Amitabha Buddha - London, England, UK
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 51° 31.131 W 000° 07.573
30U E 699376 N 5711441
The Amitabha Buddha is the principle Buddha of the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia.
Waymark Code: WMDM19
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/28/2012
Views: 5
This sculpture of the Amitabha Buddha is located in the British Museum which does not charge an admission fee and DOES permit non-flash photography.
The Museum's website (
visit link) informs us:
"Marble figure of the Buddha Amitabha
From Chongguang temple, Hancui village, Hebei, northern China
Sui dynasty, AD 585
Inscribed with a dedication
Although Buddhism spread throughout China, it was a foreign religion whose principles did not always concur with traditional Chinese values. Buddhist imagery was often accompanied by Chinese motifs, reflecting Buddhism's adaptability and Chinese inclusiveness.
Most of the Chinese sculpture from the fourth to the fourteenth century is Buddhist. The two emperors of the Sui dynasty (AD 589-618) were both devout Buddhists and they are recorded as being responsible for the creation and repair of many Buddhist images. This marble figure of the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Paradise, is thought to be one such work. The inscription in its base records that it was dedicated at the Chongguang temple in Hancui village in the fifth year of Kaihung, AD 585. The hands are missing but the right hand would have been raised, palm outwards in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra), and the left hand lowered in the gesture of liberality (varada mudra). The figure has a very solid form and drapery in extremely flat folds, typical of the Sui period.
The Buddha Amitabha was originally accompanied by a smaller standing bodhisattva, which is now in the Tokyo National Museum."
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"According to the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life (Mahayana Amitayus Sutra) Amitabha was, in very ancient times and possibly in another system of worlds, a monk named Dharmakara. In some versions of the sutra, Dharmakara is described as a former king who, having come into contact with the Buddhist teachings through the buddha Lokesvararaja, renounced his throne. He then resolved to become a buddha and so to come into possession of a buddhak?etra ("buddha-field", a realm existing in the primordial universe outside of ordinary space time, produced by a buddha's merit) possessed of many perfections. These resolutions were expressed in his forty-eight vows, which set out the type of buddha-field Dharmakara aspired to create, the conditions under which beings might be born into that world, and what kind of beings they would be when reborn there."