Buddha Amitābha with Two Attending Bodhisattvas
Unknown Artist
1200s
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
223 × 95.7 cm · painting: 134 × 79.7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1974.35
About this artwork
The supreme deities that rule over the Western Paradise—Amitābha (阿彌陀 in Chinese), Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin 觀音), and Mahāsthāmaprāpta (Dashizhi 大勢至)—are here enclosed within a circle of light. To secure entry into that paradise for Buddhist followers of the Pure Land sect, one must recite the phrase namo amituofo (南無阿彌陀佛, Homage to the Buddha Amitābha). Here the phrase is repeated 10 times in calligraphy above the figures, reinforcing the need for continual recitation.