How many Amida Buddhas there are?

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PauloJ
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How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by PauloJ »

There is this verse in HYMNS ON BENEFITS IN THE PRESENT of Shinran (http://shinranworks.com/hymns-in-japane ... e-present/) :
Countless Amida Buddhas reside
In the light of the Buddha of Unhindered Light
It really means that there is many Amida Buddhas or am I reading this wrong?
Admin_PC
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Re: How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by Admin_PC »

From the Visualization Sūtra:
The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī, “After achieving this vision, one should next visualize the glory of Amitāyus Buddha’s body. Ānanda, know that Amitāyus Buddha’s body is in a billion koṭi colors of the superb gold in Yāma Heaven. That Buddha’s height measures as many yojanas as the sands of 600,000 koṭi nayuta Ganges Rivers. The white hair between His eyebrows, like five Sumeru Mountains, curls to the right. That Buddha’s eyes, with blues and whites distinct, are pure like the water in four great oceans. The pores of His body emit radiance as immense as Mount Sumeru. The halo of that Buddha is as vast as 100 koṭi Three-Thousand Large Thousandfold Worlds. In His halo appear as many magically manifested Buddhas as the sands of a million koṭi nayuta Ganges Rivers. Each Buddha is attended by an innumerable multitude of magically manifested Bodhisattvas.
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明安 Myoan
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Re: How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by 明安 Myoan »

I have a picture of Amida on my desk. There are countless others like it in the world.
And they all only exist, with the details they have, because Shakyamuni taught this world about Amida.

The idea of emanations can be tricky to get your mind around, but it's essentially a way buddhas bring the Dharma teachings to us, in specific ways and forms.
If we're fortunate, we recognize them. If not, there is still a lot of benefit, but not as much.
Namu Amida Butsu
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DewachenVagabond
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Re: How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by DewachenVagabond »

Admin_PC wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 2:27 am From the Visualization Sūtra:
The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī, “After achieving this vision, one should next visualize the glory of Amitāyus Buddha’s body. Ānanda, know that Amitāyus Buddha’s body is in a billion koṭi colors of the superb gold in Yāma Heaven. That Buddha’s height measures as many yojanas as the sands of 600,000 koṭi nayuta Ganges Rivers. The white hair between His eyebrows, like five Sumeru Mountains, curls to the right. That Buddha’s eyes, with blues and whites distinct, are pure like the water in four great oceans. The pores of His body emit radiance as immense as Mount Sumeru. The halo of that Buddha is as vast as 100 koṭi Three-Thousand Large Thousandfold Worlds. In His halo appear as many magically manifested Buddhas as the sands of a million koṭi nayuta Ganges Rivers. Each Buddha is attended by an innumerable multitude of magically manifested Bodhisattvas.
This is really interesting. I wonder if the description of Amida's halo has any comparison to, or is based on, the size of Amida's halo in the early redaction(s) of the Long Sukhavativyuha sutra.

This was posted on the Pure Land subreddit a few days ago, and it goes into some of the differences between the early redaction and the later redactions. There's a section on the size of various haloes, including Amida's attendant bodhisattvas, other bodhisattvas and arhats. From reading it, I get the impression that the sutra probably also describes Amida's halo, but it isn't included in the excerpt provided in the paper. If the early redaction does include a description of Amida's halo, and if that description is the same as the description in the Visualization Sutra, then that would either indicate that the Visualization sutra is of a similar age and origination as the Longer Sutra, or it was compiled based on the Longer Sutra and similarly ancient texts, long before those sections were left out of later redactions.
:bow: :buddha1: :bow: :anjali: :meditate:
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Wayfarer
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Re: How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by Wayfarer »

It might be of interest to note that etymologically the meaning of the name ‘Amida’ is ‘immeasurable’ or ‘measureless’.
'Only practice with no gaining idea' ~ Suzuki Roshi
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PauloJ
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Re: How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by PauloJ »

Admin_PC wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 2:27 am From the Visualization Sūtra:
The Buddha told Ānanda and Vaidehī, “After achieving this vision, one should next visualize the glory of Amitāyus Buddha’s body. Ānanda, know that Amitāyus Buddha’s body is in a billion koṭi colors of the superb gold in Yāma Heaven. That Buddha’s height measures as many yojanas as the sands of 600,000 koṭi nayuta Ganges Rivers. The white hair between His eyebrows, like five Sumeru Mountains, curls to the right. That Buddha’s eyes, with blues and whites distinct, are pure like the water in four great oceans. The pores of His body emit radiance as immense as Mount Sumeru. The halo of that Buddha is as vast as 100 koṭi Three-Thousand Large Thousandfold Worlds. In His halo appear as many magically manifested Buddhas as the sands of a million koṭi nayuta Ganges Rivers. Each Buddha is attended by an innumerable multitude of magically manifested Bodhisattvas.
:reading:
So, considering the other comments, I ask:
So, the "measureless" feature of Lord Amida also has a numeric sense?
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Re: How many Amida Buddhas there are?

Post by Admin_PC »

Magical manifestations (emanations) are not quite the same thing as separate entities. All Buddhas can manifest countless emanations.
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