It should be noticed that, in spite of what is said in the Sutra, Amidaists always speak of Amida as an Eternal Being without beginning or end. Also that very little attention is paid to any

portion of Amida's Vow except to that portion (eighteenth section) which relates to Salvation through Faith in Amida's Name.

2. The Smaller Sukhavati Vyuha (Japanese Amida Kyo), brought to China by Kumarajiva soon after A.D. 400, and by him translated. It is not certain whether Eon had access to this Sutra or not. Probably not. "It is taught in this Sutra that if a man keeps in his memory the name of Buddha Amitabha one day or seven days, the Buddha together with Bodhisattvas will come and meet him at the moment of his death in order to let him be born in the Pure Land Sukhavati; and that this matter has equally been approved by all the other Buddhas of the Universe." Eon's ceaseless devotion to the Sacred Name seems scarcely necessary in view of the words of the Sutra, "one day or seven days."

3. Amitayur-dhyana-sutra (Jap. Kwammuryojukyo), translated by Kalayas'as in A.D. 424, eight years after Eon's death. In this Sutra, Queen Vaidehi is weary of this wicked world, and is coin-forted by S'akyamuni, who teaches her how to be born in the Pure Land, and instructs her in the three kinds of goodness. These are (i) worldly goodness, e.g. filial piety, loyalty, respect for parents, etc.; (ii) morality, of that internal and unworldly kind which is the first foundation of the religious life; and (iii) the goodness of practice, which includes the practical application to life of the Four Great Truths and the Six Paramitas or Cardinal Virtues. A good seed produces good fruit in abundance. If we sow the seed of the three goodnesses we shall reach, as a fruit, the ninefold bliss of the Pure Land.

Footnotes

^154:1 There is a long and painstaking article on the history of the Tsin Dynasty by Ch. Pithon in China Review, vol. xii. p. 401. He shows that during this period the illegitimate states were the true props of Buddhism, just as in Germany it was the small states that favoured the Reformation.

^155:1 In 375, the Huns, with the Alani and Ostrogoths, crossed the Volga and attacked the West Goths. The latter applied for help to the Emperor Valens, and it was on this occasion that they brought into prominence the bishops, priests, nuns, etc., whom they had according to their ancient rites. See the quotation from Eunapius at the end of the preceding chapter.

^156:1 China Review, vol. xi. p. 308.

^156:2 Mentioned by Cosmas Indicopleustes.

^159:1 See note on the three Amida books at the end of this chapter.