[Footnote 84:  Pranidhana.  Not only Amitabha but all Bodhisattvas (especially Avalokita and Kshitigarbha) are supposed to have made such vows.  This idea is very common in China and Japan but goes back to Indian sources.  See e.g. Lotus, XXIV. verse 3.]

[Footnote 85:  These Bodhisattvas are also mentioned but without much emphasis in the Greater Sukhavati-vyuha.]

[Footnote 86:  Even in Hinayanist works such as the Nidanakatha Sumedha’s resolution to become a Buddha, formed as he lies on the ground before Dipankara, has a resemblance to Amida’s vow.  He resolves to attain the truth, to enable mankind to cross the sea of the world and only then to attain Nirvana.]

[Footnote 87:  See Foucher, Iconographie Bouddhique dans l’Inde.]

[Footnote 88:  The Bhagavad-gita states quite clearly the doctrine of the deathbed prayer (VIII. ad init.).  “He who leaves this body and departs remembering me in his last moments comes to my essence.  Whatever form (of deity) he remembers when he finally leaves this body, to that he goes having been used to ponder on it.”]

[Footnote 89:  See art.  Adi-Buddha in E.R.E. Asanga in the Sutralankara (IX. 77) condemns the doctrine of Adi-Buddha, showing that the term was known then, even if it had not the precise dogmatic sense which it acquired later.  His argument is that no one can become a Buddha without an equipment (Sambhara) of merit and knowledge.  Such an equipment can only be obtained from a previous Buddha and therefore the series of Buddhas must extend infinitely backwards.]

[Footnote 90:  For the prevalence of the doctrine in mediaeval Bengal see B.K.  Sarkar, Folklore Element in Hindu Culture, which is however sparing of precise references.  The Dharma or Niranjana of the Sunya Purana seems to be equivalent to Adi-Buddha.

Sometimes the Adi-Buddha is identified with Vajrasattva or Samantabhadra, although these beings are otherwise classified as Bodhisattvas.  This appears analogous to the procedure common in Hinduism by which a devotee declares that his special deity is all the gods and the supreme spirit.]

[Footnote 91:  It would appear that some of the Tantras treat of five bodies, adding to the three here given others such as the Anandakaya, Vajrakaya and Svabhavakaya.  For this doctrine see especially De la Vallee Poussin, J.R.A.S. 1906, pp. 943-997 and Museon, 1913, pp. 257 ff.  Jigs-med nam-mka, the historian of Tibetan Buddhism, describes four.  See Huth, Ges. d.  Bud. in d.  Mongolei, vol.  II. pp. 83-89.  Hinduism also assigns to living beings three bodies, the Karana-sarira, lingas. and sthulas.]

[Footnote 92:  Translated into Chinese by Dharmaraksha between 397 and 439 A.D.]

[Footnote 93:  The prototype of the Sambhoga-kaya is found in the Pali Canon, for the Buddha says (Mahaparinib.  Sut.  III. 22) that when he appears among the different classes of gods his form and voice are similar to theirs.]