Amitayus Brocade Thangka Painting

A thangka is a Tibetan painting that is traditionally used as a support for ones meditation practice. The imagery depicted in Tibetan paintings provides a guide for the elaborate visualizations that one does in Tibetan Buddhist practice. In Tibetan homes and monasteries, thangkas are considered sacred objects and are often placed above shrines.

Amitabha, the Buddha of Eternal Life, is also known as Amitayus, one of the five Cosmic Buddhas of Esoteric Buddhism. He is shown in his paradise, Sukhavati, the Western Pure Land, enthroned beneath a flowering tree festooned with strands of jewels and auspicious symbols. To either side the sky is filled with throngs of ecstatic demigods who bear offerings and scatter flowers. Seated below are the eight great bodhisattvas, and between them are two large, low tables covered with offerings. To either side are the vast assembled audiences who receive Amitayus message. At the bottom, set within a vast panoramic landscape, are courtyards, giant lotus flowers, and pools from which the purified are being reborn.