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Buddha of Infinite Life and Light (Amida Nyorai)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This ornate Buddha Amida stands in a posture of welcome, greeting the dying who will accompany him back to his Pure Land. Documents inserted into the sculpture’s hollow core around the time of its creation include a copy of the sacred text Amida Sutra , a register of donors who desired to be joined together in generating karmic merit ( kechien ) through the creation and dedication of the sculpture, and a record asserting that the image was completed over the course of 33 days in 1269 at Shitennōji Temple in Osaka.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBuddha of Infinite Life and Light (Amida Nyorai) (阿弥陀如来像), 1269. Kōshun (Japanese, active mid-1200s), assisted by Koshin (Japanese, active mid-1200s), assisted by Joshun (Japanese, active mid-1200s). Cypress with lacquer, color, gold, cut gold, rock-crystal inlaid eyes, and quartz; overall: 94.6 cm (37 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1960.197
