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. 268)
Origin Location Eastern Tibet
Date Range 1700 - 1799
Lineages Uncertain
Size 36.83x26.67cm (14.50x10.50in)
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc.# F1997.17.3
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, the Sambogakaya aspect (Enjoyment Body) of Buddha Amitabha.

Amitayus Tibetan: Tse pag me

"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).

Youthful and serene, Amitayus, well adorned with a crown and various ornaments of gold and jewels, has long black hair bound in a top-knot with some loose, tied with ribbons, falling over the shoulders. Draped in a long green scarf and attired in various silks he sits atop a moon disc and multi-coloured lotus seat surrounded by a pale yellow nimbus of emanated light and a dark green areola. A cluster of wishing jewels and elephant tusks blaze with light as an offering presented in front. On a dark green background and surrounding the central figure are fifty identical forms of the Buddha of Long-life, Amitayus, arranged in linear geometric rows.

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

Jeff Watt 9-98

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Buddhist Deity: Long-Life Deities
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 2
Buddhist Deity: Amitayus Buddha (Aparimitāyurjñāna, 无量寿佛, སངས་རྒྱས་ཚེ་དཔག་མེད།)
Subject: Composition - Repeated Figures Main Page