#amida buddha

[jamabushi]

[lionofchaeronea]

Bronze statue of the Amida Buddha (Sanskrit Amitābha), associated with the Pure Land sect of Mahayana Buddhism in Japan. The Buddha is shown here in the meditative dhyana mudra posture, with small images of the 25 guardians of Buddhism behind him.

This statue was made in Japan in the early 1880s (Meiji period). In 1902, Scottish entrepreneur James Douglas Fletcher purchased it as decoration for his estate on the Black Isle, Rosehaugh, which (like many British estates of the period) contained acquisitions from cultures around the world. The statue is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

[stillunusual]

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

[gleaningsinbuddhafields]

New Blog Post

Buddhism and the Parable of the Two Rivers

Since this week is the Japanese-Buddhist holiday of Ohigan (lit. “other shore” お彼岸), I wanted to share a famous parable in the “Pure Land” B

[josho-adrian]

Pure Land is NOT here and now

[beifongkendo]

Woodblock printed suribotoke sheet with 100 Amida Buddhas (Heian Period, ca. 9th century).

[dailydhammapada]

"The profound Vow of Amida Buddha refers to the story in the Larger Pure Land Sutra where Bodhisattva Dharmakara, moved by the sufferings of the people in the world, determined to devote himself to finding a way of salvation for all beings. Finally, he achieved enlightenment and the fulfillment of his aspirations and became Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.

When Dharmakara made his vows, he put them in the form: "If, when I become a buddha, all beings do not experience the same realization, then I will not accept the highest enlightenment."

Dharmakara, then Amida, indicates that salvation is not a private matter. Religion as the way to enlightenment must include others and work on their behalf, or else there can be no meaning to that salvation."

From "Strategies for Modern Living: A Commentary With the Text of the Tannisho" by Alfred Bloom

[tea-from-the-bodhi-tree]

The infinite variety of the myriad phenomena of the universe belongs to the wondrous workings of the one great mystery.

Kiyozawa Manshi, The Great Path of Absolute Other Power