The following is the 48 vows of Amitabha Buddha
taken from: http://web.singnet.com.sg/~alankhoo/Amitabha.htm
The Forty-Eight Vows
Translated from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki
(1) If, when I attain Buddhahood, should there be in my land a
hell, a realm of hungry spirits or a realm of animals, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(2) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should after death fall again into the three evil realms, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(3) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not all be the colour of pure gold, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(4) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not all be of one appearance, and should there be any
difference in beauty, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(5) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not remember all their previous lives, not knowing at least
the events which occurred during the previous hundred thousand
kotis of nayutas of kalpas, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(6) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not possess the divine eye of seeing at least a hundred
thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(7) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not possess the divine ear of hearing the teachings of at
least a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddhas and should not
remember all of them, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(
If, when I attain
Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land should not possess the
faculty of knowing the thoughts of others, even those of all
sentient beings living in a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(9) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not possess the supernatural power of travelling anywhere in
one instant, even beyond a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(10) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should give rise to thoughts of self-attachment, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(11) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not dwell in the Definitely Assured State and unfailingly
reach Nirvana, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(12) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my light should be limited,
unable to illuminate even a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(13) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my life-span should be limited,
even to the extent of a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
kalpas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(14) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the number of the shravakas in
my land could be known, even if all the beings and pratyekabuddhas
living in this universe of a thousand million worlds should count
them during a hundred thousand kalpas, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(15) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should have limited life-spans, except when they wish to shorten
them in accordance with their previous vows, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(16) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should even hear of any wrongdoing, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(17) If, when I attain Buddhahood, innumerable Buddhas in the land
of the ten directions should not all praise and glorify my Name,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(1 If, when I attain
Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who
sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, aspire to be born
in my land, and call my Name even ten times, should not be born
there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. Excluded, however,
are those who commit the five gravest offences and abuse the right
Dharma.
(19) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of
the ten directions, who awaken aspiration for Enlightenment, do
various meritorious deeds and sincerely desire to be born in my
land, should not, at their death, see me appear before them
surrounded by a multitude of sages, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(20) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of
the ten directions who, having heard my Name, concentrate their
thoughts on my land, do various meritorious deeds and sincerely
transfer their merits towards my land with a desire to be born
there, should not eventually fulfil their aspiration, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(21) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not all be endowed with the thirty-two physical
characteristics of a Great Man, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(22) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the Buddha-lands
of other directions who visit my land should not ultimately and
unfailingly reach the Stage of Becoming a Buddha after One More
Life, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. Excepted are those
who wish to teach and guide sentient beings in accordance with
their original vows. For they wear the armour of great vows,
accumulate merits, deliver all beings from birth-and-death, visit
Buddha-lands to perform the bodhisattva practices, make offerings
to Buddhas, Tathagatas, throughout the ten directions, enlighten
uncountable sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the River
Ganges, and establish them in the highest, perfect Enlightenment.
Such bodhisattvas transcend the course of practice of the ordinary
bodhisattva stages and actually cultivate the virtues of
Samantabhadra.
(23) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land, who
would make offerings to Buddhas through my divine power, should not
be able to reach immeasurable and innumerable kotis of nayutas of
Buddha-lands in the short time it takes to eat a meal, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(24) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land should
not be able, as they wish, to perform meritorious acts of
worshipping the Buddhas with the offerings of their choice, may I
not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(25) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land should
not be able to expound the Dharma with the all-knowing wisdom, may
I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(26) If, when I attain Buddhahood, there should be any bodhisattva
in my land not endowed with the body of the Vajra-god Narayana, may
I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(27) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings should be able,
even with the divine eye, to distinguish by name and calculate by
number all the myriads of manifestations provided for the humans
and devas in my land, which are glorious and resplendent and have
exquisite details beyond description, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(2 If, when I attain
Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land, even those with little store
of merit, should not be able to see the Bodhi-tree which has
countless colours and is four million li in height, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(29) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land should
not acquire eloquence and wisdom in upholding sutras and reciting
and expounding them, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(30) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the wisdom and eloquence of
bodhisattvas in my land should be limited, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(31) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my land should not be
resplendent, revealing in its light all the immeasurable,
innumerable and inconceivable Buddha-lands, like images reflected
in a clear mirror, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(32) If, when I attain Buddhahood, all the myriads of
manifestations in my land, from the ground to the sky, such as
palaces, pavilions, ponds, streams and trees, should not be
composed both of countless treasures, which surpass in supreme
excellence anything in the worlds of humans and devas, and of a
hundred thousand kinds of aromatic wood, whose fragrance pervades
all the worlds of the ten directions, causing all bodhisattvas who
sense it to perform Buddhist practices, then may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(33) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions,
who have been touched by my light, should not feel peace and
happiness in their bodies and minds surpassing those of humans and
devas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(34) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions,
who have heard my Name, should not gain the bodhisattva's insight
into the non-arising of all dharmas and should not acquire various
profound dharanis, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(35) If, when I attain Buddhahood, women in the immeasurable and
inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions who, having heard
my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration for Enlightenment and
wish to renounce womanhood, should after death be reborn again as
women, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(36) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the immeasurable
and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions, who have
heard my Name, should not, after the end of their lives, always
perform sacred practices until they reach Buddhahood, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(37) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions,
who, having heard my Name, prostrate themselves on the ground to
revere and worship me, rejoice in faith, and perform the
bodhisattva practices, should not be respected by all devas and
people of the world, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(3 If, when I attain
Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land should not obtain clothing,
as soon as such a desire arises in their minds, and if the fine
robes as prescribed and praised by the Buddhas should not be
spontaneously provided for them to wear, and if these clothes
should need sewing, bleaching, dyeing or washing, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(39) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land
should not enjoy happiness and pleasure comparable to that of a
monk who has exhausted all the passions, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(40) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my land, who
wish to see the immeasurable glorious Buddha-lands of the ten
directions, should not be able to view all of them reflected in the
jewelled trees, just as one sees one's face reflected in a clear
mirror, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(41) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the
other directions who hear my Name should, at any time before
becoming Buddhas, have impaired, inferior or incomplete sense
organs, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(42) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the
other directions who hear my Name should not all attain the samadhi
called 'pure emancipation' and, while dwelling therein, without
losing concentration, should not be able to make offerings in one
instant to immeasurable and inconceivable Buddhas, World-Honoured
Ones, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(43) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the
other directions who hear my Name should not after death be reborn
into noble families, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(44) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the
other directions who hear my Name should not rejoice so greatly as
to dance and perform the bodhisattva practices and should not
acquire stores of merit, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(45) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the
other directions who hear my Name should not all attain the samadhi
called 'universal equality' and, while dwelling therein, should not
always be able to see all the immeasurable and inconceivable
Tathagatas until those bodhisattvas, too, become Buddhas, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(46) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land should
not be able to hear spontaneously whatever teachings they may wish,
may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(47) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the
other directions who hear my Name should not instantly reach the
Stage of Non-retrogression, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(4 If, when I attain
Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands of the other directions who
hear my Name should not instantly gain the first, second and third
insights into the nature of dharmas and firmly abide in the truths
realised by all the Buddhas, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
