Amida Nyorai (the Buddha Amitābha), the Buddha of Pure Light, is as close to the Western idea of God that we come in Japanese Buddhism (see Japanese Buddhism). Statues of Amida abound in Japan. Amida promises salvation to all who invoke his name. Pure Land originally developed in China and is based on the Indian (Sanskrit) Sukhāvatī. In the tenth century a monk named Genshin emphasized the idea of rebirth into Amida's paradise or “Pure Land.” Thus the Japanese version of “Pure Land” Buddhism was born (see Pure Land Buddhism). It was developed further by the monks Honen and then Shinran in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries with emphasis on salvation through Amida's grace.
