Buddha of Infinite Life and Light (Amida Nyorai)

1269

Buddha of Infinite Life and Light (Amida Nyorai), 1269. Kōshun (Japanese), assistant Koshin (Japanese), assistant Joshun (Japanese). Cypress wood with lacquer, color, gold, cut gold, rock crystal inlaid eyes, and quartz; overall: 94.6 cm (37 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1960.197 This ornate Buddha Amida stands in a posture of welcome, greeting the dying who will accompany him back to his Pure Land. Documents inserted into the sculpture’s hollow core around the time of its creation include a copy of the sacred text Amida Sutra, a register of donors who desired to be joined together in generating karmic merit (kechien) through the creation and dedication of the sculpture, and a record asserting that the image was completed over the course of 33 days in 1269 at Shitennōji Temple in Osaka. The lead sculptor was Kōshun, who had been granted the lofty title “Bridge of the Law.”