karmic power of the great Vow　大願業力 The power fulfilled through and possessed by the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha. “Great” and “karmic” both characterize the power of the Vow. The usage of “great” is the same as in the expressions “great wisdom-compassion” and “great practice”; its meaning is absolute and qualitative (rather than relative and quantitative), and it signifies that the power of the Vow is that of the Buddha and not that of human beings. “Karmic” refers to the law of cause and effect, just as it does when characterizing the “karmic” evil of sentient beings. The aeons of religious practice and discipline as Bodhisattva Dharmākara is the cause by which the realization of enlightenment as Amida Buddha was brought about. Amida’s power to save all beings and to bring the evil persons to Buddhahood―a power not possessed by any other Buddha―is rooted in this practice.
　The basis for the attainment of Buddhahood by the person of karmic evil through the power of Amida’s Vow lies in the law of cause and effect operating in Amida. Here we see an important feature of Buddhism that distinguishes it from traditions in which persons are saved through the will of God. While it may be said that the working of the Primal Vow is the working of the Buddha’s mind, the working of the Buddha’s mind itself is not beyond the causation of karma. Although Amida is a Buddha, without the cause―the aeons of practice as Dharmākara―it would be impossible to possess the power to bring beings of evil to enlightenment. Thus, the law of karma is more basic than the concept of Buddha. Śākyamuni states, “To see dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) is to see Buddha.” Pratītyasamutpāda (causation, cause-and-effect) is the foundation of Buddhism, and the personification of the law of pratītyasamutpāda is Buddha.