Aparimitāyus, Amitāyus, and Amitābha
The name of the buddha who is the subject of this sūtra has three forms, of different lengths. The shortest version of his name is Aparimitāyus. The medium-length version is Aparimitāyurjñāna (“Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom”), and figures in the title of the sūtra. The longest form of the name, also in the sūtra, is Aparimitāyurjñānasuviniścitatejorāja (“The Blazing King Who Is Completely Certain of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom”).5
The shortest name, Aparimitāyus, is translated into Tibetan as Tsepamé (tshe dpag med or, in full, tshe dpag tu med pa). Tsepamé, however, is also the Tibetan translation of Amitāyus, an alternative form of the name of the Buddha Amitābha found in many scriptures. These two buddhas, who seem to have been originally quite distinct, are often identified with each other—not only in Tibetan Buddhism but also in the Chinese and Japanese traditions6—and the overlap of their names in Tibetan is therefore not the only factor at work. But partly as a result of back-translation from Tibetan into Sanskrit, Aparimitāyurjñāna has become commonly known as Amitāyus, a name which makes him difficult to distinguish from the Amitāyus who is Amitābha.
Other than by their names, a further means of distinguishing between these two buddhas is by their buddhafields. In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni clearly introduces Aparimitāyurjñāna as dwelling in the realm named Aparimitaguṇasaṃcaya (“Accumulation of Immeasurable Qualities”), which is situated in an upward direction from this world, i.e. toward the zenith. Tibetan authors who commented on the problem, even if they used the short form Tsepamé (Amitāyus), nevertheless took pains to distinguish between the two buddhas. On the one hand was “Amitāyus of the zenith” (steng phyogs kyi tshe dpag med) and “Amitāyus of Akaniṣṭha” (’og min gyi tshe dpag med, in the tantras), both likely to be references to Aparimitāyurjñāna. On the other was “Amitāyus of Sukhāvatī” (bde ba can gyi tshe dpag med), also sometimes known as “Amitāyus of the Drum of Immortality” (’chi med rnga sgra’i tshe dpag med, Dundubhisvara-Amitāyus), both of whom can be identified with Amitābha.7
Aparimitāyurjñāna is therefore presented here as quite distinct from the Amitāyus or Amitābha who resides in the realm of Sukhāvatī in the western direction. However, perhaps adding to the confusion, even the text of this present sūtra includes rebirth in Sukhāvatī among the results that will be obtained by those who write the sūtra down and recite it. This can presumably be explained by the fact that Sukhāvatī, described in several Kangyur sūtras8 and in many prayers, was the realm in which Mahāyāna Buddhists predominantly and almost generically prayed to be reborn.
Of the few other mentions specifically of Aparimitāyurjñāna in the canonical texts, one appears to be in The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, Toh 543), in which the Buddha Śākyamuni tells of a buddha with the names Aparimitāyurjñānarāja and Amitāyurjñānaviniścayarājendra, who has taught the king of vidyās that consists of a single letter. His pure realm is called Amitavyūhavatī, or simply Amitāyus.9 He is also mentioned as one of nine tathāgatas from buddhafields in the eastern direction present in the assembly.10
Another, perhaps more significant, mention comes in the Sarvadurgatipariśodhanatantra (Toh 483 and 485). One of the many secondary maṇḍalas described in that influential Yogatantra work, widely used in funerary rites, is that of a tathāgata whose full name is given as Aparimitāyuḥpuṇyajñānasambhāratejorāja, but who is referred to as Amitāyus in the several commentaries. He is invoked to protect from untimely death, and his mantra, oṁ puṇye puṇye mahā-puṇye aparimitāyuḥ-puṇye jñāna-sambhāropacite svāhā, bears a striking resemblance to the central section of the repeated dhāraṇī of the present text, as well as to the dhāraṇī of The Essence of Aparimitāyus (tshe dpag med kyi snying po, Toh 673a).11 Its possible relationship to the present text is discussed further in i.24 below, and in the introduction to Toh 675 at i.29–31.
The only other mention in the Kangyur of the tathāgata known as Aparimitāyurjñāna is, misleadingly, in the title of the text that follows the two versions of this sūtra in the Tantra section. Often confused with the present text, it is The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom” (Toh 676, Aparimitāyurjñānahṛdaya-nāma-dhāraṇī),12 but that work proves to be concerned solely with the “other” Amitāyus (or Aparimitāyus) to be identified with Amitābha, in Sukhāvatī. It shares no content with The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra, has an entirely different dhāraṇī, and—despite the title—the name Aparimitāyurjñāna does not appear within the text itself. However, the fact that it has that title, and its placement in most Kangyurs just after The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra, indicate that these two buddhas were already identified with each other by the time of the compilation of the Kangyurs—as indeed they are in the Buddhist traditions of East Asia.
In some later practice texts, both Amitābha and Amitāyus take the role of the dharmakāya deity of the lotus family, while in others Amitāyus may be specified as representing any of the three kāyas. Iconographically, Amitābha is often portrayed in nirmāṇakāya and Amitāyus in saṃbhogakāya form. In the present sūtra, however, there is no indication that Aparimitāyus is in saṃbhogakāya or any other specified form. In fact, there is no description of him at all—except perhaps that the appellation tejorāja, “blazing king,” might be taken to refer to his “fire-like” red appearance. His usual portrayal as red in color, wearing the saṃbhogakāya costume, and holding a vase of amṛta, the nectar of immortality, comes from the later tantra practices that have their origin in this sūtra.