Primal Vow  In Chinese and Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, the is the 18th vow that is part of a series of 48 vows that Amitābha made in the "Infinite Life Sutra". The text of the 18th vow of Amitabha Buddha, according to "Infinite Life Sutra", reads:  In the "Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra", Buddha taught Ajātasattu's mother, Queen Videhi, that those who attain birth on the lowest level of the lowest grade are the sentient beings who commit such evils as the five gravest offenses, the ten evil acts and all kinds of immorality, when he is about to die, he may meet a good teacher, who consoles him in various ways, teaching him the wonderful Dharma and urging him to be mindful of the Buddha; but he is too tormented by pain to do so, so the good teacher then advises him to repeat nianfo ten times. Because he calls the Buddha's name, with each repetition, the evil karma which he has committed during eighty kotis of kalpas of Samsara is extinguished. The Japanese term "hongan" (本願) is derived originally from the Sanskrit term "pūrvapraṇidhāna", meaning "original vow" or "original pronouncement." However, the use of pūrvapraṇidhāna for the 18th vow of Amitābha is not known in Indian Buddhism, in which the 18th vow was not treated in any special way. The term "pūrvapraṇidhāna" typically refers to all the original vows made by a bodhisattva in order to develop bodhicitta and begin the striving toward Buddhahood. Regarding Pure Land practice in Indian Buddhism, Hajime Nakamura writes that as described in the Pure Land sūtras from India, buddhānusmṛti or "mindfulness of the Buddha" is the essential practice. Buddhānusmṛti is called "nianfo" in Chinese and "nembutsu" in Japanese. In Japanese Buddhism, Amitabha Buddha is often associated with devotional practices, and he is regarded as striving to save those beings who are incapable of reaching Enlightenment through their negative karma, by leading them to Enlightenment. The founder of Jōdo-shū, Hōnen, emphasized the importance of the Primal Vow over the efficacy of practices espoused by his contemporaries in Tendai.