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immeasurable Sound Hearer assembly, of which pure
Arhats the number is not easy to tell. With such
arrays of qualities of a Buddhaland, Sariputra, is
this Buddhaland adorned." (9)
Sakyamuni Buddha says to sariputra: ca "and", then
literally "of that Thus Come One" -- tasya and
tathagatasya being genitive singular -- "there is an"
(not expressed in Sanskrit) aprameyah "immeasurable"
sravaka "Sound Hearer" (see VBS #39) sangho
"assembly" (see VBS #35). In English "Thus Come One"
can be the subject of a possessive verb though, as
translated above.
He continues: yesam "of which" -- genitive plural
masculine, whose antecedent is sravaka, understood to
be plural although without a case ending since it is
the first member of a compound. This pronominal
adjective introduces a relative clause whose subject
is pramanam "number/measure" (see VBS #123),
nominative singular neuter. No verb "is" appears. The
predicate, negated by na "not", is sukaram "easy",
which governs the infinitive akhyatum "to tell."
Suddhanam "(of) pure/purified" is genitive plural
masculine, agreeing with arhatam "(of) Arhats" (see
VBS #40). Literally the Sanskrit reads this way, but
you could say "Sound Hearers, pure Arhats, whose
number is not easy to tell." It's not a simple matter
to count the number of Arhats, because an additional
quality of the Buddha Limitless Life (Amitayus), also
called Limitless Light (Amitabha), is that his
assembly of Sound Hearer disciples is also limitless.