| Amitabha |
Articles about Amitabha |
Information AboutAmitabha |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT AMITABHA | |
| buddhas | |
|
Amitābha is a celestial Buddha described in the scriptures of Mahāyāna Buddhism. According to these scriptures, Amitābha is a Buddha possessing infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a Bodhisattva . He lives in another world, a "Pure Land" (Chinese 净土 jingtu) called ''Sukhāvatī'' ( Sanskrit for "possessing happiness") situated in the uttermost west, beyond the bounds of our own world. By the power of his vows, Amitābha has made it possible for all who call upon him to be Reborn into this land, there to undergo instruction by him in the Dharma and ultimately become bodhisattvas and Buddhas in their turn (the ultimate goal of Mahāyāna Buddhism). Amitābha's vows indicate that all who call upon him will, after their deaths, be reborn in the Pure Land regardless of their merit or their religious or worldly status. This openness and acceptance of all kinds of people has made the Pure Land belief one of the major influences in Mahayana Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism seems to have first become popular in northwest India / Pakistan and Afghanistan and spread from there to Central Asia and China , and from China to Vietnam , Korea and Japan . Amitābha is also known in Tibet , Mongolia , and other regions where Tibetan Buddhism is practised. In Tibet, Amitabha is considered one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas (together with Akshobhya , Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, and Vairocana ), who is associated with the western direction and the '' Skandha '' of saṃjñā. As ''Amitāyus'', he is also a frequently invoked Buddha in Tibet, especially in practices relating to longevity. NAMES IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES '' in Kamakura , an image of Amitabha]] The proper ( Nominative ) form of Amitābha's name in Sanskrit is Amitābhaḥ. This name is a compound of the Sanskrit words '''amita''' meaning "without bound, infinite" and '''ābhā''' meaning "light, splendor". Consequently the name is to be interpreted as "he who possesses light without bound, he whose light is infinite". Another name that is used is ''Amitāyus'' (nominative form Amitāyuḥ). This name is a compound of '''amita''' "infinite" and '''āyus''' "life", and so means "he whose life is boundless". In Chinese Amitābha's name is given as 阿彌陀佛 (''Āmítuó Fó''), where Āmítuó is the Chinese representation of the first three syllables of either Amitābha ''or'' Amitāyus, and Fó is Chinese for Buddha (a very early borrowing of the first syllable of the Sanskrit word). The ''meaning'' of Amitābha's name is given in Chinese as 無量光佛 Wuliangguang Fo ("infinite light Buddha"), and likewise the meaning of the name Amitāyus is given as 無量壽佛 Wuliangshou Fo ("infinite life Buddha"). These names are not, however, very commonly used. Vietnamese , Korean , and Japanese use the same Chinese characters for the name of Amitābha, but pronounce them slightly differently:
In Japanese, Amitābha is also called 阿弥陀如来 ''Amida Nyorai'', meaning "Amitābha the Tathāgata ". In Tibetan , Amitābha is called '' 'od.dpag.med'' and, as Amitāyus, ''tshe.dpag.med''. DOCTRINE According to the '' Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra '', Amitābha was in very ancient times (i.e., in a universe existing long before the beginning of our present universe) a monk with the name of Dharmakāra. In some versions of the Sutra , Dharmakara is described as a former king who, having come in contact with the Buddhist teaching, renounced his throne. He resolved to become a Buddha and in this way to come into possession of a ''buddhakṣetra'' ("Buddha-field", a world produced by a Buddha's merit) possessed of many perfections. These resolutions were expressed in his Forty-eight Vows 四十八願, which set out the type of Buddha-field which Dharmakara aspired to create, the conditions under which beings might be born into that world, and what kind of beings they will be when they are reborn there. In the versions of the sutra widely known in China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, Dharmakara's eighteenth vow is that any being in any universe, who desires to be born in Amitābha's Pure Land and calls upon his name, even as few as ten times, will be guaranteed rebirth in the Pure Land. His nineteenth vow promises that he, together with his bodhisattvas and other blessed Buddhists, will appear before those who call upon him at the moment of death. The sutra goes on to explain that Amitābha, after countless lives and the making of great merit, finally achieved Buddha-hood and is still alive in his land of Sukhāvatī, whose many virtues and joys are described. The basic doctrines concerning Amitābha and his vows are found in three canonical Mahāyāna texts:
ICONOGRAPHY on the viewer's right and Kuan Yin on the right.]] Amitabha can be very difficult to tell apart from Shakyamuni , as both are portrayed as possessing all the attributes of a Buddha but have no distinguishing marks. He can, however, often be distinguished by his Mudra : Amitabha is often depicted, when shown seated, with the meditation mudra, with thumbs touching and fingers together (as in the Kamakura statue of Amitabha) or the exposition mudra, while the earth-touching mudra (with the right hand pointed downward over the right leg, palm inward) is reserved for a seated Shakyamuni alone. When standing, Amitabha is often show with his right arm bare and extended downward, with his right hand facing outward. When not depicted alone, Amitabha is often portrayed with two assistants: Avalokiteśvara ( Guan Yin ) who appears on his right and Mahāsthāmaprāpta (Da Shì Zhì) who appears on his left. The Panchen Lama , the second highest ranking lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism , is believed to be an incarnation of Amitabha. Amitabha is red in color. In Tibetan Buddhism, red is the color of love, compassion, and emotional energy. His direction is the west. It is in this direction that sunset takes place and indeed he is envisioned as the setting Sun (red). He is seen as the supreme power and energy of nature, cast on an earthly plain, accessible to all sentient beings. It is little wonder that he is one of the most popular of all Dhyani Buddhas. His unique emblem is the Lotus . He is thus associated with all the attributes of the lotus: gentleness, openness, and purity. MANTRAS The Tibetan Mantra of Amitabha is 'Om ami dhewa hri'. Various mantras invoking his name are commonly used by modern Amidist schools, particularly 南無阿弥陀佛, read ''Nàmó Āmítuó fó'' in Chinese, ''Namu Amita bul'' in Korean, ''Namu Amida butsu'' in Japanese, and ''Nam-mô A-di-đà Phật'' in Vietnamese. Buddhist monks in China and Taiwan are greeted by saying ''Āmítuó fó''. Occasionally, lay devotees of Buddhism address each other in this same manner. The Japanese and Korean form of the mantra is frequently used in prayers for the dead, and sometimes simply to express respect for the dead, somewhat similar to the way some Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox make the sign of the cross after mentioning a dead person's name. ORIGINS The first known epigraphic evidence for Amitabha is the bottom part of a 2nd Century statue which has been found in Govindnagar, Pakistan, and is now at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka ", that is, sometime in the later half of the 2nd century during the period of the Kushan Empire , and dedicated to "Amitabha Buddha" by a family of merchants. The first known sutra mentioning Amitabha is the translation into Chinese of the Pratyutpanna Sutra by the Kushan monk Lokaksema around 180 CE . This work is said to be at the origin of Pure Land practice in China. The appearance of such literature and sculptural remains at the end of the 2nd century suggests that the doctrine of Amitabha probably developed during the 1st and 2nd century CE . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|