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A Historical and Philological Analysis of the Amida Cult SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 9 December, 1988 Life and Light, the Infinite: A Historical and Philological Analysis of the Amida Cult by Soho Machida Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair. The purpose of the series is to make available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Contributions in any of the major scholarly languages of the world, including Romanized Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM) and Japanese, are acceptable. In special circumstances, papers written in one of the Sinitic topolects (fangyan) may be considered for publication. Although the chief focus of Sino-Platonic Papers is on the intercultural relations of China with other peoples, challenging and creative studies on a wide variety of philological subjects will be entertained. This series is not the place for safe, sober, and stodgy presentations. Sino-Platonic Papers prefers lively work that, while taking reasonable risks to advance the field, capitalizes on brilliant new insights into the development of civilization. The only style-sheet we honor is that of consistency. Where possible, we prefer the usages of the Journal of Asian Studies. Sinographs (hanzi, also called tetragraphs [fangkuaizi]) and other unusual symbols should be kept to an absolute minimum. Sino-Platonic Papers emphasizes substance over form. Submissions are regularly sent out to be refereed and extensive editorial suggestions for revision may be offered. Manuscripts should be double-spaced with wide margins and submitted in duplicate. A set of "Instructions for Authors" may be obtained by contacting the editor. Ideally, the final draft should be a neat, clear camera-ready copy with high black- and-white contrast. Contributors who prepare acceptable camera-ready copy will be provided with 25 free copies of the printed work. All others will receive 5 copies. Sino-Platonic Papers is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Please note: When the editor goes on an expedition or research trip, all operations (including filling orders) may temporarily cease for up to two or three months at a time. In such circumstances, those who wish to purchase various issues of SPP are requested to wait patiently until he returns. If issues are urgently needed while the editor is away, they may be requested through Interlibrary Loan. N.B.: Beginning with issue no. 171, Sino-Platonic Papers will be published electronically on the Web. Issues from no. 1 to no. 170, however, will continue to be sold as paper copies until our stock runs out, after which they too will be made available on the Web. _______________________________________________ LIFE AND LIGHT, THE INFINITE A Historical and Philological Analysis of the Amida Cult 1. Two Names of Amida Buddha When we study literature, history, philosophy, religion, or any other complicated subject, we tend to confine our research to a limited frame of reference as if the tradition were purely formed within a particular region. On the other hand, if we dare to step into the jungle of the enormous complex of elements be- hind one tradition, we must be armed with balancing kinds of weapons: aggression and patience, bravery and timidness, avant- garde-ness and conservatism. It seems this is what Iwamoto Yutaka (g*#)does in his book, BukkyE Setsuwa no Shinko to Densho a a)d p E ) which is about the history of Bud- dhism. After reading his book, despite my lack of knowledge and confidence, I could not resist the temptation to investigate fur- ther the original source of Pure Land Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism did not become established as a distinct religious movement until the sixth century IE when it was founded by Tan1 uan (Qf $& ) , and expanded upon by Daochuo (3$$ ) and Shan- dao (#iff ) in China. Various schools of Buddhism, including Pure Land Buddhism, reached their full bloom during the Tang Dynasty, which exibited a cosmopolitan ideal of various dimensions. In- digenous Taoism is also said to have stimulated the rise of Pure Land Buddhism in China. The western paradise world, or SukhZvati (@% ), which is an important Pure Land Buddhist notion, appears Soho Machida, "Light and Life, the Infinite: The Amida Cult" to have been associated with the Taoist terrestrial paradise. This Taoist paradise was also believed to be located in the far west, somewhere in the Kunlun (a8 ) mountains where Xi Wang Mu (jRJze ), the divine Queen Mother of the West, ruled immor- tals. (I) In the twelfth century, H6nen (#% ) founded the Pure Land school, or JiTdo-shZ (#*% ), and one of his disciples, Shinran (%# ) founded the True Sect of the Pure Land, or Jcdo-ShinshE (@-&&%) in Japan. By rejecting the principle of celibacy and by emphasizing no separation between religious and secular life, Amidism has become the most widespread form of Japanese Buddhism, and now has a following of about twenty million in Japan. While the vast majority of Pure Land Buddhists have great faith in Amida Buddha, very few of them are aware of the varied historical background of this Buddha. We usually understand Pure Land Buddhism specifically as a product of the Chinese and Japanese Buddhist traditions. Hence, in order to expand our perspective of this Buddhist tradition, perhaps it would be mean- ingful to investigate the origins of the Amida cult before it came to China. In the doctrine of Pure Land Buddhism, Amida Buddha is a su- perhuman savior who vows to give up the attainment of nirvZina (R &) until he can guide all who surrender to his saving power to a rebirth in the Pure Land (Mk) through the power of his Original Vow, or piirva-pranidhana (*m ). Amida Buddha has two names: Ami tZyus (# a W ) and Ami tiibha (sa ) . In Sanskrit, anti ta Sino-Platonic Papers, 9 (December, 1988) means the "unmeasured, unmeasurable," -Ziyus of Amitayus means the "life, long life," and -ZbhE of AmitEbha means the "light, splen- dor. " The word Amituo Fo (H$$@&) appeared in Lokakpema, or Zhiloujiachen's (2Jlt a ) translation of the Pratyutpannasamadhi Siitra, or Bo-zhou Sanmei Jing (j& fi 5 If$ @ ) for the first time in the history of Chinese Buddhism in 179 IE.(2) According to Mochizuki ~ukkvzDaijiten (f9 &a*##&), the original name of Amida Buddha was neither Amitayus nor Ami tgbha, but simply Ami ta. Two reasons are given. First, early Chinese translations of Bud- dhist scriptures, including the Pratyutpannasamzdhi and the / VimalakTrti Nirdesa ~utra,or Weimojie Suoshuo Jing (## E$. fi & ) , refer to neither AmitEyus, nor Amitabha, but simply use the word Amituo Fo. Second, because there is no other Buddha who has more than one name, Amida Buddha, cannot be an exception. He should also originally have had only one name, Amita. For these two reasons, according to Mochizuki, both AmitGus and Amitabha were derived from Amita.(3) However, Iwamoto points out that Lokaksema frequently trans- lated original Sanskrit terms in an abbreviated manner. It is possible that Lokak5ema might have translated the word Amita as an abbreviation of either ~mitcusor mi tab ha, or even both. For example, we can observe his abbreviation of two personal names below: ~pzlavanna > Youpinina (BPRjLjjfi ) > Youpini (~~$3'6,) Vadalapara > Batuoheluo (a@@@)> Batuohe (%#E&J)(4) Soho Machida, "Light and Life, the Infinite: The Amida Cult" The same personal names appear as Youpinina (f# @ j@ @ ) and Batuoheluo (@n@jg) in Chang Ahan Jing (sBiJ*)E,trans. in 414 IE), Fang Guang Jing( &%@, trans, in 291 IE) and Guangzan Boruo Jing (JltaBgg, trans. in 286 IE), but they become Youpini (% ) and Batuoheo (BBE @ ) in Lokakpema's translation of the Pratyutpannasamedhi. Thus, we cannot tell anything about the original form of Amida Buddha's name from this scripture be- cause of Lokakqema's tendency to abbreviate Sanskrit terms. It is interesting to note that Avaloki tesvara/ Bodhisattva (@ gg@ ) also has six names including Sahasrgbhuja Sahasranetra / Aval oki tes/vara (;f + a BE @ ) , and Manora tha Aval oki tesvara (410 jef 9;iEg ), but all of these names designate different epithets of Avaloki tesvara./ In contrast, Amida Buddha has two names, AmitEyus and AmitZbha, which are not epithets. There must be some reason for this unique occurrence within the Buddhist tradi- tion. Did these two names derive from one original root-term and later develop two forms? Or, did they derive from two totally different sources? At this point, I would like to begin a his- torical and philological investigation of Amida Buddha's name. 2. Amdda, Amita, or Amfta? According to Ernst Waldschmidt's ~rEchstEkebuddhisticher Siitras aus dem centralasiatischen Sanskri tkanon, - tuo (E ) of Amituo (H$jiE ) in Chinese is most often transliterated from a Sanskrit sound, da. Sino-Platonic Papers, 9 (December, 1988) tuo (Be ) < da, dg, dha, ta, tha, tyE, dhya, dhya, dyz (5) If this is true we can assume that Amituo in Chinese was tran- literated from Amida in the original language. But then, how can we explain the gap between Amida and Amita as the common portion of mi tayus and Ami txbha? As for this question, we can find an ,I answer in R. Pischel's analysis of Apabhransas in Grammar of the Prakrit Language: / In Apabhransas,. ... intervocalic k, t, p become g, d, b respectively instead of dropping off, and kh, th, pha become gh, dh, bh respectively instead of changing into h.(6) / In Apabhransas,.
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