A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t4.65

v2.c19.s6.t4.65

Of the twelve Chinese translations of the longer Sukhāvatī-Vyūha which are said to have existed, five have come down to us in the Chinese Tripiṭaka, the earliest of which was made between 147 and 186 A.D. The shorter Sukhāvatī-Vyūha was translated into Chinese three times, by Kumārajīva (402 A.D.), by Guṇabhadra (420-479) A.D. and by Hsüan-Tsang (about 650 A.D.).¹ A third work, the Amitāyur-dhyāna-Sūtra,² which has come down only in the Chinese translation, deals less with the description of the blessed land, but devotes more space to the recommendation of meditations (dhyāna) on Amitāyus, by means of which one may reach that land. The loss of the Sanskrit original of this text is all the more regrettable, because it contains an interesting introduction, in which the story of Ajātaśatru and Bimbisāra is told, a story with which the Pāli accounts are also familiar.³ For centuries, the three works on Amitāyus and Sukhāvatī have formed the basis of the faith of the majority of Buddhists in China and Japan, who found consolation and comfort in the belief in "Amida," as Amitāyus is called in Japan, and in the hope of the blessed land. This is especially true of the numerous adherents of the two Japanese sects Jodo-shu and Shin-shu.⁴