MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
Who is Amida?
Unlike the Buddha figure seated in meditation that is more often to be found in the Jodo, Tendai, Shingon, and other sects, Shinshu iconography prefers a standing figure of Amida. Because the initiative originates with the Other Power, Amida is portrayed leaning slightly forward from his lotus-base, as though approaching his devotee below in this world. His hands, the right raised, the left lowered, each with its first finger and thumb touching to form a circle, make a mudra, or ritual gesture, known as gokuraku-in, or Welcoming to Paradise. But, the reader may well ask, who is Amida?
Before this question can be briefly but adequately answered, it is necessary to know something of the Trikaya Doctrine: that every Buddha possesses three 'bodies'. 'Body' is the literal meaning of kaya, though it is used to mean form on other levels beside the physical. Metaphorically it refers to the form that a Buddha can assume on each of the three principal planes of being. The highest, on the ontological level, is called the Dharmakaya (Japanese: Hosshin) or Body of the Buddhist Law, a personification of the supra-ontological and formless Shinnyo, or Tathata, the Ultimate Reality from which a Tathagata comes and into which he returns.
Next, on the spiritual plane, is the Sambhogakaya (Japanese: Hojin), the Body of Recompense, or reward for all the austerities that a Buddha has practised and the vows that he has fulfilled. This is the Personal Buddha's body of pure Light and Bliss, visible only to Bodhisattvas and others of high spiritual attainment in a beatific Vision.
Last, on the psycho-physical plane (body and mind together constituting only one degree of universal existence), is the Nirmanakaya (Japanese: Ojin), or Body of Transformation, for on this level the Buddha has the power to assume any form or appearance for the purpose of liberating and enlightening sentient beings. This is the incarnate or historical Buddha, of which class Shakyamuni is the representative for this kalpa. The relationship is a vertical one in which the Dharmakaya manifests itself as a Nirmanakaya, which then by his ascesis earns a Sambhogakaya. Or the Dharmakaya may manifest as a Sambhogakaya, which then incarnates as a Nirmanakaya. So Amida is the Sambhogakaya of Shakyamuni, who appeared on earth as Amida's Nirmanakaya so as to reveal his Pure Land and his Vows and Name by preaching the Sambukyo.
At once it will be seen how widely the Sanshin, or Trikaya, differs from the Christian Trinity or the Hindu Trimurti, and so the temptation to make a facile identification of these can be avoided. In the Shingon sect, the Dharmakaya is personified as Dainichi Nyorai (Sanskrit: Mahavairocana Tathagata), or the Great Sun Buddha, whose attributes emanate in the four directions as the four Jina, or Conquerors (often miscalled 'Dhyani' Buddhas), of whom Amitabha occupies the Western Quarter of the Universe. But as the mandala revolves in a solar direction and each Jina in turn moves to the Centre, Amida naturally assumes this most important position at the beginning of the last age of a cycle. So, too, his paradise is symbolically situated in the West, the direction of sunset, as most appropriate to the end of the present kalpa.