(Om Amideva Hrih)
You probably have a Unicode font put in you’ll be capable of see the mantra with diacritics right here:
Oṃ Amideva Hrīḥ
Amitabha (his title means infinite radiance) is an archetypal Buddha who’s supremely essential in far jap Buddhism. He represents love and compassion, and he’s pictured as being the wealthy, heat shade of the setting solar.
Amitabha is among the so-called Dhyani-Buddhas, a set of 5 non-historical, symbolic figures who’re organized in a mandala. The opposite Buddhas on this set are Vairocana (middle), Akshobhya (East), Ratnasambhava (South), and Amoghasiddhi (North).
Amitabha is dressed as a monk, along with his arms within the mudra (hand gesture) of dhyana (meditation). The dhyana mudra is how one historically arranges one’s arms throughout Buddhist meditation, all these footage of yoga practitioners with their arms on their knees however. This hand place may be very balanced and refined; the thumbs frivolously contact, neither pushing collectively nor falling aside.
Amitabha is of nice essential in far-eastern Buddhism, the place he is called Amida. He additionally has a Bodhisattva kind referred to as Amitayus, which implies “Infinite Life.” The Bodhisattva kind is, in contrast to the monastic Buddha-form, arrayed as a younger prince with lengthy hair and adorned with jewellery and wonderful silks. In some traditions Amitabha and Amitayus are seen as being basically the identical being, whereas in different traditions they’re distinct.
Amitabha is the top of the Lotus (padma) household. This household consists of among the most well-known Buddhas and bodhisattvas, together with Avalokiteshvara, Padmasambhava, White Tara, and the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni.
He sits on a lotus throne embellished along with his sacred animal, the peacock. In Indian folklore it’s stated that the peacock’s good colours come from the poison of the snakes they eat. These poisons are transmuted into magnificence, and likewise Amitabha’s apply turns the poison of greed into love. The connection between greed and love is probably not instantly apparent, however one solely has to consider the distinction between lust (wanting one other particular person as a way to gratify our appetites) and real love (valuing the individuality and the potential of one other as an individual in their very own proper) to understand the symbolism.
Amitabha was one of many first Buddhas to have his personal visualization apply. There are a number of sutras dedicated to him. The Amitayurdhyana Sutra (the Instructing of the Meditation on Amitabha) explains 16 meditations that visualize the Buddha Amitabha and his Pure Land, Sukhavati (“the realm of bliss”). This was a instructing given to Queen Vaidehi, who had been imprisoned by her evil son, Ajatasatru. The Buddha introduces the meditation thus:
Do you not know now that the Buddha Amitayus just isn’t removed from right here? You need to focus your ideas upon and visualize that Buddha-land which is the results of pure actions. I shall now provide you with detailed directions so that you simply and future generations who want to apply the pure actions might attain start within the Western Realm of Final Bliss.
Different Sutras regarding Amitabha and his Pure Land are the Higher Sukhavati Vyuha and the Smaller Sukhavati Vyuha (Vyuha that means “an in depth rationalization or description”).
So you could be questioning, what’s a Pure Land? A Pure Land is what we’d consider as a parallel dimension or different universe which has been constructed by the infinite benefit of a Buddha in his eons of apply. In a Pure Land the whole lot is conducive to gaining enlightenment. You don’t have to fret about incomes a residing or discovering the time to meditate. You’re born, full grown, in a lotus, and the instructing of the prevailing Buddha is all over the place. A Pure Land is a form of heaven into which one can aspire to be reborn. This aspiration is the central theme of what’s generally known as Pure Land Buddhism
Amitabha’s mantra is a variant of his title. Amideva is simply the Tibetan pronunciation of Amitabha (though I used to be informed for a very long time that “deva” right here meant “god”).
(As an apart, a pal of mine was ordained and given the title “Amaradeva” which implies “deathless god.” Symbolically amara (deathless) signifies enlightenment and deva means “radiant” and so the title might be parsed as “one who radiates awakening.” Nonetheless his colleagues at work obtained the understanding of “deathless god” just a little combined up and had been perturbed to ponder that they’d quickly be working with “The Lord of the Undead.” Such are the perils of utilizing Indic names within the West!)
Click on beneath to listen to an MP3 model:
Pronunciation notes:
- a is pronounced as u in lower
- e is like ay in lay
- ī is like ee in bee
The ultimate ḥ in hrīḥ has the impact of manufacturing an echo sound. So the syllable is pronounced hree-hee.
