Amida kubon-in　阿弥陀九品印

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Also read Amida kuhon-in. Lit. Mudras of the nine grades of Amida. The Pure Land joudo 浄土 into which *Amida 阿弥陀 (Sk: Amitabha/Amitayus) welcomes his devotees is divided into nine 'grades', kubon/kuhon 九品. These range from the upper grade: upper birth joubon joushou 上品上生, to the lower grade: lower birth gebon geshou 下品下生. Each grade is represented by a different mudra or hand gesture *in 印. The KANMURYOUJUKYOU 観無量寿経 (Ch: Kuan wuliangshou jing, or Scripture on the Meditation of Amitayus), mentions nine grades of Amida's welcome, but does not mention nine corresponding mudras. Nor do the nine forms of Amida display nine different mudras in the kubon mandara 九品曼荼羅 which E'un 恵運 (798-869) brought back to Japan from China. Many temples enshrining nine corresponding forms of Amida were constructed in the Heian period, based on the theory of nine grades of rebirth. The only extant example is found at Joururiji 浄瑠璃寺 in Kyoto. Instead of the nine figures each displaying a different mudra, the central deity at this temple forms the upper grade: lower birth mudra, while the other eight images form the upper grade: upper birth mudra. By way of contrast, the nine Edo period images of Amida at Kuhonbutsu Joushinji 九品仏浄真寺 in Tokyo present faithful representations of the nine different mudras, thus indicating that the theory had won considerable currency by the Edo period. Recent research has shown that dissemination of the Amida kubon-in occurred after the publication of the BUTSUZOU ZUI 仏像図彙 (Collected Illustrations of Buddhist Images) in the Genroku 元禄 era (1688-1704). The nine grades and their respective mudras are: Upper grade: upper birth joubon joushou 上品上生 ; Upper grade: middle birth joubon chuushou 上品中生; Upper grade: lower birth joubon geshou 上品下生 ; Middle grade: upper birth chuubon joushou 中品上生 ; Middle grade: middle birth chuubon chuushou 中品中生 ; Middle grade: lower birth chuubon geshou 中品下生 ; Lower grade: upper birth gebon joushou 下品上生 ; Lower grade: middle birth gebon chuushou 下品中生 ; Lower grade: lower birth gebon geshou 下品下生.

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