Buddha Amitayus in His Pure Land

In the center of this composition sits Buddha Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life, on a Chinese-style seat. In front of him a lotus blossom and its branches carry a king and his auspicious “Seven Jewels.” Amitayus presides over a paradisal realm with a two-storied palace behind him, the roof tiles of which carry the six-syllable mantra of Avalokiteshvara. The palaces in the corners of the painting represent realms similar to the central one and are situated at the cardinal directions around it, each of them occupied by an eight-deity assembly of the mandala of Amitayus.