AMITĀBHA (AMITĀYUS). — One of the innumerable buddhas of Mahāyāna Buddhism, “The Great Vehicle,” systematized several centuries after its first appearance by the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna (2nd century A.D.), founder of the Buddhist school Sānyavāda, “The System of Emptiness” (nihilistic).
Mahāyāna differs from primitive Buddhism (6th–3rd centuries B.C.) through a particular evolution and extension of the latter’s historical and religious content. Indeed, it represents a universal means of salvation, in that it makes possible the attainment of final liberation (nirvāya) not only for monks but for all human beings, even while they continue to live an active life. It also sees in the Buddha Sākyamuni a divine being, endowed with the greatest gentleness and meekness, superior to every other being; and in the bodhisattva (literally, “one whose essence is enlightenment”), a creature destined for clairvoyance, that is, to become a buddha, but endowed with such great altruism, through effective compassion for every sufferer, that he postpones, perhaps for a very long time, the attainment of his own liberation. Such a being is therefore superior to the Arhat of primitive Buddhism, the saint freed from every possible passion, who in his final existence is a teacher of the truths taught by the Buddha and, through them, a guide on the path to salvation, but no more than that. Because of these differing characteristics, primitive Buddhism was called by the followers of Mahāyāna Hīnayāna, “the small vehicle.”
Mahāyāna Buddhism, in addition to what has been mentioned above, multiplied, as heavenly reflections (dhyānābuddha, “contemplative buddhas”) of the great historical Buddha, numerous buddhas, exalted beings and great saviors, whose lives have reached a state of sanctification through innumerable centuries. One of these is A., the dhyānābuddha of the present age. Reborn in the West after having lived for millions of years in the practice of the most austere virtues as a bodhisattva, he is endowed with immense (amita) splendor (abha), whence his name Amitābha; likewise, he is called Amytāyus because of the extremely long (amita) duration of his life (āyus). His abode, the paradise Sukhāvatī, “the happy land,” is, as described by the Sukhāvatīvyāha, “the particular description of the blessed land,” a source of every physical and moral well-being for human beings. Anyone who, having lived in the fullness of goodness, turns his thoughts toward A. is reborn in that happy land.
The cult of the great dhyāna-buddha A. has also spread into modern China, where Buddhism is the result of the fusion of various Mahayanist sects. There, under the name O-Mi-To, he has great power over the souls of the dead: he frees them from their sins and raises them to the rank of bodhisattva. In Japan, A. is venerated under the name Amida; he constitutes the ideal type of buddha and occupies in worship a position considerably higher than that of the historical Gotama-Buddha. In Tibet, A. is venerated under the name Od-dpag-med.