Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Amitayus Buddha - Amitayus

སངས་རྒྱས་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད། - སངས་རྒྱས་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད། 无量寿佛 - 无量寿佛 Immeasurable Life
(item no. 23387)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1700 - 1799
Lineages Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Alternate Names: Aparimitayurjñana

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Buddha

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

Amitayus, Buddha (Tibetan: tse pag me. English: the Enlightened One of Immesurable Life) Lord of Limitless Life and Pristine Awareness, in the Sambogakaya aspect (Enjoyment Body) of a Buddha.

"Bhagavan Lord of Limitless Life and Primordial Wisdom with a body red in colour, one face, two hands and with two long eyes glancing with compassion on beings, gazing on the entirety of migrators; and a smiling face, wearing the complete sambhogakaya vestments. Above the two hands held in meditation is a long-life vase filled with the nectar of immortality; with the hair in tufts, adorned with silks and jewels, seated in vajra posture, the body blazing with the shining light of the [32] marks and [80] examples." (Sakya Trizin Kunga Tashi, 1656-1711).

Common to all traditions of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism Amitayus primarily belongs to the three lower Tantra classifications. In the Nyingma tradition, he has both Kama (Oral) and Terma (Treasure) lineages of practice.

Jeff Watt 6-2014

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Buddhist Deity: Amitayus Buddha (Aparimitāyurjñāna, 无量寿佛, སངས་རྒྱས་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད།)