A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t4.60

v2.c19.s6.t4.60

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is very closely related to the Buddha Amitābha, who is glorified in the Sukhāvatī-Vyūhas, "Detailed Descriptions of the Blessed Land," in much the same manner as Śākyamuni in the Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka and Avalokiteśvara in the Kāraṇḍa-Vyūha. Two works have come down to us in Sanskrit, one of considerable length and the other much shorter; both are entitled Sukhāvatī-Vyūha,¹ and diverge widely from each other, though both of them describe the "blessed land" of the Buddha Amitābha or Amitāyus.² Not only the introduction to the shorter text, but certain traits in the description of Sukhāvatī are different, and there is also an essential difference in their tendency. The longer Sukhāvatī-Vyūha teaches that those who have accumulated a large pile of good works, who direct their thoughts to enlightenment and think of Amitābha in the hour of death, go to the "blessed land," although those who merely direct their thoughts to Amitābha and his Buddha-land, may possibly also reach Sukhāvatī. On the other hand, the shorter text teaches that the "blessed land" is not the reward for good works, but that anyone who merely hears the name of Amitāyus and thinks of it in the hour of death, will be born in this Buddha-land. There seems to me to be no doubt that the longer text is the earlier one.