觀無量壽佛經義疏 3.34

3.34

"The Buddha said to Ānanda: ‘Such a wondrous flower was brought to completion by the power of the vows of the monk Dharmākara in the past.’" Amitābha Buddha was a king in the past; meeting the Buddha Lokeśvararāja, he abandoned his kingdom, left household life, took the Dharma name Dharmākara, and made forty-eight vows. That land's realms of dependent reward, physical life-span, radiance, and various adornments—all these phenomenal results were accomplished by his vows; how could it be only the flower throne? Pointing it out here serves to make known that the Pure Land is the very embodiment of the Buddha's vows, and because vows arise from the mind, it is the very embodiment of the Buddha's mind; thus one knows that the vow-power in principle transcends words and thought. Second, explaining the gradual progression.