Fó shuō ā mí tuó jīng 佛說阿彌陀經
The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Amitābha (the Smaller Sukhāvatī-vyūha) by 鳩摩羅什 (Kumārajīva, 譯)
About the work
The Ā mí tuó jīng in 1 fascicle is the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra — one of the Three Pure Land Sutras and the most widely chanted text in East Asian Buddhist devotional practice. Translated by 鳩摩羅什 Kumārajīva, the brief sūtra (just one fascicle) presents the cosmology of Sukhāvatī and the practice of niàn fó (recitation of Amitābha’s name) in compact, devotional form. The work is the standard recitation-text for daily monastic and lay liturgy throughout the East Asian Buddhist tradition.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The translation belongs to 鳩摩羅什 Kumārajīva’s Cháng’ān period (402 – 412 CE).
The Taishō text (T0366) is established on the standard apparatus including the Liúbù běn 流布本 (Disseminated Edition) and Cìshā 磧砂 witnesses.
Translations and research
- Müller, F. Max, tr. The Smaller Sukhāvatī-vyūha. SBE 49 (1894).
- Inagaki, Hisao, tr. The Three Pure Land Sutras (1995).
- Gómez, Luis O., tr. The Land of Bliss (1996).
Other points of interest
- Kumārajīva’s translation of the Smaller Sukhāvatī — together with his Lotus Sūtra (T0262) — is the most widely recited Buddhist text in East Asia, chanted daily in essentially every Mahāyāna monastic establishment from the 5th century CE to the present.