WaterFlowersIncenseButter lampsFruitSaffron waterRecitation of the nameVegetarian food
Invocation Approach
Tone
Warm devotional
Address
AmitabhaAmidaBuddha of Infinite Light
Relationship
The vow that does not fail
Warning
The vow is not a transaction
Resonance
The dying the devoted the simple practitioner
Symbols
LotusDhyana mudraRed robeSukhavatiLong life vase
Mythology Summary
Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, is the central figure of the Pure Land sutras: as the bodhisattva Dharmakara he made a series of vows (forty-eight in the Longer Sukhavati-vyuha Sutra) to establish a land in which any being who calls on his name may be reborn and awaken there. That land is Sukhavati, the Land of Bliss, in the west; he is flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta, and in Tibetan practice he also appears as Amitayus, the red Buddha of long life, who is a distinct figure with his own ritual. Devotion to him is the basis of the East Asian Pure Land schools and of much Tibetan practice, and his image sits in the crown of Guanyin's statue.
Modern Practice
His name is recited as a standing daily practice (nianfo, the nembutsu, om ami dewa hrih), and at the time of death a recitation is kept going at the bedside. Tibetan practitioners also receive Amitayus long-life initiations — the same western Buddha in a longevity form — and the red Amitabha sits at the centre of many ngondro and death-practice visualisations.