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Go ko shi yui shi sho ju
Ju sei myo sho mon jip-po
Fu ho mu ryo mu hen ko
Mu ge mu tai ko en no

Sho jo kan gi chi e ko
Fu dan nan ji mu sho ko
Cho nichi gak-ko sho jin setsu
Is-sai gun jo mu ko sho

Hon gan myo go sho jo go
Shin shin shin gyo gan ni in
Jo to gaku sho dai ne han
His-shi metsu do gan jo ju

Nyo rai sho i ko shus-se
Yui setsu mi da hon gan kai
Go joku aku ji gun jo kai
O shin nyo rai nyo jitsu gon

No hotsu ichi nen ki ai shin
Fu dan bon no toku ne han
Bon jo gyaku ho sai e nyu
Nyo shu shi nyu kai ichi mi

Ses-shu shin ko jo sho go
I no sui ha mu myo an
Ton nai shin zo shi un mu
Jo fu shin jitsu shin jin ten

Hi nyo nik-ko fu un mu
Un mu shi ge myo mu an
Gyaku shin ken kyo dai kyo ki
Soku o cho zetsu go aku shu

Is-sai zen maku bon bu nin
Mon shin nyo rai gu zei gan
Butsu gon ko dai sho ge sha
Ze nin myo fun da ri ke- fi

Mi da butsu hon gan nen butsu
Ja ken kyo man naku shu jo
Shin gyo ju ji jin ni nan
Nan chu shi nan mu ka shi
In do sai ten shi ron ge
Chu ka jichi iki shi ko so
Ken dai sho ko se sho i
Myo nyo rai hon ze o ki

Sha ka nyo rai ryo ga sen
I shu go myo nan ten jiku
Ryu ju dai ji shut-to se
Shitsu no zai ha u mu ken

Sen zetsu dai jo mu jo ho
Sho kan gi ji sho an raku
Ken ji nan gyo roku ro ku
Shin gyo i gyo shi do raku

Oku nen mi da butsu hon gan
Ji nen soku ji nyu hitsu jo
Yui no jo sho nyo rai go
O ho dai hi gu zei on

Ten jin bo Satsu zo ron setsu
Ki myo mu ge ko nyo rai
E Shu ta ra ken shin jitsu
Ko sen o cho dai sei gan

Ko-yu hon gan riki e ko
I do gun jo sho is-shin
Ki nyu ku doku dai ho kai
Hitsu gyaku nyu dai e shu shu

Toku shi ren ge zo se kai
Soku sho shin nyo hos-sho jin
Yu bon no rin gen jin zu
Nyu sho ji on ji o ge

Hon shi don ran ryo ten shi
Jo ko ran sho bo satsu rai
San zo ru shi ju jo kyo
Bon jo sen gyo ki raku ho

Ten jin bo satsu ron chu ge
Ho do in ga ken sei gan
O gen ne ko yu ta riki
Sho jo shi in yui shin jin

Waku zen bon bu shin jin potsu
Sho-chi sho-ji soku ne hon
His-shi mu ryo ko myo do
Sho-u shu jo kai fu ke

Do shaku kes-sho do nan sho
Yui myo jo do ka tsu nyu
Man zen ji riki hen gon shu
En man toku go kan sen sho

San-pu san shin ke on gon
Zo matsu ho metsu do-hi in
Is-sho zo aku chi gu zei
Shi an nyo gai sho myo ka

Zen do doku myo bus-sho I
Ko ai jo san yo gyaku aku
Ko myo myo go ken in nen
Kai-nyu hon gan dai-chi kai

Gyo-ja sho-ju kon go shin
Kyo-ki ichi nen so o go
Yo-I dai to gyaku san nin
Soku sho hos-sho shi jo raku

Gen shin ko kai ichi dai kyo
Hen ki an nyo kan is-sai
Sen zo shu shin han sen jin
Ho ke ni do sho ben ryu

Goku ju aku nin yui sho butsu
Ga yaku zai-hi ses-shu chu
Bon no sho gen sui fu ken
Dai-hi mu ken jo sho ga

Hon shi gen ku myo buk-kyo
Ren min zen maku bon bu nin
Shin shu kyo sho ko hen shu
Sen jaku hon gan gu aku se

Gen rai sho-ji rin den ge
Ket-chi gi jo I sho shi
Soku nyu jaku jo mu I raku
Hit-chi shin jin I no nyu

Gu kyo dai ji shu shi tou
Jo sai mu hen goku joku aku
Do zoku ji shu gu do shin
Yu-I ka shin shi ko so se-tsu

Searched into the origins of the Buddhas’ pure land,
And the qualities of those lands and their men and devas;
He then established the supreme, incomparable Vow;
He made the great Vow rare and all-encompassing.

In five kalpas of profound thought, he embraced this Vow,
Then resolved again that his Name be heard throughout the ten quarters.
Everywhere he casts light immeasurable, boundless,
Unhindered, unequaled, light-lord of all brilliance,

Pure light, joyful light, the light of wisdom,
Light constant, inconceivable, light beyond speaking,
Light excelling sun and moon he sends forth, illumining countless worlds;
The multitudes of beings all receive the radiance.

The Name embodying the Primal Vow is the act of true settlement,
The Vow of entrusting with sincere mind is the cause of birth;
We realize the equal of enlightenment and supreme nirvāņa
Through the fulfillment of the Vow of attaining nirvāņa without fail.

Śākyamuni Tathāgata appeared in this world
Solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida;
We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements,
Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth.

When the one thought-moment of joy arises,
Nirvāņa is attained without severing blind passions;
When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and slanders of the dharma, all alike turn and enter shinjin,
They are like waters that, on entering the ocean, become one in taste with it.

The light of compassion that grasps us illumines and protects us always;
The darkness of our ignorance is already broken through;
Still the clouds and mists of greed and desire, anger and hatred,
Cover as always the sky of true and real shinjin.

But though light of the sun is veiled by clouds and mists,
Beneath the clouds and mists there is brightness, not dark.
When one realizes shinjin, seeing and revering and attaining great joy,
One immediately leaps crosswise, closing off the five evil courses.

All foolish beings, whether good or evil,
When they hear and entrust to Amida’s universal Vow,
Are praised by the Buddha as people of vast and excellent understanding;
Such a person is called a pure white lotus.

For evil sentient beings of wrong views and arrogance,
The nembutsu that embodies Amida’s Primal Vow
Is hard to accept in shinjin;
This most difficult of difficulties, nothing surpasses.

The masters of India in the west, who explained the teachings in treaties,
And the eminent monks of China and Japan,
Clarified the Great Sage’s true intent in appearing in the world,
And revealed that Amida’s Primal Vow accords with the nature of beings.

Śākyamuni Tathāgata, on Mount Lankā,
Prophesied to the multitudes that in south India
The mahasattva Nāgārjuna would appear in this world
To crush the views of being and non-being;

Proclaiming the unexcelled Mahāyāna teaching,
He would attain the stage of joy and be born in the land of happiness.
Nāgārjuna clarifies the hardship on the overland path of difficult practice,
And leads us to entrust to the pleasure on the waterway of easy practice.

He teaches that the moment one thinks on Amida’s Primal Vow,
One is naturally brought to enter the sage of the definitely settled;
Solely saying the Tathāgata’s Name constantly,
One should respond with gratitude to the universal Vow of great compassion.
Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, composing a treatise, declares
That he takes refuge in the Tathagata of unhindered light,
And that relying on the sutras, he will reveal the true and real virtues,
And make widely known the great Vow by which we leap crosswise beyond birth-and-death.

He discloses the mind that is single so that all beings be saved
By Amida’s directing of virtue through the power of the Primal Vow.
When a person turns and enters the great treasure-ocean of virtue,
Necessarily he joins Amida’s assembly;

And when he reaches hat lotus-held world,
He immediately realizes the body of suchness or dharma-nature.
Then sporting in the forests of blind passions, he manifests transcendent powers;
Entering the garden of birth-and-death, he assumes various forms to guide others.

Turning toward the dwelling of Master T’an-laun, the Emperor of Liang
Always paid homage to him as a bodhisattva.
Bodhiruci, master of the Tripitaka, gave T’an-laun the Pure Land teachings,
And T’an-laun, burning his Taoist scriptures, took refuge in the land of bliss.

In his commentary on the treatise of Bodhisattva Vasubandhu,
He shows that the cause and attainment of birth in the fulfilled land lie in theVow.
Our going and returning, directed to us by Amida, come about through OtherPower;
The truly decisive cause is shinjin.

When a foolish being of delusion and defilement awakens to shinjin,
He realizes that birth-and-death is itself nirvāna;
Without fail he reaches the land of immeasurable light
And universally guides sentient beings to enlightenment.

Tao-ch’o determined how difficult it is to fulfill the Path of Sages,
And reveals that only passage through the Pure Land gate is possible for us.
He criticizes self-power endeavor in the myriad good practices,
And encourages us solely to say the fulfilled Name embodying true virtue.

With kind concern he teaches the three characteristics of entrusting and nonentrusting,
Compassionately guiding all identically, whether they live when the dharmasurvives as but form, when in its last stage, or when it has becomeextinct.
Though a person has committed evil all his life, when he encounters the Primal Vow,
He will reach the world of peace and realize the perfect fruit ofenlightenment.

Shan-tao alone in his time clarified the Buddha’s true intent;
Sorrowing at the plight of meditative and non-meditative practicers andpeople of grave evil,
He reveals that Amida’s Light and Name are the causes of birth.
When the practicer enters the great ocean of wisdom, the Primal Vow,

He receives the diamond-like mind
And accords with the one thought-moment of joy; whereupon,
Equally with Vaidehī, he acquires the threefold wisdom
And is immediately brought to attain the eternal bliss of dharma-nature.

Genshin, having broadly elucidated the teaching of Śākyamuni’s lifetime,
Wholeheartedly took refuge in the land of peace and urges all to do so;
Ascertaining that minds devoted to single practice are profound, to sundry practice, shallow,
He sets forth truly the difference between the fulfilled land and thetransformed land.

The person burdened with extreme evil should simply say the Name:
Although I too am within Amida’s grasp,
Passions obstruct my eyes and I cannot see him;
Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always.

Master Genkū, well-versed in the Buddha’s teaching,
Turned compassionately to foolish people, both good and evil;
Establishing in this remote land the teaching and realization that are the true essence of the Pure Land way,
He transmits the selected Primal Vow to us of the defiled world:

Return to this house of transmigration, of birth-and-death,
Is decidedly caused by doubt.
Swift entrance into the city of tranquility, the uncreated,
Is necessarily brought about by shinjin.

The mahasattvas and masters who spread the sutras
Save the countless beings of utter defilement and evil.
With the same mind, all people of the present, whether monk or lay,
Should rely wholly on the teachings of these venerable masters.