The Amitāyus Sutra

The Amitāyus Sutra (Sanskrit), simplified Chinese: 佛说无量壽經; traditional Chinese: 佛說無量壽經; pinyin: Fóshuōwúliàngshòujīng; Sutra of Immeasurable Life Spoken by Buddha; Vietnamese: Phật Thuyết Kinh Vô Lượng Thọ; Japanese: Taisho Tripitaka no.

360) also known as the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, is one of the two Indian Mahayana sutras which describe the pure land of Amitābha (also known as Amitāyus, "Measureless Life").

Some scholars believe that the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra was compiled in the age of the Kushan Empire in the first and second centuries by an order of Mahīśāsaka monastics who flourished in the Gandhāra region.

[1][2] It is likely that the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha owed greatly to the Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this sūtra there are many elements in common with the Mahāvastu.

[1] Traditionally the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is believed to have been translated into Chinese twelve times from the original Sanskrit from 147 to 713 CE.

Gomez writes: the order of the narrative and the argument deviate, sometimes only on minor points, sometimes in major ways; differences in content occur throughout, and range from a regrouping and rearrangement of important themes (in the content and structure of the verse portions, for instance, and in the vows), to significant omissions and additions.

[7]There are over twenty commentaries on this sutra written in China, Korea and Japan, all based on the Buddhabhadra / Saṅghavarman translation which became the standard in Chinese Buddhism.

[8] The Dilun scholar Jingying Huiyuan (淨影慧遠, J. Jōyō Eon) wrote the earliest extant Chinese commentary to the Sutra of Immeasurable Life.

He states that in a past life, Amitābha was once a king who renounced his kingdom and became a bodhisattva monk named Dharmākara ("Dharma Storehouse").

[10] Under the guidance of the buddha Lokeśvararāja ("World Sovereign King"), innumerable buddha-lands throughout the ten directions were revealed to him.