AMIDA BUDDHISM

In part as a response to the esotericism of Heian Buddhism, and in part as a response to the collapse of the emperor's court at Kyoto and the subsequent rise of individual, feudal powers in Japan, medieval Japanese Buddhism moved towards more democratic and inclusive forms, of which the most important was Pure Land Buddhism. Pure Land or Amida Buddhism was oriented around the figure of Amida Buddha. Amida, the Buddha of Everlasting Light, was a previous incarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. In the previous incarnation, as a bodhisattva, he refused to accept Buddhahood unless he could grant eternal happiness in the Pure Land to whoever called on him; this compassionate promise was called the "Original Vow." Anyone who calls his name, "Namu Amida Butsu", with sincere faith, trust, and devotion, will be granted by Amida an eternal life of happiness in the Pure Land which has been set aside specifically for those who call on Amida.

Amidism was not a Japanese invention; Pure Land develops out of Mahayana Buddhism in India and became wildly popular in China, where the invocation of Amida (in Chinese, A-mi-t'o-fo ) became the most common of all religious practices. But the spread of Pure Land through Japan signals a profound change in Japanese thought; above all else, the shift to Amidism represents a shift from a religion which stresses individual effort aimed at enlightenment to an exclusive reliance on salvation by the Amida; this opened up Buddhism to all classes, including women, who had previously been excluded from the various Buddhist priesthoods. Because of its democratic nature, the priesthood became evangelical rather than retiring; Buddhism began to become, in late Heian Japan and medieval Japan, a religion of the streets. Because of Pure Land, Japanese art also profoundly changed; the art of Heian Japan is placid and rigid; the Amidists began to produce more involved and animated artworks which portrayed such subjects as the tortures of all ten levels of hell, the pleasures of Paradise, and the transcendent and resplendent beauty of the Amida Buddha.

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The above displayed above is of Ushiku Amida Buddha, Ibaraki Prefecture, 50 km northeast of Tokyo

Ushiku Amida Buddha statue is located in Ushiku Arcadia (formely known as Jodo Teien Garden) in Ibaraki Prefecture, 50 km northeast of Tokyo. The garden is dedicated as a place to retrace the Hozo Bosatsu's journey into becoming Amida Buddha. The staute is 100 meter tall, standing on a 10m lotus base and a 10m platform, total 120 meters. The base of the statue and its lotus platform are constructed of steel reinforced concrete. The body itself consists of a steel framework and a 6-mm skin of bronze, some 6000 individual plates. An internal observation platform is located 85-m above the ground, about chest level. The lotus blossom platform signifies Buddha's vow to step forward and search out all those who are lost within the impure world with its five defilements. The 120 meter height refelcts the 12 beams of light said to emanate from Amida's body and reach throughout the world. In Japan both images of Buddha and Bodhistwa, including Ushiku Amida Buddha are depicted with right and left hand gestures. This depiction is said to have originated during the Kamakura era in 1208, evident in the Buddha images of Nara and Miroku. The position of the Ushiku Buddha hands symbolises his acceptance of all sentient beings without exception. Since its completion in 1995, Ushiku Amida Buddha is the tallest statue in the world. The monument is three times taller and thirty times larger in volume than the Statue of Liberty. The statue weighs 4000 tons. Its First Finger is 7.0 meters long.