in Japanese Buddhism is the appearance of the
Amida
Amida can mean :
Places and jurisdictions
* Amida (Mesopotamia), now Diyarbakır, an ancient city in Asian Turkey; it is (nominal) seat of:
** The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida
** The Latin titular Metropolitan see of Amida of the Ro ...
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
on a
"purple" cloud (紫雲) at the time of one's death.
Depictions
The Amida would arrive either accompanied by two
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
, making it a triad depiction, or with a large retinue that also includes musicians playing celestial music accompanying the Buddha. The Buddha would then lift the spirit of the deceased up and ascend back to the
pure land
Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places ...
. The belief of the
Western Paradise for the souls is the most popular.
It has given rise to a type of Japanese paintings (''raigō-zu''). As a ritual, such a painting is carried into the house of a person who is near death.
Among the upper classes, ''raigō'' paintings and sculpture became very popular, as they depicted the Amida Buddha coming down in celebration in relation to dead relatives or to one's own house. Some of these paintings are clearly ''
yamato-e
is a style of Japanese painting inspired by Tang dynasty paintings and fully developed by the late Heian period. It is considered the classical Japanese style. From the Muromachi period (15th century), the term yamato-e has been used to disting ...
'', or Japanese paintings in that they gave artists a chance to paint Japanese landscapes.
File:Rapid descent detail 1.jpg, The Amida arriving at the person's home, hanging scroll painting, 13th century
File:AmidaRaigo.jpg, ''Raigō'' painting from the late Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
File:Artist Unknown, Japan - Taima Temple Mandala- Amida Welcomes Chûjôhime to the Western Paradise - Google Art Project.jpg, The Amida welcomes Chûjôhime to the Western Paradise, hanging scroll painting, 16th century, owned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art
The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with . Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alu ...
See also
*
Deathbed phenomena
Deathbed phenomena refers to a range of paranormal experiences claimed by people who are dying. There are many examples of deathbed phenomena in both non-fiction and fictional literature, which suggests that these occurrences have been noted b ...
- Parapsychologic experiences with some similarities with Raigō
References
External links
*{{commons category-inline
Buddhism in Japan
Pure Land Buddhism
Amitābha
Japanese religious terminology