The Final Entrustment
流通分
A census of bodhisattvas bound for Sukhāvatī from this world and thirteen others, the Buddha's vow to preserve this one sūtra a hundred years into the age of the Dharma's decline, and the sūtra's own close.
- This part covers
- The number of non-retrogressing bodhisattvas from this world bound for Sukhāvatī; the same census across thirteen other buddha-lands; the Buddha's vow to preserve this sūtra specifically for a hundred years after every other teaching has faded; a final ranking of this sūtra as harder to encounter than anything else in the Dharma; the assembly's attainments and the sūtra's own close.
48. Sixty-Seven Koṭis of Bodhisattvas from This World
彌勒菩薩白佛言：世尊。於此世界有幾所不退菩薩，生彼佛國？佛告彌勒：於此世界有六十七億不退菩薩，往生彼國。一一菩薩，已曾供養無數諸佛。次如彌勒者也，諸小行菩薩及修習少功德者，不可稱計，皆當往生。
The bodhisattva Maitreya said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, how many non-retrogressing bodhisattvas are there in this world who will be born in that buddha's land?" The Buddha told Maitreya: "In this world there are sixty-seven koṭis of non-retrogressing bodhisattvas who will attain rebirth in that land. Every one of these bodhisattvas has already made offerings to countless buddhas, ranking next after one such as yourself, Maitreya. As for the lesser bodhisattvas, and those who have cultivated only a small measure of merit, they are beyond all counting, and every one of them, too, shall attain rebirth there."
Maitreya's question is a practical one, asked after an entire sūtra's worth of cosmic scale: not how many beings across the universe are bound for Sukhāvatī, but specifically how many from this world, the one he and the rest of the assembly actually inhabit. Huiyuan reads the Buddha's answer as grounding everything described so far in something closer to home — sixty-seven koṭis of advanced bodhisattvas already assured of rebirth there, plus a count of lesser practitioners the text declines even to attempt, "beyond all counting." The number that follows, across thirteen other buddha-lands in the next section, is offered explicitly as a small sample of a total the sūtra says elsewhere would take a full aeon to recite in full.
49. Thirteen Other Buddha-Lands
佛告彌勒：不但我剎諸菩薩等往生彼國。他方佛土亦復如是。其第一佛名曰遠照。彼有百八十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第二佛名曰寶藏。彼有九十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第三佛名曰無量音。彼有二百二十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第四佛名曰甘露味。彼有二百五十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第五佛名曰龍勝。彼有十四億菩薩。皆當往生。其第六佛名曰勝力。彼有萬四千菩薩。皆當往生。其第七佛名曰師子。彼有五百億菩薩。皆當往生。其第八佛名曰離垢光。彼有八十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第九佛名曰德首。彼有六十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第十佛名曰妙德山。彼有六十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第十一佛名曰人王。彼有十億菩薩。皆當往生。其第十二佛名曰無上華。彼有無數不可稱計諸菩薩眾。皆不退轉。智慧勇猛。已曾供養無量諸佛。於七日中即能攝取百千億劫大士所修堅固之法。斯等菩薩皆當往生。其第十三佛名曰無畏。彼有七百九十億大菩薩眾。諸小菩薩及比丘等不可稱計。皆當往生。佛語彌勒。不但此十四佛國中諸菩薩等當往生也。十方世界無量佛國。其往生者亦復如是甚多無數。我但說十方諸佛名號，及菩薩比丘生彼國者。晝夜一劫，尚未能竟。我今為汝略說之耳。
The Buddha told Maitreya: "It is not only the bodhisattvas of my own land who will be born in that buddha's land — it is the same for the lands of other buddhas as well. The first buddha is named Far-Reaching Radiance; there, a hundred and eighty koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The second buddha is named Treasury of Jewels; there, ninety koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The third buddha is named Immeasurable Sound; there, two hundred and twenty koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The fourth buddha is named Flavor of Sweet Dew; there, two hundred and fifty koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The fifth buddha is named Nāga's Victory; there, fourteen koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The sixth buddha is named Power of Victory; there, fourteen thousand bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The seventh buddha is named Lion; there, five hundred koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The eighth buddha is named Light Free of Defilement; there, eighty koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The ninth buddha is named Foremost in Virtue; there, sixty koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The tenth buddha is named Mountain of Wondrous Virtue; there, sixty koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The eleventh buddha is named King Among People; there, ten koṭis of bodhisattvas shall all be born there. The twelfth buddha is named Unsurpassed Flower; there, countless, immeasurable bodhisattvas dwell, all of them non-retrogressing, their wisdom courageous, having already made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, able, within a mere seven days, to gather in the firm and stable practice that a great being elsewhere might take a hundred thousand koṭis of aeons to cultivate — bodhisattvas such as these shall all be born there as well. The thirteenth buddha is named Fearless; there, seven hundred and ninety koṭis of great bodhisattvas dwell, and the lesser bodhisattvas and monks there are beyond counting, and every one of them, too, shall be born there." The Buddha said to Maitreya: "It is not only the bodhisattvas of these fourteen buddha-lands who shall be born there — throughout the immeasurable buddha-lands of the ten directions, those who attain rebirth there are, in just the same way, exceedingly many, beyond number. Were I to speak only of the names of the buddhas of the ten directions, and of the bodhisattvas and monks born in that land from each of their lands, a full aeon, day and night without pause, still would not be enough to finish it. I have, for you now, only spoken of it in the briefest outline."
Worth flagging as a small but genuine textual feature rather than smoothing it over: the passage numbers its buddhas one through thirteen, yet the closing line refers back to "these fourteen buddha-lands." The most natural reading is that the fourteenth is Śākyamuni's own land, counted together with the thirteen just listed, since the bodhisattva census for this world was given immediately before, in the previous section — but the text does not state this explicitly, and this translation notes the apparent discrepancy rather than silently resolving it.
The Buddha's closing admission — that reciting the full census, across the buddha-lands of all ten directions, "would take a full aeon, day and night without pause" — echoes the same rhetorical move used for the assembly's size back in Part 4: a number is offered, and then immediately relativized as a small sample of something too vast to state in full. Huiyuan reads this recurring pattern as the sūtra's own way of keeping its precise figures from being mistaken for the whole picture — each count given is real, but never final.
50. A Sūtra Preserved for a Hundred Years
佛語彌勒：其有得聞彼佛名號。歡喜踊躍乃至一念。當知此人為得大利。則是具足無上功德。是故彌勒。設有大火充滿三千大千世界。要當過此。聞是經法。歡喜信樂。受持讀誦。如說修行。所以者何。多有菩薩。欲聞此經而不能得。若有眾生聞此經者。於無上道終不退轉。是故應當專心信受持誦說行。吾今為諸眾生說此經法。令見無量壽佛及其國土一切所有。所當為者皆可求之。無得以我滅度之後復生疑惑。當來之世經道滅盡。我以慈悲哀愍。特留此經止住百歲。其有眾生值斯經者。隨意所願皆可得度。
The Buddha said to Maitreya: "Anyone who comes to hear that buddha's name, and rejoices and leaps up in joy, even for a single thought, should be understood to have obtained a great benefit, and to be fully endowed with unsurpassed merit. For this reason, Maitreya, even if a great fire were to fill an entire great trichiliocosm, one ought still to pass through it, to hear this teaching, to rejoice in it with faith, to receive it, uphold it, read and recite it, and practice it exactly as taught. And why is this? Because there are many bodhisattvas who wish to hear this sūtra and yet are unable to. If there are beings who hear this sūtra, they will never turn back from the unsurpassed path. For this reason, one should single-mindedly believe, receive, uphold, recite, expound, and practice it. I now speak this teaching for the sake of all beings, so that they may behold Amitāyus Buddha and everything that his land contains; whatever ought to be sought may be sought accordingly. Do not, after I have passed into extinction, give rise to any further doubt. In the age to come, the scriptures and the path will fade away entirely and be lost; but I, in my compassion and pity, will especially preserve this sūtra, and cause it to remain in the world for a hundred more years. Any being who, in that time, encounters this sūtra may, according to their own wish, attain deliverance."
This is one of this sūtra's most distinctive and consequential claims, and it is worth stating plainly what it says: in the doctrine of the Dharma's historical decline, shared across the wider Mahāyāna canon, a future age arrives in which the Buddha's teachings gradually fade from the world entirely. This sūtra claims a specific exception for itself — that after every other scripture has been lost, this one alone will be deliberately preserved for a hundred more years, so that beings in that final window still have a way to attain deliverance. Huiyuan treats this as the sūtra's own account of its unique standing among the scriptures, not a claim this translation can verify independently, but one worth understanding as central to why this text has historically been read, by much of the Pure Land tradition, as uniquely suited to eras when other paths seem to have become impractical.
"Even if a great fire were to fill an entire great trichiliocosm, one ought still to pass through it, to hear this teaching" is deliberately extreme language, and Huiyuan reads it as intentionally so — not a literal instruction to seek out danger, but a rhetorical ceiling meant to convey that no obstacle, however severe, should be treated as sufficient reason not to encounter this teaching.
51. Hardest of the Hard, and the Assembly's Joy
佛語彌勒：如來興世難值難見。諸佛經道難得難聞。菩薩勝法諸波羅蜜。得聞亦難。遇善知識聞法能行。此亦為難。若聞斯經信樂受持。難中之難無過此難。是故我法如是作如是說如是教。應當信順如法修行。爾時世尊說此經法無量眾生皆發無上正覺之心。萬二千那由他人得清淨法眼。二十二億諸天人民得阿那含果。八十萬比丘漏盡意解。四十億菩薩得不退轉。以弘誓功德而自莊嚴。於將來世當成正覺。爾時三千大千世界六種震動。大光普照十方國土。百千音樂自然而作。無量妙華芬芬而降。佛說經已。彌勒菩薩及十方來諸菩薩眾。長老阿難，諸大聲聞，一切大眾，聞佛所說，靡不歡喜。
The Buddha said to Maitreya: "A Tathāgata's appearance in the world is hard to meet, hard to see; the scriptures and the path taught by the buddhas are hard to obtain, hard to hear; the bodhisattvas' supreme teaching, the perfections, are likewise hard to hear; to encounter a good teacher, and to hear the teaching and be able to practice it, is hard as well. But to hear this sūtra, and to believe in it with joy, and to receive and uphold it — this is the hardest of all hard things, harder than any of these. For this reason, my Dharma is set forth, spoken, and taught exactly in this way; you should believe it, follow it, and practice according to it." At that time, when the World-Honored One had spoken this teaching, immeasurable beings all gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect awakening; twelve thousand koṭis of nayutas of people attained the pure Dharma-eye; twenty-two koṭis of gods and people attained the fruit of anāgāmin; eight hundred thousand monks had their minds released, every outflow exhausted; and forty koṭis of bodhisattvas attained non-retrogression, adorning themselves with the merit of the great vow, and shall, in an age to come, attain perfect awakening. At that moment the great trichiliocosm shook in six ways, a great light shone fully upon the lands of the ten directions, a hundred thousand kinds of music sounded of themselves, and immeasurable, wondrous flowers rained fragrantly down. When the Buddha had finished speaking this sūtra, the bodhisattva Maitreya, and the bodhisattvas who had come from the ten directions, the elder Ānanda, the great śrāvakas, and the whole assembly, on hearing what the Buddha had spoken, all without exception rejoiced.
Readers of this site's Amitābha Sūtra translation will recognize the shape of this claim immediately: that sūtra, too, closes by naming itself "the Dharma that the whole world finds hard to believe" (一切世間難信之法). This sūtra makes a related but distinct claim — not that the teaching is hard to believe once heard, but that the opportunity to hear it at all, sincerely and receptively, is the rarest opportunity in a chain of already-rare opportunities: rarer than a buddha's appearance in the world, rarer than encountering any scripture, rarer than meeting a good teacher. Huiyuan reads the two claims as complementary rather than redundant — the shorter sūtra's difficulty is a difficulty of the mind, in accepting an apparently simple practice; this sūtra's difficulty, stated here at its very close, is a difficulty of circumstance, in ever being in a position to hear it sincerely in the first place.
One closing detail worth noting honestly: this sūtra ends without the standard formula found at the close of the Amitābha Sūtra and countless other scriptures — "the assembly rejoiced, believed, accepted it, and, making obeisance, departed" (歡喜信受，作禮而去). Here the text simply says the whole assembly rejoiced, and stops. This is a genuine difference in how the two texts close, not an omission on this translation's part.
About This Translation
The Chinese text translated across these eleven parts is Saṃghavarman's (康僧鎧) 3rd-century translation, Taishō T360, sourced from a public-domain critical edition hosted at Chinese Wikisource, collated against the Qianlong-era Longzang and Taishō editions. The English translation was made directly from this Chinese for Ru-Yi Meditation Center, without reference to any existing English translation of this sūtra, in keeping with the practice followed throughout this site's other sūtra translations. See also this site's note on translation method.
The reading notes across all eleven parts draw primarily on Jingying Huiyuan's (淨影寺慧遠, 523–592) 無量壽經義疏, the earliest and most systematically complete of the surviving commentaries on this sūtra, composed in the sixth century and long in the public domain. Where noted, this guide also draws on Jizang's (吉藏, 549–623) commentary of the same title and on Gyeongheung's (憬興, 7th c., Silla) 無量壽經連義述文贊, both roughly contemporary with Huiyuan's own work and, where their readings diverge from his, presented as genuine differences within the tradition rather than smoothed into false agreement. Each "Reading note — after Huiyuan" is Ru-Yi's own English synthesis of the commentarial tradition's key points for that passage, not a translation of any commentary in full.
Chinese sūtra source: Saṃghavarman's translation (3rd century CE), public domain. Chinese commentary sources: Jingying Huiyuan's 無量壽經義疏 (6th c.), Jizang's commentary of the same title, and Gyeongheung's 無量壽經連義述文贊 (7th c.), all long in the public domain. English translation and reading guide written for Ru-Yi Meditation Center.