Have you heard of the Amida Buddah?

Question

Just in case you don't know buddism suggest a path to nirvana by strenuous self discipline.

Then comes along Christianity in Asia and around 20th century the concept of the Amida Buddah appears. The Amida Buddah makes things easier on people instead of acting with self discipline and restraint one can do whatever they want as long as they accept the Amida Buddah and make offerings to him. Do that and the Amida Buddah will skip all reincarnations and get you straight to Nirvana.

Answer 1

Yes, also referred to as the Buddha of Everlasting Light or the Pure Land Buddha.

Interestingly, the "Amida" is not a historical "person" rather a fictional character created by Mahayana Buddhism to represent the ultimate nature of Shakyamuni Buddha as well as the Dharma or universal Buddhahood.

Nirvana is more of a Zen term rather than Pure Land. Pure Land develops out of Mahayana Buddhism in India and became wildly popular in China, where the invocation of Amida became the most common of all religious practices. It spread to Japan and was incorporated into Zen.

Unlike many forms of Buddhism, Pure Land can be considered the Easy Path to Enlightenment. By practicing Nembutsu (concentration on the Buddha and his virtues, or recitation of the Buddha's name) and following the Right Practices, one is assured of rebirth in the Pure Land as the result of Amida Buddha's Vow. Once reborn in the Pure Land, Enlightenment can be achieved through proper study and practice of the Holy Path of Buddhism.

Answer 2

Amida: The Buddha who is the main object of devotion in the Pure Land School of Chinese Buddhism, and the Jodo and Shin Schools in Japan.They believe that Amida has created a Pure Land in the west and that those who have faith and repeat Amida’s name in prayer will go there. Yet they also believe that Amida is really within them.

Amida: (Japanese) Amitabha. The Buddha of Infinite Light.

Namu Amida Butsu: (Japanese) Veneration to Amitabha Buddha; the Nembutsu; mantra of Pure Land schools.

Pure Land (Amitabha) Based on the Sukhavati Vyuha ("Pure Land Sutra"), this lineage was founded in 402 C.E. by Hui Yuan. The Pure Land lineage held that the spiritual quality of the world has been in decline since its height during the lifetime of the Buddha and taught followers to cultivate through prayer and devotion a sincere intent to be reborn in the heavenly paradise of the Buddha Amitabha. Once in Pure Land, the Buddhists are said to be able to achieve Enlightenment more easily. Because of the simplicity of its practice, this school became popular especially among the masses throughout China.

Pure Land, like all Mahayana schools, requires first and foremost the development of the Bodhi Mind, the aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
The high-level form of Pure Land is practiced by those of deep spiritual capacities:
"When the mind is pure, the Buddha land is pure ........to recite the Buddha's name is to recite the Buddha of the self-mind."
In its totality, Pure Land reflects the highest teaching of Buddhism as expressed in the Avatamsaka Sutra: mutual identity and interpenetrating, the simplest method contains the ultimate and the ultimate is found in the simplest.

*** Enlightenment: Complete elimination of all negative aspects of the mind and perfection of all positive qualities.
***Nibbana (Pali) Nirvana (Sanskrit): Literally, the "unbinding" of the mind from passion, aversion, and delusion, and from the entire round of death and rebirth. This term also denotes the extinguishing of a fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace.
******Nirvana is an ancient word. In Theravada scriptures, which are the most ancient, nirvana means the same as enlightenment. Sometimes you also find this in the Zen tradition (and Chinese Buddhism in general) because although Chinese Buddhism is Mahayana, its roots are also very ancient. However, in later Mahayana as it developed in India, enlightenment is a more advanced experience than nirvana. It's developed after nirvana - it follows on from nirvana. (So you can see that "nirvana" doesn't refer to an experience that happens only at death! There is life after the experience of nirvana, but now the person is not an "ordinary" person; he or she is re an Arya being, a Bodhisattva on the path to full enlightenment.)

Answer 3

yes, I've heard of the Amida Buddha. I have heard that what he taught was that he would take those who remembered his name to a Pure Land. The Pure Land is not nirvana, but it is a place where the conditions are very conducive to attaining nirvana. I have heard of a mantra that goes something like this: "I adore thee, Amida Buddha, lord of the boundless light." I think it is a fascinating sect of Buddhism.

Answer 4

Yes

Answer 5

Doesn't that sound like a human? Something is too hard... let's make it easier.

Man.

Imaginationions of the soul....

Answer 6

Never

Answer 7

no