What the sūtra tells
The sūtra opens on Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha. The Buddha tells Ānanda of a king in the time of the Buddha Lokeśvararāja: moved by the teaching, the king resolved on supreme awakening, gave up his throne, became the monk Dharmākara and, before that Buddha, proclaimed forty-eight great vows. The sūtra says Dharmākara has become a Buddha named Immeasurable Life, now in the west ten trillion lands away, in a world named Peace and Bliss, and describes the adornments of that land.
Scroll 2 speaks of those born in that land, then the Buddha turns to Ajita and speaks of the «five evils, five pains and five burnings» of this world, urging his listeners to guard the mind, correct themselves and do good. So the sūtra is both a description of the Pure Land and a very concrete moral teaching for daily life.
The Mahāyāna Sūtra of Adornment of Immeasurable Life
This is another Chinese version of the same subject, in 3 scrolls. The monk is called «Bhikṣu Dharmākara» and makes his vows before the World-Honoured One; the library's Vietnamese translation gives many Sanskrit names in brackets, such as Vulture Peak (Gṛdhra-kuṭa) and Rājagṛha. Those who have read the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life can read it to see the same story through another translation.
What the Contemplation Sūtra says
The Contemplation Sūtra opens with an event in Rājagṛha: Prince Ajātaśatru, following Devadatta, imprisons his father King Bimbisāra; Queen Vaidehī tries to feed the king and is confined too. In her distress she asks the Buddha to show her a land without sorrow. The Buddha teaches her sixteen contemplations; the sūtra ends by saying that Vaidehī and five hundred attendants then saw the land of Bliss, the body of Amitābha and the two bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta.
The three Pure Land sūtras
The Sūtra of Immeasurable Life, the Contemplation Sūtra and the Amitābha Sūtra are often called together the three Pure Land sūtras. The Amitābha Sūtra is the short one, easy to chant daily; the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life is the long one that tells the vows; the Contemplation Sūtra sets out the contemplations. All three are in the Inti Dharma library; the Amitābha Sūtra has its own page.
Reading and chanting at home
Each scroll of the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life takes about an hour to read slowly, so many people spread it over several sessions. Open the scroll, press «Chant» and choose the slow speed; afterwards you may recite «Namo Amitābha Buddha» on the Buddha recitation page, which has a repeating voice and a counter. The library holds the Vietnamese translations only, with no Sino-Vietnamese transliteration or recording.
