The Nature of Amitābha
The Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra describes the Buddha Amitābha as having a body that radiates limitless light throughout the ten directions. The sutra states:
“The majestic radiance of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is exalted and supreme; the radiance of other Buddhas cannot compare with it. Some Buddhas’ light shines upon a hundred Buddha-lands, and other Buddhas’ light shines upon a thousand Buddha-lands. Briefly stated, the light of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life illuminates all the Buddha-lands. Sentient beings who encounter this light have the three defilements swept away, and they become soft and gentle in body and mind. They leap and dance with joy, and the good mind arises in them. When those suffering pain and travail in the three evil realms see this light, they all find respite and become free of afflictions. After their lives have ended, they will all gain emancipation. The light of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is resplendent and brilliantly illuminates the lands of the Buddhas throughout the ten quarters; there is no place where it is not heard. It is not I alone who praise this light now; all Buddhas, sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas together praise it just as I do. In the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha, Shakyamuni also describes the Buddha Amitābha’s light as inconceivable and ultimate indescribable, saying that he “could never describe it completely”, even if he spent eons trying. Regarding the lifespan of Amitābha, the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra states that it is “everlasting and beyond reckoning”, totally beyond any calculation or thought. Both Sukhāvatīvyūha sūtras also proclaim Buddha Amitābha’s special status, by stating that he is praised and revered by all the Buddhas of the ten quarters and that all Buddhas teach their retinues about birth in Amitābha’s Pure Land”.
References in other sutras
Amitābha is also mentioned in numerous other Buddhist sources. Kenneth Tanaka notes that “Thirty one Sanskrit texts and over one hundred Chinese and Tibetan translations refer to Amitābha and/or Sukhavati.”
Amida Manifesting in the “Dharma-body of Expedient Means”,
Japanese painting.
The earliest Buddhist sutra mentioning Amitābha is the translation into Chinese of the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtr; Bozhōu Sānmèi Jīng) by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema. This text has been dated to between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE by modern buddhologists and may have been translated from the Gandhari language (a fragment of which was discovered in 2018). Other important Mahayana texts which mention Amitabha, and his pure land of Sukhavati include the Ajitasena Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Nirvana Sutra, the Mahāmegha Sutra, and the Samādhirāja Sūtra. There are also several Indian Dhāraṇī sutras (sutras focused on specific magical chants) which are focused on Amitābha including various editions of the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī, as well as the Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the King of the Sound of Amitābha’s Drum, the Anantamukhanirhāra-dhāraṇī and the Fundamental Dhāraṇī of Immeasurable Life Tathagata (T.930). Jeff Wilson writes that over a fifth of the sutras in the Taishō Tripiṭaka reference Amitābha, but three sutras in particular have become seen as canonical in East Asian Buddhism: the two Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtras discussed above and the Amitāyus Contemplation Sūtra. The Contemplation Sūtra is believed to have been translated into Chinese by Kalayāśas in the early fifth century and belongs to a group of texts focused on the visualization of Buddhas. Unlike other Pure Land sūtras, the Contemplation Sūtra emphasizes meditative practices to have a vision of Amitābha, including thirteen stages of visualization. These include meditating on the setting sun, pure water turning into beryl, and eventually visualizing the entire Pure Land with its jeweled pavilions, lotus throne, Amitāyus (Amitābha), and his attendant Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta.
A scroll depicting the “Welcoming Descent” (Ch: laiying, Jp: raigo) of Amida Buddha
and Twenty-five Bodhisattvas coming to guide a dying person to the pure land,
1668, Japan, Edo period. MET.
The sūtra also explains that even those guilty of the five gravest transgressions may, just before death, encounter a virtuous teacher who instructs them in the Buddha’s Dharma. If such a person sincerely calls upon Amitāyus’ name ten times, their accumulated negative karma will be purified, and they will be reborn within a lotus bud in Sukhāvatī. After twelve eons, the lotus will bloom, and the individual will behold Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, who will preach the Dharma and inspire them to cultivate bodhicitta. This sūtra became a cornerstone of the Pure Land tradition, as it offers hope to all people. Its emphasis on salvation through Amitābha’s boundless compassion extends even to the most evil individuals.
In Mahayana treatises
Some Mahāyāna treatises mention Amitābha. The Dasabhumikavibhāsā (十住毘婆沙論, T.1521), which is traditionally ascribed to Nāgārjuna and survives only in a Chinese translation by Kumārajīva (344-413), teaches the “easy” practice of maintaining constant mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha as a way to attain birth in the pure land. The authorship of this text has been disputed by some scholars, including Akira Hirakawa. Vasubandhu (fl. 4th to 5th century CE) is traditionally credited with composing the Discourse on the Pure Land (T.1524), a commentary on the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, which only survives in Chinese translation by the Indian translator Bodhiruci (6th century). This work outlines a five-part practice that may have functioned as a visualization meditation. Amitābha and his pure are also briefly discussed by Vasubandhu’s brother Asanga in his Mahāyānasaṃgraha. The author of the Ratnagotravibhāga concludes the text with the following dedication to Amitāyus: “By the merit I have acquired through (writing) this (treatise), may all living beings come to perceive the Lord Amitāyus* endowed with infinite light.”
History and archeology
According to Kenneth Tanaka, Amitābha Buddha emerged as a central figure in the Gandharan Buddhism of the first century CE. Numerous Amitābha Buddha images have been discovered in the Greater Gandhāra region (in modern Pakistan and Afghanistan) from about the first century CE onwards during the Kushan era (30–375 CE). This, along with evidence which suggests that the two main Pure Land sutras were written in the Gandhari language, indicates that Amitābha rose to prominence in Gandharan Buddhism (and in the greater Kushana Empire) during the first century CE. Regarding the main historical source of the figure of Amitābha, some Western scholars have proposed possible influences on Buddhism from Zoroastrian deities (Ahura Mazda or Zurvan) or from Brahmanical deities or concepts (such as the sun god Surya or the immortality nectar Amritā).[38][40] Japanese scholars like Kōtatsu Fujita meanwhile tend to place the origin of Amitābha Buddha squarely within Buddhist tradition.
A painting of Amitabha discovered at Dunhuang
Other scholars, especially Japanese authors, cite various passages from earlier Buddhist sources which mention Shakyamuni Buddha radiating light rays and which state that his lifespan is immeasurable. Such ideas seem to have been most common in the early Buddhist Mahāsāṃghika tradition, who promoted the docetic idea that the Buddha was ultimately a transcendent (lokottara) being who nevertheless manifested a magical body on earth. One of their sutras is cited by Vasumitra (in a passage that was translated three times by different Chinese figures) as stating that “the form body (rupakaya), supernatural power (prabhāva) and lifespan (ayus) of a Buddha is unlimited (ananta).” Julian Pas also notes that, in the version translated by Kumārajīva, Vasumitra’s passage speaks of the limitless light of the Buddha (“kuan-ming-wu-liang”), which could be a translation of abha amita.
Another Mahāsāṃghika (Lokottaravāda) source, the Mahāvastu, states: “the purity of the Buddha is so great that the worship of the Exalted One is sufficient for the attainment of Nirvāna” and “from the Buddha’s smile, there radiate beams which illuminate all buddhafields.” Pas sees the Mahāsāṃghika as promoting a kind of Buddhist bhakti (devotional) movement. These connections with early Mahāsāṃghika doctrines indicate the possibility that Amitābha may have initially signified the limitless lifespan and radiance of the Buddha, pointing to the transcendent dimensions of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Since the Mahāsāṃghika school was also active in the northwest of India and as far north as Bamiyan (Afghanistan), Pas argues that they are a likely source for the ideas that influenced the rise of the devotional cultus of Amitābha in northwest India, Gandhara, and Bactria.
