Infinite Life Sutra

The Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is one of the two Indian Mahayana sutras which describe the Pure Land of Amitabha. Together with the Shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutra, this text is highly influential in China and Japan where it is revered by the Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu congregations.

The original Sanskrit versions of the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra and Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra were translated into English by Luis Gomez in The Land of Bliss.

Some scholars believe that the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra was compiled in the age of the Kushan Empire in the first and second centuries by an order of Mahīśāsaka monastics who flourished in the Gandhāra region. It is likely that the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha owed greatly to the Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this sūtra there are many elements in common with the Mahāvastu. The earliest of these translations show traces of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language, a prakrit used in the Northwest. It is also known that manuscripts in the Kharoṣṭhī script existed in China during this period.

Traditionally the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is believed to have been translated twelve times from the original Sanskrit into Chinese from 147 to 713 CE. Of those, only five translations are extant in the Chinese Buddhist canon. The earliest of the five translations is attributed to Zhi Qian, who came from the Kuṣāṇa kingdom to Luoyang during the decline of the Han dynasty and translated the sūtra sometime between 223 and 253 CE. This translation is known most commonly as Dà Āmítuófó Jīng (大阿彌陀經), or "Larger Sūtra of the Amitābha Buddha." This translation has also been attributed to the earlier Han period Kuṣāṇa translator Lokakṣema, who arrived in Luoyang in 164 CE and translated works through 186 CE.

...
Wikipedia