Editing Amitābha (section)

=== History and archeology ===
[[file:Buddha Chandigarh Museum.jpg|thumb|280px|Gandharan sculpture depicting “Amitabha preaching in Sukhavati,” 2nd century CE, from the site of [[Muhammad Nari]] (present-day northwestern [[Pakistan]]). [[Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh]].]]
According to [[Kenneth K. Tanaka|Kenneth Tanaka]], Amitābha Buddha emerged as a central figure in the [[Gandharan Buddhism]] of the first century CE.<ref name=":11">Tanaka (1990''),'' pp. 3-4. </ref><ref name=":13">Marchman, Kendall R. ''Huaigan and the Growth of Pure Land Buddhism During the Tang Era'', pp. 39-44. Phd Diss. 2015.</ref> Numerous Amitābha [[Buddhist art|Buddha images]] have been discovered in the Greater [[Gandhara|Gandhāra]] region (in modern [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]]) from about the first century CE onwards during the Kushan era (30–375 CE). This, along with evidence which suggests that the two main Pure Land sutras were written in [[Gandhari language|the Gandhari language]], indicates that Amitābha rose to prominence in [[Gandharan Buddhism]] (and in the greater [[Kushan Empire|Kushana Empire]]) during the first century CE.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gandharan Sculptural Style: The Buddha Image |url=http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/studypages/internal/dl/SouthAsia/Buddhist/pgs/u5/DL0230m.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218045231/http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/studypages/internal/dl/SouthAsia/Buddhist/pgs/u5/DL0230m.htm |archive-date=2014-12-18 |access-date=2013-05-12}}</ref><ref name=":11" />

Regarding the main historical source of the figure of Amitābha, some Western scholars have proposed possible influences on Buddhism from [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] deities ([[Ahura Mazda]] or [[Zurvanism|Zurvan]]) or from [[Historical Vedic religion|Brahmanical]] deities or concepts (such as the sun god [[Surya]] or the immortality nectar [[Amrita|Amritā]]).<ref name=":13" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Foard |first=James Harlan |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Pure_Land_Tradition/tztMqPBReAYC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=The Pure Land Tradition: History and Development |last2=Solomon |first2=Michael |last3=Payne |first3=Richard Karl |date=1996 |publisher=Jain Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-89581-092-2 |pages=13-14 |language=en}}</ref> Japanese scholars like Kōtatsu Fujita meanwhile tend to place the origin of Amitābha Buddha squarely within Buddhist tradition.<ref name=":12">Tanaka (1990''),'' p. 8.</ref><ref name=":13" />[[file:Chinesischer Maler des 8. Jahrhunderts 001.jpg|thumb|330x330px|A painting of Amitabha discovered at [[Dunhuang]]]]Other scholars, especially Japanese authors, cite various passages from [[Early Buddhist texts|earlier Buddhist sources]] which mention [[The Buddha|Shakyamuni]] Buddha radiating light rays and which state that his lifespan is immeasurable. Such ideas seem to have been most common in the early Buddhist [[Mahāsāṃghika]] tradition, who promoted the [[Docetism|docetic]] idea that the Buddha was ultimately a transcendent (lokottara) being who nevertheless manifested a magical body on earth.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":16">Pas, Julian F. (1995). ''Visions of Sukhavati: Shan-Tao's Commentary on the Kuan Wu-liang- Shou-Fo Ching'', pp. 14-16. Albany, State University of New York Press,  {{ISBN|0-7914-2520-7}}</ref> One of their sutras is cited by [[Vasumitra (Buddhism)|Vasumitra]] (in a passage that was translated three times by different Chinese figures) as stating that "the form body (''rupakaya''), supernatural power (''prabhāva'') and lifespan (''ayus'') of a Buddha is unlimited (''ananta'')."<ref name=":12" /><ref>Andre Bareau, ''Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule'' (Ecole Fransaise d'Extreme-Orient, 1955), Chapitre I 'Les Mahasanghika', pp. 55-74.</ref><ref name=":62">Willemen, Charles; Tsukamoto Keisho (2004). ''[https://www.bdkamerica.org/product/the-treatise-on-the-elucidation-of-the-knowable-and-the-cycle-of-the-formation-of-the-schismatic-doctrines/ Treatise on the Elucidation of the Knowable, The Cycle of the Formation of the Schismatic Doctrines]'', pp. 97-101. Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.</ref><ref name=":16" /> Julian Pas also notes that, in the version translated by [[Kumārajīva]], Vasumitra's passage speaks of the limitless light of the Buddha ("kuan-ming-wu-liang"), which could be a translation of ''abha amita.<ref name=":16" />''  

Another Mahāsāṃghika ([[Lokottaravāda]]) source, the ''[[Mahāvastu]],'' states: "the purity of the Buddha is so great that the worship of the Exalted One is sufficient for the attainment of [[Nirvana (Buddhism)|Nirvāna]]" and "from the Buddha’s smile, there radiate beams which illuminate all buddhafields."<ref name=":17" /> Pas sees the Mahāsāṃghika as promoting a kind of Buddhist [[bhakti]] (devotional) movement. These connections with early [[Mahāsāṃghika]] doctrines indicate the possibility that Amitābha may have initially signified the limitless lifespan and radiance of the Buddha, pointing to the transcendent dimensions of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":13" /> Since the Mahāsāṃghika school was also active in the northwest of India and as far north as [[Bamyan|Bamiyan]] ([[Afghanistan]]), Pas argues that they are a likely source for the ideas that influenced the rise of the devotional [[Cult (religious practice)|cultus]] of Amitābha in northwest India, Gandhara, and [[Bactria]].<ref name=":17">Pas, Julian F. (1995). ''Visions of Sukhavati: Shan-Tao's Commentary on the Kuan Wu-liang- Shou-Fo Ching'', pp. 26-30. Albany, State University of New York Press,  {{ISBN|0-7914-2520-7}}</ref>   

{{multiple image
| perrow            = 2
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| header            = Earliest "Amitābha" inscription
| image1            = Amitabha Buddha inscription in the year 26 of Huvishka.jpg
| image2            = Amitabha Buddha inscription in the year 26 of Huvishka Inscription Buddhasya Amitabhasya.jpg
| footer_align      = center
| footer            = Inscribed pedestal with the first known occurrence of the name of "Amitābha Buddha" in "the year 26 of 
[[Huvishka]]" (153 CE, first year of Huvishka)<ref name="MMR">{{cite book |last1=Rhie |first1=Marylin M. |title=Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia, Volume 3: The Western Ch'in in Kansu in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period and Inter-relationships with the Buddhist Art of Gandh?ra |date=2010 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-18400-8 |page=xxxvii, Fig 6.17a |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivE2mpfbNR0C&pg=PR37 |language=en}}</ref> In [[Brahmi script]] in the inscription:<br><sub>[[File:Gupta allahabad bu.jpg|12px]]</sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka ddh.jpg|10px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka sya.svg|19px]]</sub>  <sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka a.svg|19px]]</sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka mi.jpg|12px]] [[File:Gupta ashoka t.svg|12px]] [[File:Gupta allahabad bh.svg|12px]]<sub>[[File:Gupta ashoka sya.svg|19px]]</sub><br>"''[[wikt:𑀩𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥𑀲𑁆𑀬|𑀩𑀼𑀤𑁆𑀥𑀲𑁆𑀬]] [[wikt:𑀅𑀫𑀺𑀢𑀸𑀪𑀲𑁆𑀬|𑀅𑀫𑀺𑀢𑀸𑀪𑀲𑁆𑀬]]''"<br>"''Bu-ddha-sya A-mi-tā-bha-sya''"<br>"Of the Buddha Amitabha"<ref name="GS99">{{cite journal |last1=Schopen |first1=Gregory |title=The Inscription on the Kuṣān Image of Amitābha and the Charakter of the Early Mahāyāna in India |journal=The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |date=1987 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=99–138 |url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Articles/The-Inscription-on-the-Kusan-Image-of-Amitabha-and-and-the-Character-of-Early-Mahayana-in-India_Schopen.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207114137/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Articles/The-Inscription-on-the-Kusan-Image-of-Amitabha-and-and-the-Character-of-Early-Mahayana-in-India_Schopen.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2019}}</ref><br>[[Art of Mathura]], [[Mathura Museum]]
}}

The first known [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] evidence for Amitābha is the bottom part of a statue found in Govindnagar, [[Pakistan]] and now located at [[Government Museum, Mathura]]. The statue is dated to "the 26th year of the reign of [[Huvishka|{{IAST|Huviṣka}}]]" i.e., 104 CE.<ref name=":0" /> It is a work of [[Kushan art]], made during the [[Kushan Empire]] (30–375 CE), and was dedicated to "Amitābha Buddha" by a family of merchants.<ref>{{cite web |title=On the origins of Mahayana Buddhism |url=http://old.ykbi.edu.tw/htm/ykbi16/ykbi16_1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612150915/http://old.ykbi.edu.tw/htm/ykbi16/ykbi16_1.pdf |archive-date=2013-06-12 |access-date=2013-06-14}}</ref><ref name="MMR" /><ref name="GS99" />  

[[Gregory Schopen]] translates the inscription as follows:<ref name=":0" /> <blockquote>The 26th year of the Great King Huveṣka, the 2nd month, the 26th day. On this day by Nāgarakṣita, the (father) of the trader (Sax-caka), the grandson of the merchant Balakatta, the (son of Buddhapila), an image of the Blessed One, the Buddha Amitābha was set up for the worship of all buddhas. Through this root of merit (may) all living things (obtain) the unexcelled knowledge of a buddha.<ref name=":0" />  </blockquote>Another early epigraphic mention of Amitabha (c. 610 CE) is found in [[Lalitpur, Nepal|Patan (Lalitpur)]]. It is a verse which states: "I praise Amitabha, the best, dispeller of illusion by the light of great [[Prajñā (Buddhism)|prajña]]. The light, victor who lives in [[Sukhavati]] with [[Avalokiteśvara|Lokesvara]], the destroyer of the fear arising in the world, bearer of the lotus, and [[Mahasthamaprapta]], the affectionate-hearted one."<ref>Lewis, T. T. (1996). [https://college.holycross.edu/faculty/tlewis/PDFs/Sukhavati_Traditions_in_Newar_Buddhism.pdf Sukhavati Traditions in Newar Buddhism.] South Asia Research, 16(1), 1-30. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1177/026272809601600101</nowiki></ref> One of the last Indian sculptures of Amitābha can be found in the trademark black stone of the [[Pala Empire]] (c. 750–1161 CE), which was the last Buddhist empire of India.

The appearance of sculptural remains dating to the end of the second century suggests that Amitābha was becoming popular in the first and second centuries CE in Gandhara and Central Asia. Apart from the Gandhara region, not much evidence has been found for extensive Amitabha worship in the rest of the [[Indian subcontinent]] before the 8th century.<ref name=":11" /> During the 8th century, the Chinese monk [[Cimin Huiri]] visited India and learned about Pure Land Amitabha devotion there.<ref name=":11" /> 

From its initial home in Greater Gandhāra, Amitābha worship and its images quickly [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|spread via the Silk road]] to [[Central Asia|Central Asian]] kingdoms like [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]], and then to [[China]] as well as Southeast Asian regions like [[Indonesia]]. The earliest dated Amitābha image in China is from the [[Longmen Grottoes]] and is dated to 519 CE.<ref>Williams (2008)'','' p. 247.</ref> During the [[Sui dynasty|Sui Dynasty]] (581–618) and the succeding [[Tang dynasty]], China saw a growth in the creation of Amitabha images and paintings. Some exemplary Amitabha art from this period can be found in [[Dunhuang]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Silk_Road_China_and_the_Karakorum_Hi/DaWmDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=amitabha+dunhuang&pg=PT93&printsec=frontcover |title=The Silk Road - China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion |date=2015-03-12 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-933-9 |pages=chapter 1 |language=en}}</ref>