Amitabha Buddha’s Forty-Eight Vows
Sakyamuni’s Teaching from the Infinite Life Sutra
Here’s the list of Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight vows from the Infinite Life Sutra (Longer Amitabha Sutra).
This precious teaching was originated from Sakyamuni Buddha’s speaking of the monk Dharmakara and his practice before he became Amitabha Buddha. From this teaching, we learned that Amitabha Buddha created these great vows through his diligent, eons-long cultivation arising from his great aspiration and compassion to help all beings.
Through this cause, Amitabha accumulated wondrous merits and virtues, and achieved perfect enlightenment. The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss was therefore successfully created for the benefits of all beings.
Start the Amitabha mindful chanting practice today, and make the vow to reborn in the Western Pure Land in this lifetime!
The Forty-Eight Vows of Amitabha Buddha
If I attain the supreme bodhi, the perfect enlightenment, the buddha-land I dwell in will be replete with infinite inconceivable merits and virtues, and magnificence. There will be no hells, hungry ghosts, animals, and flying and crawling insects. All living beings, even those from the three evil paths, including Yamaraja’s realm, who are born in my land will be inspired and transformed by my teachings, attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and never again fall into the evil paths. If I fulfill these vows, I will become a Buddha. If I do not fulfill these vows, I will not attain supreme, perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all living beings from the worlds in the ten directions who are born in my land will have a body the color of pure gold. They will have the thirty-two marks of a great hero and an identical appearance of uprightness and purity. If there are differences in their appearances, some who are good-looking and some who are ugly, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all the beings born in my land will innately know all past lives over infinite kalpas and all good and evil deeds. They will thoroughly see and completely hear all happenings in the past, present, and future in the ten directions. If I do not fulfill these vows, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all the beings born in my land will attain the extraordinary power of wisdom to know the minds of others. If they do not completely know the thoughts of the beings in hundreds of millions of nayutas of hundreds of thousands of buddha-lands, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 9. The extraordinary power of knowing the minds of others.
When I become a Buddha, all the beings born in my land will attain extraordinary powers at will to perfection. If, in an instant of thought, they cannot traverse beyond hundreds of millions of nayutas of hundreds of thousands of buddha-lands, traveling everywhere to make offerings to all Buddhas, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all the beings born in my land will no longer discriminate. All senses will be still. If they do not achieve supreme, perfect enlightenment and attain great nirvana, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 12. Surety in attaining perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, my light will be infinite, universally illuminating the ten directions. It will exceed the light of all Buddhas and surpass the light of the sun and the moon by millions of billions of times. Any living being who sees my light or who is illuminated by it will become peaceful and joyous, have compassion, and perform virtuous deeds. He will be born in my land. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, my lifespan will be infinite. In my land, the number of sound-hearers, heavenly beings, and humans will be countless. Lifespans will also be infinite. Suppose all beings in a great trichiliocosm become pratyekabuddhas and for hundreds of thousands of kalpas they calculate together. If they can know the number, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all the countless Buddhas in the infinite buddha-lands in the ten directions will praise my name and speak of the wonderful merits and virtues of my land. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 17. Praise from all Buddhas.
When I become a Buddha, beings in the ten directions who hear my name, believe and rejoice with utmost sincerity, dedicate the merits from all their good roots in every thought to the vow of being born in my land, and chant mindfully even as few as ten times will be born in the Pure Land. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment. The only exceptions are those who have committed the five grave offenses or slandered the proper Dharma.
- Vow 18. Assured birth with ten mindful chants.
When I become a Buddha, beings in the ten directions who hear my name will awaken the bodhi mind. They will cultivate myriad merits and virtues, uphold the six paramitas steadfastly with no regression, and also dedicate the merits from all their good roots to the vow of being born in my land. They will be single-mindedly mindful of me day and night without interruption. Then at the end of their lives, along with an assembly of bodhisattvas, I will come to escort them. In an instant, they will be born in my land and be Avaivartika bodhisattvas. If I do not fulfill these vows, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, beings in the ten directions who hear my name and are constantly mindful of my land, awaken the bodhi mind, remain steadfast with no regression, cultivate the fundamental root of myriad virtues, dedicate the merits with the utmost sincere mind, and aspire to be born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss will all have their wish fulfilled. If those who committed evil deeds over innumerable lifetimes, upon hearing my name, repent their wrongs immediately, practice the Way, cultivate beneficial deeds, uphold the teachings in the sutras, and vow to be born in my land, then at the end of their lives, they will not again fall into the three evil paths and will instantly be born in my land. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 21. Repent to attain birth [in the Pure Land].
When I become a Buddha, there will be no females in my land. If any female who hears my name and gains pure belief, awakens the bodhi mind, is weary of and afflicted by a female body, and vows to be born in my land, then at the end of her life, she will immediately transform into the form of a male and come to my land. All the beings in the worlds in the ten directions who come to my land will be born through transformation in the lotus flowers in the ponds of seven jewels. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, beings in the ten directions who hear my name and happily believe and rejoice, pay homage and take refuge, and with a pure mind cultivate the bodhisattva practice will be respected by all heavenly beings and humans. Thus, these beings who hear my name will be reborn into noble families at the end of their lives. All their sense organs will be without flaws. They will continue with their cultivation of the splendid pure practice. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, my land will be devoid of names for unwholesomeness. All beings born in my land will be of one mind and dwell in the practice that assures perfect enlightenment. Free forever from agonizing afflictions, their minds will be pure and serene. The joy they feel will be like that of a bhikshu who has eradicated all afflictions. If they have any rising thoughts of attachment to self, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, those who are born in my land will have infinite good roots. Like Vajra Narayana, they will have strong, indestructible bodies. Their head and body will emanate light. They will achieve all-knowing wisdom and acquire unsurpassable eloquence. They will excel at expounding the profound essentials of the Dharma. Speaking the sutras and practicing the Way, their words will be like the tolling of a bell. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all the beings born in my land will eventually attain the stage of becoming a Buddha in one more rebirth. Exceptions will be those whose original vows are to help sentient beings. Wearing the armor of great vows, they teach and inspire sentient beings to give rise to belief, to cultivate the bodhi conduct, and to practice the way of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Though they go to other worlds, they will never retrograde into the evil paths. They will joyfully speak the Dharma, or joyfully listen to the Dharma, or manifest anywhere at will. Regardless of the way they wish to cultivate, everything will be perfect and complete. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, for those who are born in my land, food, clothing, and myriad offerings will appear the instant they are thought of. No wish will be unfulfilled. All Buddhas in the ten directions will receive the offerings immediately when they are thought of. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all things in my land will be magnificent, pure, bright, and resplendent. Their shapes and colors will be splendidly unique, exquisite in detail, and wondrous beyond description and measure. If the beings who possess the heavenly eye are able to distinguish the shapes, colors, radiance, names, and numbers, and describe these clearly, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 39. Boundless magnificence.
When I become a Buddha, there will be infinite colored trees in my land. Their heights can be hundreds or thousands of yojanas. The height of a cultivation-place tree can be as tall as four million li. All bodhisattvas will know this, even those with lesser good roots. If they want to see the magnificence and purity of the lands of other Buddhas, they can do so between the jewel trees. It will be like looking into a bright, clear mirror to see their face. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, my buddha-land will be vast, boundless, magnificent, pure, and bright and luminous like a mirror, and will thoroughly illuminate the infinite, innumerable, and inconceivable buddha-lands in the ten directions. Beings who see this will give rise to a rare and precious mind. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 42. Thoroughly illuminate the ten directions.
When I become a Buddha, from the ground to boundless space, the palaces, pavilions, ponds, streams, flowers, and trees, everything in the land will be infused with infinite precious fragrances. These fragrances will permeate all the worlds in the ten directions. Beings who smell the fragrances will practice to become enlightened. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 43. Precious fragrances permeate all worlds.
When I become a Buddha, all the bodhisattvas in the buddha-lands in the ten directions, upon hearing my name, will immediately attain the purity samadhi, liberation samadhi, and universal equality samadhi, and uphold the essence of the Dharma. They will dwell in samadhi until they attain buddhahood. While in samadhi, they will constantly make offerings to all the infinite Buddhas throughout boundless space without losing meditative concentration. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
When I become a Buddha, all the bodhisattvas in other worlds who hear my name will attain the Dharma of Non-birth and Non-death, and achieve the dharanis. Pure and joyous, and dwelling in equality, they will cultivate the bodhisattva practice and be replete with roots of virtues. They will instantly achieve the first patience, second patience, and third patience. They will presently attain the state of nonretrogression in all the Buddha-dharma. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 46. Achieve dharanis.
- Vow 47. Hear the name and achieve patience.
- Vow 48. Presently attain nonretrogression.
[This concludes the entire forty-eight great vows of Amitabha Buddha.]
>> Learn more: The Initiation of Amitabha’s Great Vows
Note: This is excerpted from the book “Awakening the Bodhi Mind: Amitabha Buddha’s Forty-Eight Vows”, which is available for download at eLibrary collection, Amitabha Gallery.
The Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight vows is derived from the Chinese verses of the Infinite Life Sutra, that we are immensely grateful to the compilation efforts by Mr Xia Lianju. Translation credits go to The Pure Land Translation Team, Pure Land College Press.
