Framed Tibetan Thankga of Amitabha

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An antique Tibetan Thankga depicting Amitabha and surrounding deities, circa late 19th century. The center Amitabha is in a meditation … Read more An antique Tibetan Thankga depicting Amitabha and surrounding deities, circa late 19th century. The center Amitabha is in a meditation form holding a black beggar's bowl. In the Mahayana Tradition of Buddhism, Amitabha is a celestial Buddha: the Buddha of Infinite Light and the principal Buddha in Pure Land Buddhism, a branch of East Asian Buddhism. It is described as having three bodies: a form body (nirmanakaya), an apparitional body (sambhogakaya) and an ultimate truth body (dharmakaya). The first, Amitabha is the form body and the second, Amitayus, is the apparitional body. The ultimate truth body is without appearance and does not appear in painting or sculptural art.
Image size: 21 x 32. With frame: 31 x 42.
Ex-collection of Thomas Eliot Weil, Washington DC, American Consul in Chongqing in the 1930s-1940s. Vice-Consul at Canton, 1937-1938. Third Secretary of Embassy at Nanking 1938-1941, Vice-Consul at Shanghai, 1941. See less