Abhirati
The eastern Buddha-field or Pure Land associated with the Buddha Akṣobhya and described in the Akṣobhya-tathāgatasya-vyūha Sūtra. Though the focus of some devotional interest in early ...
Amitabha
(Skt.). The Buddha ‘Infinite Light’, also known as Amitāyus (Infinite Life). One of the five Jinas.he is normally depicted iconographically as a red saṃbhoga-kāya Buddha associated with the western ...
Avalokiteśvara
(Skt.; Tib., spyan-ras-gzigs; Chin, Kuan-yin; Jap., Kannon or Kwannon).One of the eight great Bodhisattvas.and one whose activities especially involve the active practice of compassion (karuṇā) in ...
Bhaiṣajyaguru
The Medicine Buddha, a figure especially venerated in Tibet.China.and Japan. Bhaiṣajya-guru is a Buddha in the Mahāyāna who epitomizes the power of healing, both on a physical and a spiritual level. ...
kihō ittai
(Jap.). A Japanese Pure Land doctrinal concept that the Buddha Amitābha and the believer who recites the nembutsu are of one substance. This idea accounts for the efficacy of the practice by ...
kushō(-nembutsu)
(Jap.). The Pure Land practice of orally invoking the name of Amitābha Buddha in order to gain rebirth in the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī. This term is opposed to kannen-nembutsu.wherein the devotee ...
Mahayana
One of the two major traditions of Buddhism, now practised in a variety of forms especially in China, Tibet, Japan, and Korea. The tradition emerged around the 1st century ad and is typically ...
phowa
(Tib., ‘pho-ba).The technique popular in Tibetan Buddhism of transferring (‘pho-ba) one's consciousness (vijñāna) at the time of death directly to one of the Pure Lands such as Sukhāvatī. Though now ...
Pure Land
The term ‘Pure Land’ is a Chinese invention, but it refers to a concept long known in Buddhism under other names such as Buddha-land or Buddha-field (Skt., Buddha-kṣetra). The idea arose in India ...
Pure Land schools
A devotional form of Buddhism centring on the Buddha Amitābha (Skt.; Chin., O-mi-tʾo; Jap., Amida) and his transcendent realm known as Pure Land. Everything in Pure Land is conducive to ...
Shan-tao
(613–81).A Chinese monk who pioneered Pure Land thought and practice in the area around the northern capitals during the T'ang dynasty. He entered the order of monks as a young boy, under a master ...
