The Amitāyus Sutra

The Amitāyus Sutra (Sanskrit), simplified Chinese: 佛说无量寿经; traditional Chinese: 佛說無量壽經; pinyin: Fóshuō Wúliàngshòu Jīng; Sutra of Immeasurable Life Spoken by Buddha; Vietnamese: Phật Thuyết Vô Lượng Thọ Kinh; Japanese: Bussetsu Muryōju Kyō (Taisho Tripitaka no. 360), also known as the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, is one of the two IndianMahayana sutras surviving in Sanskrit which describe the pure land of Amitābha (also known as Amitāyus, "Measureless Life"), the other being the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra.

The Amitāyus Sutra contains the past-life tale of Dharmākara Bodhisattva, who would go on to become Buddha Amitābha. It also explains how he gave rise to the Original Vows which led to the creation of the Pure Land of Sukhavati. The title of the sutra is often translated in English as either the Sutra [on the Buddha] of Immeasurable Life, or simply the Immeasurable Life Sutra. The Immeasurable Life Sutra is one of the three central scriptures of East Asian Pure Land Buddhism, and is widely revered and chanted by Pure Land Buddhists throughout Asia.