Buddha of Infinite Life and Light (Amida Nyorai)

阿弥陀如来像

1269

Kōshun

(Japanese, active mid-1200s)

assisted by Koshin

(Japanese, active mid-1200s)

assisted by Joshun

(Japanese, active mid-1200s)

Culture

Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)

Medium

Cypress with lacquer, color, gold, cut gold, rock-crystal inlaid eyes, and quartz

Measurements

Overall: 94.6 cm (37 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 1960.197

You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Location

235B Japanese

Did You Know?

The lead sculptor was Kōshun, who had been granted the lofty title “Bridge of the Law.”

Description

This ornate Buddha Amida stands in a posture of welcome, greeting the dying who will accompany him back to his Pure Land. Documents inserted into the sculpture’s hollow core around the time of its creation include a copy of the sacred text Amida Sutra, a register of donors who desired to be joined together in generating karmic merit (kechien) through the creation and dedication of the sculpture, and a record asserting that the image was completed over the course of 33 days in 1269 at Shitennōji Temple in Osaka.