<tr><th class="fn org" style="text-align: center; font-size: larger;" colspan="2" style="background-color:#FFFF00">Amitabha</th></tr>
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="2">Amitabha Buddha pictured in the Ushiku Daibutsu in Japan
Amitabha Buddha pictured in the Ushiku Daibutsu in Japan
Sanskrit:  अमिताभ Amitābha, Amitāyus
Chinese:  阿彌陀佛(T) / 阿弥陀佛(S) Pinyin: Ēmítuó Fó, Āmítuó Fó
Wade-Giles: A-mi-t’uo Fo
Japanese:  阿弥陀如来 Amida Nyorai
Tibetan:  Amitābha name od dpag med
Korean:  아미타불 Amit'a Bul
Vietnamese:  A-di-đà Phật
Venerated by:  Mahayana, Vajrayana
Attributes:  Infinite Light
Shakti:  Pandara

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Amitābha (Sanskrit: अमिताभ, Amitābha (wordstem), Hindi pronunciation: [əmɪtaːbʱə]; Amitābho; Chinese: 阿彌陀佛, Ēmítuó Fó; Japanese: 阿弥陀如来, Amida Nyorai; Tibetan:འོད་དཔག་མེད།, Ö-pa-me) is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is often called "The Buddha of Infinite Light."





The basic doctrines concerning Amitābha and his vows are found in three canonical Mahāyāna texts:


Amitābha in Vajrayāna Buddhism

Buddha Amithaba

Buddha Amitābha in Tibetan Buddhism, traditional Thanka painting

Amitābha is also known in Tibet, Mongolia, and other regions where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. In the Highest Yoga Tantra class of the Tibetan Vajrayana Amitābha is considered one of the Five Dhyāni Buddhas (together with Akṣobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, and Vairocana), who is associated with the western direction and the skandha of saṃjñā, the aggregate of distinguishing (recognition) and the deep awareness of individualities. His consort is Pāṇḍaravāsinī.[1][2][3][4][5] His realm is called either Sukhāvatī (Sanskrit) or Dewachen (Tibetan). His two main disciples (just as the Buddha Shakyamuni had two) are the Bodhisattvas Vajrapani and Avalokiteshvara, the former to his left and the latter to his right. In Tibetan Buddhism, there exists a number of famous prayers for taking rebirth in Sukhāvatī (Dewachen). One of these was written by Je Tsongkhapa on the request of Manjushri, who appeared to him in different visions.

The Tibetan Panchen Lamas[6] and Shamarpas[7] are considered to be emanations of Amitābha.

He is frequently invoked in Tibet either as Buddha Amitābha - especially in the Phowa practices or as Amitāyus - especially in practices relating to longevity and preventing an untimely death.

In Japanese Vajrayāna, or Shingon Buddhism, Amitābha is seen as one of the thirteen Buddhist deities to whom practitioners can pay homage. Shingon, like Tibetan Buddhism, also uses special devotional mantras for Amitābha, though the mantras used differ. Amitābha is also one of the Buddhas featured in the Womb Realm Mandala used in Shingon practices, and sits to the west, which is where the Pure Land of Amitābha is said to dwell.


Amitābha is the center of a number of mantras in Buddhist Vajrayana practices. The Indic form of the mantra of Amitābha is ॐ अमिताभ ह्रीः (Devanagari: oṃ amitābha hrīḥ), which is pronounced in its Tibetan version as Om ami dewa hri (Sanskrit: oṃ amideva hrīḥ). The Japanese Shingon Buddhist mantra is On amirita teizei kara un which represents the underlying Indic form oṃ amṛta-teje hara hūṃ.

In addition to using the mantras listed above, many Buddhist schools invoke Amitābha's name in a practice known as 'nianfo' 念佛 in Chinese and 'nembutsu' in Japanese.

Names in various languages

Museum of Ethnology Vienna 001 retouched

Statue of the Buddha Amitābha (Mongolia, 18th century CE)

The proper form (wordstem) of Amitābha's name in Sanskrit is Amitābha, masculine, and the nominative singular is Amitābhaḥ. This is a compound of the Sanskrit words amita ("without bound, infinite") and ābhā ("light, splendor"). Consequently, the name is to be interpreted as "he who possesses light without bound, he whose splendor is infinite".

The name Amitāyus (nominative form Amitāyuḥ) is also used. This is a compound of amita ("infinite") and āyus ("life"), and so means "he whose life is boundless".

In Chinese, his name is given as Ēmítuó Fó (阿彌陀佛 boundless Buddhas), where Ēmítuó is the Chinese representation of the first three syllables of either Amitābha or Amitāyus, and is Chinese for Buddha (a very early borrowing of the first syllable of the Sanskrit word).

The name Amitābha is given in Chinese as Wúliàngguāng (無量光; "Infinite Light "), while the name Amitāyus is given as Wúliàngshòu (無量壽; "Infinite Life"). These names are not, however, very commonly used.

In Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese, the same Chinese characters used for Amitabha are used to represent his name, though they are pronounced slightly differently:

  • Vietnamese: A-di-đà Phật
  • Korean: Amit'a Bul
  • Japanese: Amida Butsu.

In Japanese, he is also called Amida Nyorai (阿弥陀如来), meaning " the TathāgataAmitābha".

In Tibetan, Amitābha is called ' and, as Amitāyus,


Chinese temple bouddha

This altar display at a temple in Taiwan shows Amitābha in the center, flanked by Mahāsthāmaprāpta on the viewer's right and Guānyīn on the left

It can be difficult to distinguish Amitābha from Śākyamuni, as both are portrayed as possessing all the attributes of a buddha but no distinguishing marks. Amitabha can, however, often be distinguished by his mudrā: Amitābha is often depicted, when shown seated, displaying the meditation mudrā (thumbs touching and fingers together (as in the Kamakura statue of Amitābha) or the exposition mudrā, while the earth-touching mudrā (right hand pointed downward over the right leg, palm inward) is reserved for a seated Śākyamuni alone. He can also be seen holding a lotus in his hands while displaying the meditation mudrā.

When standing, Amitābha is often shown with his left arm bare and extended downward with thumb and forefinger touching, with his right hand facing outward also with thumb and forefinger touching. The meaning of this mudra is that wisdom (symbolized by the raised hand) is accessible to even the lowest beings, while the outstretched hand shows that Amitabha's compassion is directed at the lowest beings, who cannot save themselves.

When not depicted alone, Amitābha is often portrayed with two assistants: Avalokiteśvara (Guānyīn) who appears on his right and Mahāsthāmaprāpta (Dà Shì Zhì) who appears on his left.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Amitābha is red in color (red being the color of love, compassion, and emotional energy). His direction is west and so he is envisioned as the (red) setting sun. He is seen as the supreme power and energy of nature, cast on an earthly plain, accessible to all sentient beings. For this reason he is considered one of the most popular of all Dhyāni Buddhas.

His unique emblem is the lotus. He is thus associated with the attributes of the lotus: gentleness, openness, and purity.

Archeological origins


Táng Dynasty Amitābha sculpture — Hidden Stream Temple Cave, Longmen Grottoes, China

The first known epigraphic evidence for Amitābha is the bottom part of a statue found in Govindnagar, Pakistan and now located at the Mathura Museum. The statue is dated to "the 28th year of the reign of Huviṣka" (i.e., sometime in the latter half of the second century CE, during the period of the Kuṣāṇa Empire), and was apparently dedicated to "Amitābha Buddha" by a family of merchants.

The first known sutra mentioning Amitābha is the translation into Chinese of the Pratyutpanna Sūtra by the Kuṣāṇa monk Lokakṣema 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 Amitābha probably developed during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.


  1. "The Great Compassion Mantra - Namo Amitabha". Archived from the original on 2009-10-25. 
  3. "Symbolism of the five Dhyani Buddhas". 
  7. "Teachers: Shamar Rinpoche". Retrieved 2007-10-21. 

See also

External links

This page uses content from the English Wikisource. The original article was at Amitābha. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the Religion wiki, the text of Wikisource is available under the CC-BY-SA.

Meeting The Buddhas by Vessantara, published by Windhorse Publications 2003


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