Meanings
- JapaneseBuddhismThe Japanese name for the Western Buddha, Amitābha, one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas.
The 13m-tall image represents Amida Nyorai, the future Buddha who receives souls into the Western Paradise, and was built under the orders of Minamoto Yoritomo to rival the larger Nara Buddha, near Kyoto.
2011 February 1, Jan Dodd, Simon Richmond, The Rough Guide to Japan (Rough Guide to...), Penguin, →ISBN, →OCLC2 more examples
The Tendai may indeed be regarded as the mother sect of all later developments of Japanese Buddhism, and Amida Nyorai is even of greater importance in Japanese art than Sakya Muni, the founder of the religion.
1906, Edward Dillon, The Arts of Japan (Little books on art), Methuen, →OCLC, page 36Pure Land Buddhism suggests that the problem of suffering should not be addressed as a spiritual matter but at the level of change in the social environment. The desired social environment is the peaceful and equalitarian environment envisioned by Amida Nyorai’s vows in the Larger Sūtra and especially in the First Vow.
2019, U. Dessì, “The Pure Land and this World in Hishiki Masaharu’s Shin Buddhist Ethics”, in G. T. Halkias, R. K. Payne, editors, Pure Lands in Asian Texts and Contexts, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 578
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Japanese阿弥陀如来
- EnglishAmida Nyorai
From Japanese 阿弥陀如来 (Amida Nyorai).
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Amida Nyorai. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Amida%20Nyorai
“Amida Nyorai.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Amida%20Nyorai. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Amida Nyorai,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Amida%20Nyorai.
Source: Amida Nyorai on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.