The old catalogues of scriptures state that the translator’s name is missing. It is now recorded in the catalogue of translations from the Later Han dynasty.
One should recollect Dharmākara Bhikṣu.
He made his vows before Lokeśvararāja Tathāgata and the Buddhas and established twenty-four vows.
Life after life he beheld the Buddhas, numbering billions of trillions, beyond all calculation.
He never abandoned the practices he had cultivated throughout his former lives, and thus his merits were ultimately perfected and accomplished.
His world is called Purity, and after attaining Buddhahood he is called Infinite.
His land is level and easy to traverse, abundant and joyful, and inhabited by many excellent beings.
There are many kinds of jeweled trees, arranged in groves and growing thickly together.
Their roots, trunks, branches, leaves, and flowers are all different, and each gives forth its own distinct fragrance.
A favorable wind blows through them three times each day, causing the flowers and leaves to stir together, as though flowers were continually being produced.
When they fall to the ground, they spread out as evenly as cloth laid down by hand, mingling with one another and covering the ground in perfect evenness.
There are no mountains of any kind, nor seas or other sources of water.
There are only flowing rivers, whose sounds are like the proclamation of Sūtras.
Devas enter the water to sport, and its depth accords with whatever each of them wishes.
If they wish the water to reach their waist, ribs, or shoulders, it immediately becomes so according to their thought.
The Buddha’s lifespan is like the sands of the Gaṅgās throughout the ten directions, and his radiance shines universally without limit.
The Bodhisattvas and disciples are likewise beyond calculation and measure.
If one wishes to behold that Buddha, one should neither harbor doubt nor fall into forgetfulness.
Those whose minds contain doubt will remain within a womb for five hundred years and will be unable to encounter the Buddha.
Those who are free from doubt will be born upon a dais and stand with their hands joined before Amitāyus Buddha.
If they make a vow to travel to the worlds of the ten directions, in a brief moment they can journey everywhere and then return.
One should recollect that Bodhisattva, who diligently cultivated his practices throughout myriads upon myriads of kalpas.
Because he originally cultivated in this way, his title came to accord with that of the World-Honored One.
It is exceedingly difficult for a Buddha to appear in the world, even for only a brief time.
Those able to expound it are difficult to encounter, and those able to receive and study it are likewise difficult to find.
If, in a later age, the Final Dharma is encountered and the Dharma is about to decline,
everyone should together establish and uphold it, practicing the Dharma of freedom from desire spoken by the Buddha.
The Buddha proclaimed such essential teachings. Each of you should diligently contemplate and practice them.
You should propagate these immeasurable vows and, life after life, bow your heads in reverence and put them into practice.
Dharma Torch 