Welcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and Seishi

Welcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and Seishi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This embroidered scroll shows the Buddha Amida at center with attendant bodhisattvas descending to the earth on clouds to greet a person at the time of death. Kannon, at lower right, extends a small lotus pedestal, upon which the dead will travel to Amida’s Western Pure Land, a place free of suffering and pain. These hopeful images, whose makers often incorporated their own hair into the embroidery, were used in widely practiced deathbed rituals.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Welcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and SeishiWelcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and SeishiWelcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and SeishiWelcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and SeishiWelcoming Descent of Amida, the Buddha of Limitless Light, with Bodhisattvas Kannon and Seishi

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.