The History of Buddhist Thought c23.11

c23.11

In the time of Śikhin Buddha he came with a message of greeting to Śikhin from Amitābha, the Buddha of Sukhāvatī, the Happy Land, in the western quarter. It is Avalokiteśvara’s special function to take his worshippers there. “ Robed in pure white, flying with the speed of the wind, they go to the region of Sukhāvatī to hear face to face the doctrine of Amitābha, and having heard the doctrine the pain of transmigration no longer torments their bodies, nor old age and death with lust, hate, and stupidity, nor the pain of hunger and thirst. They abide in that region as long as the firm promise of Avalokiteśvara is not fulfilled, until all beings are released from all pains, as long as they are not set in supreme perfect enlightenment,” that is to say, until all become Buddhas. Even in this school the final end remains the same, the winning of Nirvāṇa.