阿彌陀經要解 1.4

1.4

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.