阿彌陀經要解 1.4

1.4

第一釋名者，此經以能說、所說人為名。佛者，此土能說之教主，即釋迦牟尼如來，乘大悲願力生五濁惡世，以先覺而覺後覺，無法不知無法不見故名佛也。說者，悅所懷也，佛以度生為懷，眾生機熟，佛為應時說法令得度脫，故悅也。阿彌陀者，即所說彼土之導師，以四十八願接信願念佛眾生，令生極樂世界永階不退者也。梵語阿彌陀，此云無量壽，亦云無量光。以要言之，功德智慧，神通道力，依正莊嚴，說法化度，一一無量，聊舉壽命、光明二事以為言端耳。經者、訓法訓常，一切金口所宣通名為經，今對佛說阿彌陀五字、即是通別合為題也。教。行。理三各論通別，廣如台藏所明，自應尋之，茲不繁述。

First, explaining the name: This sūtra takes the expounding person and the expounded person as its name. 'Buddha' is the teaching master of this land who is able to speak—namely, Śākyamuni Tathāgata—who, mounting the power of his great compassionate vows, was born into the evil age of the five turbidities, using his prior awakening to awaken subsequent awakenings; because there is no dharma he does not know and no dharma he does not see, he is named 'Buddha.' 'Spoke' (shuo) means delighting in what is cherished: the Buddha cherishes the deliverance of sentient beings; when sentient beings' capacities are ripe, the Buddha expounds the Dharma in response to the moment to enable them to attain deliverance, and hence he is delighted. 'Amitābha' is the guiding teacher of that land who is spoken of, who through his forty-eight vows receives sentient beings who have faith and aspiration and practice buddhānusmṛti, causing them to be reborn in the Sukhāvatī world realm and forever step into avivartika. In Sanskrit, Amitābha means here 'Immeasurable Life' and also 'Immeasurable Light.' In brief, his merit and wisdom, spiritual powers and strength of the Way, circumstantial and direct adornments, and preaching of the Dharma to transform and deliver are each and every one immeasurable; the two matters of lifespan and light are merely raised as points of departure for speech. 'Sūtra' glosses both 'method' and 'constant'; everything proclaimed from the golden mouth is generically named 'sūtra.' Now, set against the five characters 'Spoken by the Buddha: Amitābha,' this combines the generic and the specific into the title. Teaching, practice, and noumenon each have generic and specific aspects, which are extensively explained in the Tiantai Canon; one should naturally seek them there, so I will not elaborate here.