Amitabha, ( Sanskrit: “Infinite Light”)  also called Amitayus
(“Infinite Life”), Japanese Amida, Chinese Emituo FoGreat bronze
Amida (Daibutsu) at Kamakura, Japan, 1252Asuka-en, Japanin
Mahayana Buddhism, and particularly in the so-called Pure Land
sects, the great saviour buddha. As related in the Sukhavati-
vyuha-sutras (the fundamental scriptures of the Pure Land
sects), many ages ago a monk named Dharmakara made a number of
vows, the 18th of which promised that, on his attaining
buddhahood, all who had faith in him and who called upon his
name would be reborn in his paradise and would reside there in
bliss until they had attained enlightenment. Having accomplished
his vows, Dharmakara reigned as the buddha Amitabha in the
Western Paradise, called Sukhavati, the Pure Land.  Devotion to
Amitabha came to the fore in China about 650 ce and from there
spread to Japan, where it led in the 12th and 13th centuries to
the formation of the Pure Land school and the True Pure Land
school, both of which continue to hav