhaland], and raise their voices to praise [it], so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

18. In case when I attained awakening those beings in other buddhalands who, giving rise to the mind to attain ultimate right awakening, and hearing my name, would have the serene and joyful mind to recollect me, should, coming near to the time of their death, fail to have me stand in front attended by monks surrounding me, so as to get their mind free from dispersion, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

19. In case when I attained awakening, in immeasurable, uncountable buddhalands those beings who, hearing my name, would direct their thought to that buddhaland, and mature the root of goodness for birth there, should not get rebirth in that buddhaland through raising thought even ten times, so far would I never attain ultimate right wakening; excepted are those beings who have committed any of the immediates or who are covered with the hindrance of repudiating the right teaching.

20. In case when I attained awakening, in that buddhaland bodhisattvas born there all should not be equipped with the thirty-two qualities peculiar to a great person, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

21. In case when I attained awakening, in that buddhaland those beings who would be born there all should not be bound up to life by one birh before attaining ultimate right awakening, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening. Excepted are those bodhisattvas, great beings, with specific vows, ready with big armour, prepared for the benefit of all the world, diligent to serve all the world, intent to have all the world attain nirvana, eager to pursue bodhisattva practice in all the buddhalands, wishing to serve all the buddhas, causing as many beings as the grains of sand of River Ganges to attain ultimate right awakening, who intend to do further practice, established in the practice of Samantabhadra, the wholly auspicious bodhisattva of the Buddhâvatamsaka sûtra.

22. In case when I attained awakening, in that buddhaland those bodhisattvas who would be born there should all not go to other buddhalands during a single breakfast, to attend on buddhas as many as one hundred, one thousand, a hundred-thousand, a kotî, or kotî-niyuta-hundrend-thousand, with things that support life, all through the dignity of the buddha, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

23. In case when I attained awakening, in that buddhaland bodhisattvas would desire to plant roots of goodness with things of good colour and shape such as gold, silver, mani jewel, pearl, cat's-eye, shells, stones, coral, crystal, sapphire, red pearl, emerald, or some other kinds of jewels, or all kinds of flower, perfumes, wreaths, ointment, aromatic powder, a monk's dress, a parasol, a banner, a flag, a lamp, or all kinds of dancing, music, and singing, should fail, as soon as they give rise to that mind, to have things of those colour and shape appear, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

24. In case when I attained awakening, in that buddhaland those beings who are reborn there should all fail to talk of the truth accompanied with omniscience, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

35. In case when I attained awakening, everywhere in the ten directions, in unfathomable, uncountable, incomprehensible, immeasurable buddhalands, those women who, hearing my name, would generate serene joy, give rise to the mind of attaining awakening, and want to conceal the woman's body, should, upon quitting that form of existence, gain a woman's being for the second time, so far would I never attain ultimate right awakening.

From the contents of the above vows we know what follows:

(1) The buddhaland to which Dharmâkara vows as Buddha to have beings get reborn is nothing but this world of transmigration with the two ways of existence, i.e. heavenly and human beings, from which the other four have disappeared through the fulfilment of his vow, where even the distinction of the two has become just nominative, where the distinction of colours does not exist but a golden one, and where everyone is to become a buddha in the next birth; it is where the distinction of male from female is nominative, as is known from the thirty-two characteristics of a great man, in which maleness is concealed like femaleness.

(2) It is presented as the world where mahâyâna Buddhism prevails, in the sense that the Abhidharma concept of a once-returner, second of the four fruits of srâvakas or Way-seeking Buddhist disciples' practice, transformed into the idea that bodhisattvas are bound to this existence only by one birth and that in the next rebirth they will attain awakening and help others attain awakening. Beings of the buddhaland are expected to have attained entering the stream to nirvana, the first fruit of srâvakas, by getting free from the view of possessing one's own body as something eternal, doubt about the truth, and infatuation with ceremonial practices, the so-called three bindings, together with passion for sexual contact.

(3) Dharmâkara's vows show their bodhisattva quality in that their fulfillment is not anything others should wait for and rely on, but what everyone should join to critically realize. What is criticized here is the traditional way of being to specialize oneself into a group of monks supported by laity in a single buddhaland. The scriptural expression of Dharmâkara making vows is really a proclamation by mahâyânists of the Vow of Mankind, not any narration of a myth about residents of a lotus-land. (A talk for the retreat participants, May 3, 2011)

Finally, what remains unconsidered is how to view the western buddhaland of Amitâbha as the fulfillment of Dharmâkara's vows. I take it for the timeless-spaceless source, instead of the result, of the bodhisattva's vow-making, in the sense of "prakriti-parinirvritas (originally in nirvâna)," a concept common to mahâyâna scriptures. (May 12, 2011)