Eighteenth vow
eighteenth vow
第十八願 ( Jpn dai-juhachi-gan )
The eighteenth of forty-eight vows made by Bodhisattva Dharma Treasury (Skt Dharmakara) before he attained enlightenment as Amida Buddha.
The forty-eight vows are set forth in the Buddha Infinite Life Sutra.
In the eighteenth vow, Bodhisattva Dharma Treasury pledged that, if he attained Buddhahood, all people who placed their trust in him would attain rebirth in his pure land, except those who had committed the five cardinal sins or who had slandered the correct teaching.
(Shan-tao [613-681], the third patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land school, interpreted this placing of trust as calling upon the name of Amida Buddha.)
Among the forty-eight vows, the Pure Land school regards the eighteenth vow as the most important and calls it the original vow.
