Amitabha Buddha Pureland Thangka
Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light, in his western paradisal Buddhaverse,
Sukhavati the Blissful. He sits in meditation posture on a luscious pink lotus with a pale green cushion on a moon disc. He holds in his lap a mendicant's bowl, filled with elixir food. He is surrounded by the usual deep blue, truth-realm light. The Blissful Land Sutra states that the buddha's body in Sukhavati is ninety million miles in height, as this is a pure energy realm in the summit (Akanishta) centre of the universe, just at the speed of light boundary where mass becomes infinite in the formless realm of infinite space. Behind the buddha's throne, a remarkable jewel tree rises. It has many varieties of leaves and is filled with rare fruits and festooned with strings of jewels. Initiatory goddesses lean from clouds pouring elixir from their vases and dropping precious things to the jewelled ground below. At the side of the ornate throne platform stand offering goddesses on each side, and below to the right and left sit the eight great bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, Maitreya, Kshitigarbha, Sarvanivaranaviskambhin, Vajrapani, Manjushri, Samantabhadra, and Akashagarbha. A number of bodhisattvas sit below, reverentially holding offerings and gazing on the buddha.
