"...when that good man or good woman ends (his
or her) life, that Thus Come One Limitless
Life will stand before him (or her) as he (or
she) ends his (or her) life, surrounded by an
assembly of Sound Hearers and attended by a
host of Bodhisattvas..."


    The previous two lessons began a long
sentence that said if a good man or good woman
recites the name of Amita Buddha with one mind
unconfused for from one to seven days--and now
we find out what happens.  yada "when" sa
"that" kulaputro "good man" (va...) va "or"
kuladuhita "good woman" (see VBS #134) kalam
karisyati "ends (his or her) life..." Literally
karisyati is future indicate active third person
singular from root û kr- "do/make," here
with the masculine noun kalam "time" as its
direct object, and so accusative singular of
the stem kala-. One's alloted time is the
time of death, and so this idiom means to die.

    At that time, so "that" tathagathah "Thus
Come One" amitayus "Limitless Life" (see previous
lessons for discussion) sthasyati "will
stand"--future indicative active third person
singular from root û stha- "stand"--puratah
"before" tasya "him" (or "her"--genitive singular
masculine of the demonstrative pronoun,
dependent on the preposition puratah) kurvatah
"as he (or she) ends (his or her)" kalam "life."
kalam in this phrase is direct object of the
present active participle kurvatah from root
û kr- "do/make," and so this is the same idiom.
The participle means literally "making," hence
"ending," and is genitive singular masculine
agreeing with tasya.

     The Buddha Amitayus at that time will be
sravaka-sangha-parivrto "surrounded" (parivrto,
perfect passive participle nominative singular
masculine from root û vr- "conceal/surround,"
and prefix pari- "around").  In the compound
word one works backwards to find who the Buddha
is surrounded by:   sangha "tan) assembly" (of)'
sravaka "Sound Hearer(s)," literally "Sound
Hearer assembly."  And the Buddha will also be
bodhisattva-gana-puraskrtah "attended" ( by a )
gana "host/multitude" (of) bodhisattva "Bodhisattva(s)."
sattva(s)."  Note that the two compound words
are formed in the same way, for krtah is the
perfect passive participle nominative singular
masculine from root û kr- "do/make," plus the
indeclinable puras, pura in compound, which
was seen also in puratah, and which means "in
front/before."  Again it is an idiom, meaning
literally "made in front by..."

     When the person who is singlemindedly
mindful of Amita Buddha comes to the end of
his or her life, that Buddha will appear along
with multitudes of Sound Hearers and Bodhisattvas.
Next lesson describes what else
happens.