ALL ITALICS IN THE SUTRA & FOOTNOTES ARE SANSKRIT AND PALI PRONUNCIATION.
[1] Mahasthamaprata Bodhisattva represents the Buddha-
[2] Enlightenment denotes the attainment of Samadhi, i.e. omnipresent wisdom in penetrating the nature/truth of everything.
[3] Sramana means Buddhist monk.
[4] Buddha is called dharmaraja, i.e. dharma king, and bodhisattva is the next to succeed Buddha, and is therefore called dharma prince.
[5] In ancient India, “numberless” was usually described by “the sands of Ganges River”.
[6] kalpa, sometimes called eon, denotes an inconceivably long period of time.
It has three different kalpas, i.e. small, medium and great. A small kalpa
is 16,798,000 years, which is counted in the following formula [(84,000-
[7] Twelve Buddhas were Infinite Light Buddha, Boundless Light Buddha, Irresistible
Light Buddha, Unparalleled Light Buddha, Flaming King Light Buddha, Pure Light
Buddha, Joyous Light Buddha, Wisdom Light Buddha, Unintermitting Light Buddha, Incredible
Light Buddha, Unspeakable Light Buddha, and Surpassing-
[8] “The Samadhi of mindfulness of the Buddha” means the ways to attain enlightenment through the mindfulness of the Buddha, such as Buddha’s name chanting; contemplating a Buddha’s image and chanting his name; contemplating a Buddha in the mind and chanting his name; or Reality Buddha Chanting (which is similar to Zen meditation). Of all of the aforesaid disciplines, Buddha’s name chanting (especially the name of Amitabha) is the easiest and most popular way to start with.
[9] Tathagata is one of the highest titles of Buddha, and is defined as he who
comes as do all other Buddhas. Tathagata is called Ru-
[10] “open … mind” means attain complete enlightenment, i.e. Samahdi.
[11] Because of the mindfulness of the Buddha, people’s mind becomes Buddha and the Buddha adorns the people’s mind. Same as a perfumer, who has a fragrant body that is derived from the perfume, and the fragrance adorns the perfumer.
[12] Alamkaraka means adornment, transformation, or solemnity.
[13] “causal ground” means the fundamental cause, i.e. the state of practicing Buddhism, which leads to the resulting Buddhahood.
[14] “patience of immortality” means a state that one will not subject to birth and death, transmigration, or reincarnation, which connotes the condition of the absolute.
[15] “Return to the Pureland” means reincarnation in the seas of life and death is just like taverns and can never be our final destination. The Buddha’s Pureland is indeed home to all of us and we need to go home after endless reincarnation. In this Chapter, Pureland means the Amitabha’s Pureland.
[16] Complete penetration/understanding also denotes a stage of Samadhi. See footnote 2.
[17] Indriyas means roots or sense-
[18] Pure mind means Buddha’s name. Only when concentrating on the mindfulness of the Buddha, such as chanting a Buddha’s name, can people focus their mind without being distracted by outside pollutant.
Special thanks to the valuable comments of Master Jian Hu of Chun Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale.
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