The Smaller Pureland Sutra
Thus did I hear
Once the Buddha at Shravasti dwelt
In the Jeta Anathapindika garden
Together with a multitude of friars
One thousand two hundred and fifty
Who were arhats every one
As was recognised by all.
Amongst them...
Shariputra the elder, Great Maudgalyayana, Maha-kashyapa,
Maha-katyayana, Maha-kausthila,
Revata, Shuddi-panthaka,
Nanda, Ananda, Rahula,
Gavampati, Pindola Bhara-dvaja,
Kalodayin, Maha-kapphina, Vakkula,
Aniruddha,
and many other disciples
each similarly great.
And, in addition, many bodhisattva mahasattvas...
Manjushri, prince of the Dharma,
Ajita, Ganda-hastin, Nityo-dyukta,
Together with all such as these
Even unto Shakra the king of devas
With a vast assembly of celestials
Beyond reckoning.
At that time
Buddha said to Shariputra
“Millions of miles to the West from here,
There lies a land called Perfect Bliss
Where a Buddha, Amitayus by name
Is even now the Dharma displaying.
Oh Shariputra, why is that land
Given the name of Perfect Bliss?
It is without pain;
Only pleasure dwells there
That's why they call it Perfect Bliss.
Around the Land of Perfect Bliss
There are seven balustrades
Seven fine nets, seven rows of trees
All of jewels made, sparkling and fine;
That's why they call it Perfect Bliss
There are lakes of seven gems with
Water of eightfold merit filled
And beds of golden sand,
To which descend on all four sides
Gold, silver, beryl and crystal stairs.
Pavilions and terraces rise above
Gold, silver, beryl and crystal
White coral, red pearl and agate gleaming;
And in the lakes lotus flowers
Large as chariot wheels
Give forth their splendour
The blue ones radiate light so blue,
The yellow yellow,
Red red, white white and
All most exquisite and finely fragrant.
Oh Shariputra, the Land of Bliss
Like that is arrayed
With many good qualities
And fine adornments.
There is heavenly music
Spontaneously played
And all the ground is strewn with gold.
Blossoms fall six times a day
From mandarava,
The divinest of flowers
In the morning light,
Those who live in that land
Collect the blossoms
And offerings make
To millions of Buddhas in other regions;
At the lunchtime hour
They have their meal
And take a stroll.
Oh Shariputra, the Land of Bliss
Like that is arrayed
With many good qualities
And fine adornments.
There are wonderful birds
Of many colours:
Swans and peacocks, parrots,
Charis, kalavinkas
And even the bird with double lives.
Six times day and night they sing
Melodious songs of fivefold virtue,
Fivefold power,
Of the seven factors of spiritual light
And of the eightfold path.
Of all the divisions of Dharma
They sing.
Entranced by the songs
All the beings of that land
Quickly take refuge
In Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Those birds were not born as such
Through karmic retribution
For no evil realms
In that land are there.
Not even the names
Of such realms are found:
How much less
The evil realms themselves.
Shariputra, all those birds
Were by Amitayus expressly made
That the voice of Dharma
Melodiously spread.
When in that land
A gentle breeze blows
The precious trees and bejewelled nets
Emit a delicate enrapturing tune
Like an orchestra of myriad parts.
All who hear will naturally conceive
The thought of refuge
In Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Oh Shariputra, the Land of Bliss
Like that is arrayed
With many good qualities
And fine adornments.
So Shariputra, what do you think?
Why is that Buddha called Amitabha?
Why does he have the name Amitayus?
His light is boundless and unimpeded
It spreads over
All the lands of ten quarters
Therefore is he called Amitabha
The lives of that Buddha
And all of his people
Go on forever, endless and boundless
Therefore Amitayus is his name.
He has been a Buddha
More than ten kalpas
His disciples, all saints,
Are beyond calculation.
The great bodhisattvas
Who dwell in that land
Are also far too numerous to tell.
Oh Shariputra, the Land of Bliss
Like that is arrayed
With many good qualities
And fine adornments.
Nobody born there ever falls back
Those in the stage of
One more life only
Are immeasurably many
Beyond clear expression.
Shariputra, all who hear
Should long and pray to be born there
To share in the realm
Of such noble beings
For never by one's own
Roots of virtue alone
Could one hope to attain
Such a wonderful world.
Oh Shariputra
Suppose a good man or good woman
Hears tell of Amida
And grasps that Name
For a day, or two, or three,
Or four or five or six or seven
With a heart at one and not disordered
When their life draws to a close
Amida Buddha will appear before them
All with a holy multitude
And as death arrives
With mind undisturbed
They will go to birth in that
Buddha’s Utmost Happiness Land.
Shariputra, seeing this benefit
I say these words;
Those who hear
Should make a prayer
To be born in that Land.
Shariputra, as I now praise Amida Buddha’s inconceivable excellence
So also in the Eastern worlds there are
Ashukubi, Akshobhaya, Meru-dvaja,
Maha-meru, Meru-prabhasa, Manju-ghosha, and other Buddhas as many as Ganges sands.
Each in his land
Puts forth long and wide his eloquent tongue
And across three thousand millions worlds
Speaks forth these words,
“Protected by all Buddhas this sutra is,
Wherein inconceivable excellence is praised,
May all beings trust it, hold to it and keep it in mind”
Shariputra, in the Southern worlds there are Chandra-surya-pradipa, Yashah-prabha, Mah-arci-skandha, Meru-pradipa, Ananta-virya and other Buddhas as many as Ganges sands.
Each in his land
Puts forth long and wide his eloquent tongue
And across three thousand millions worlds
Speaks forth these words,
“Protected by all Buddhas this sutra is,
Wherein inconceivable excellence is praised,
May all beings trust it, hold to it and keep it in mind”
Shariputra, in the Western worlds there are
Amitayus, Amitalakshana, Amita-dhvaja,
Maha-prabha, Maha-nirbhasha, Ratna-lakshana, Shuddha-rashmi-prabha
and other Buddhas as many as Ganges sands.
Each in his land
Puts forth long and wide his eloquent tongue
And across three thousand millions worlds
Speaks forth these words,
“Protected by all Buddhas this sutra is,
Wherein inconceivable excellence is praised,
May all beings trust it, hold to it and keep it in mind”
Shariputra, in the Northern worlds there are Arci-skandha, Vaishva-nara-nirghosha, Dush-pra-darsha, Aditya-sambhava, Jaleni-prabha and other Buddhas as many as Ganges sands.
Each in his land
Puts forth long and wide his eloquent tongue
And across three thousand millions worlds
Speaks forth these words,
“Protected by all Buddhas this sutra is,
Wherein inconceivable excellence is praised,
May all beings trust it, hold to it and keep it in mind”
Shariputra, in the Nadir worlds there are
Simha, Yashas, Yasha-prabhasha,
Dharma, Dharma-dhvaja, Dharma-dhara
and other Buddhas as many as Ganges sands.
Each in his land
Puts forth long and wide his eloquent tongue
And across three thousand millions worlds
Speaks forth these words,
“Protected by all Buddhas this sutra is,
Wherein inconceivable excellence is praised,
May all beings trust it, hold to it and keep it in mind”
Shariputra, in the Zenith worlds there are
Brahma-ghosha, Nak-shatra-raja,
Gandhottama, Gandha-prabhasa, Mah-arci-skandha, Ratna-kusuma-sam-pushpita-gatra, Salendra-raja, Ratnotpala-shri, Sarvatha-darsha, Sumuru-kalpa
and other Buddhas as many as Ganges sands.
Each in his land
Puts forth long and wide his eloquent tongue
And across three thousand millions worlds
Speaks forth these words,
“Protected by all Buddhas this sutra is,
Wherein inconceivable excellence is praised,
May all beings trust it, hold to it and keep it in mind”
Shariputra, What does this mean?
Why is this called the sutra that all Buddhas keep in mind?
Shariputra, if good men or good women
Hear the Name that all Buddhas guard,
Keeping this sutra in mind,
They are all protected and kept in mind
By all the Buddhas together;
All obtain non-retrogression;
All go to anuttara samyak sambodhi.
Therefore trust and accept my words
And those that all the Buddhas preach.
Shariputra, if there are people who have made a prayer, are making a prayer, or will make a prayer,
To be born in Amida Buddha’s land,
Then they all in that land will
Anuttara samyak sambodhi attain
Whether they are already born there, are being born there, or are yet to be born.
Therefore, Shariputra, good men and good women
All should make prayers to be born in that land.
Shariputra, just as I am now praising
The inconceivable excellence of all Buddhas,
All these Buddhas are similarly declaring
My inconceivable excellence in these words...
“Shakyamuni Buddha has ably accomplished something extremely difficult and rare:
In the saha world in the evil age
That is stained in five ways -
Kalpa-kashaya, the evil age
Drishti-kashaya, the stain of wrong views
Klesha-kashaya, the stain of wrong passions
Sattva-kashaya, stain of spirit
Ayush-kashaya, the stain of short life.
Here in this very world
At anuttara samyak sambodhi
Shakyamuni arrived.
For the sake of all beings
He is preaching this Dharma
Which in the whole world
Is difficult to entrust to.
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