Les "trois saints de l'ouest", Bouddha Amitabha, Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara et Mahāsthāmaprāpta

The "Three Saints of the West", Buddha Amitabha, Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta

Amitābha is considered the creator Buddha of the Western Pure Land of Bliss (Sukhāvatī) described in the Infinite-Life Contemplations Sutra; the two great bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahasthamaprapta are his two assistants. they help it to welcome there all those from all directions who have fulfilled the conditions for reaching it. This is the reason why they are called "the three Saints of the West".

In Pure Land monasteries or on effigies they are shown together with Amitābha in the middle, Avalokiteśvara on his right (i.e. our left) and Mahāsthāmaprāpta on his left (i.e. to our right).

In popular Buddhism and Chinese religion, Amitābha (Amituofo) and Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin) often serve the same function: they both promised not to enter nirvana until all beings are there. To have faith in it, to want it and to constantly recite their name are the three conditions necessary to enter this domain of infinite happiness.

Amitābha Buddha, also known as Amida or Amitāyus, is a celestial Buddha according to the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism, a branch of East Asian Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Amitābha is known for his attribute of longevity, magnetizing the Western attributes of, discernment, pure perception and purification of the aggregates with a deep awareness of the emptiness of all phenomena.

According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merit resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva, named Dharmakāra. Amitābha means "Infinite Light", and Amitāyus means "Infinite Life", so Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of immeasurable Light and Life".

According to the Great Immeasurable Life Sūtra, Amitābha was, in very ancient times and possibly in another universe of our multiverse, a monk named Dharmakāra. In some versions of the sūtra, Dharmakāra is described as a former king who, after coming into contact with Buddhist teachings through the Buddha Lokeśvararāja, renounced his throne. He then resolved to become a Buddha and to create a buddhakṣetra (literally "Buddha-field", often called pure land or Buddha-land, a realm existing in the primordial universe outside of ordinary reality, produced by the merit of a Buddha) possessed of many perfections. These resolutions were expressed in his forty-eight vows, which defined the pure land type. Dharmakāra aspired to create, the conditions in which beings could be born into this world, and what kind of beings they would be when reborn into it.

In versions of the sutra widely known in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, the eighteenth vow of Dharmakāra was that every being in a universe desiring to be reborn in the pure land and calling on his name with sincerity, even ten times will have guaranteed rebirth. His nineteenth vow promises that he, along with his bodhisattvas and other blessed Buddhists, will appear before those who, at the time of death, invoke him.

This openness and acceptance of all kinds of people has made the belief in pure lands one of the major influences of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism appears to have first become popular in Gandhara, from where it spread to Central Asia and China. The sutra goes on to explain that Amitābha, after accumulating great merit over countless lifetimes, eventually attained Buddhahood and created a pure land called Sukhāvatī. Sukhāvatī is located in the far west, beyond the limits of our own world.

By the power of his vows, Amitābha enabled all who invoke him to be reborn on this earth, to be instructed there by him in the dharma, and eventually to become bodhisattvas and buddhas in their turn (the ultimate goal of Mahāyāna Buddhism). From there, these same bodhisattvas and Buddhas return to our world to help sentient beings, guiding them to Buddhahood Amitābha is the Buddha of all-encompassing love. He lives in the west (represented as a Buddha in meditation, he is one of the 5 dhyanis Buddhas) and works for the enlightenment of all beings (represented as a Buddha of blessing). His most important enlightenment technique is the visualization of the surrounding world as a paradise.

Those seeing the world as a paradise awaken their energy of enlightenment. The world can be seen as a paradise by a corresponding positive thought (enlightenment thought) or by sending light to all beings (wishing all beings to be happy). After the Amitābha doctrine, one can come to heaven (in the Pure Land of Amitābha), if they visualize at their death Amitābha in the sky (sun) above their head (western horizon), think his name as a mantra and leaving the body as a soul through the crown chakra (what Tibetans refer to as transference of consciousness or "Powa" Amitābha is also known in Tibet, Mongolia and other areas where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced In the Supreme Yogatantra of Tibetan Buddhism, Amitābha is considered one of the five Dhyāni Buddhas (along with Akṣobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava and Vairocana), who is associated with the western direction and the skandha of his ofjñā, the aggregate of distinction (recognition) and deep awareness of individualities.

H is wife is Pāṇḍaravāsinī. His two main disciples (the same number as Gautama Buddha) are Bodhisattvas Vajrapani and Avalokiteśvara, the former on his left and the latter on his right. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are a number of famous prayers for rebirth in Sukhāvatī (Dewachen). One of them was written by Je Tsongkhapa at the request of Manjushri The Panchen Lamas and Shamarpas are considered to be emanations of Amitābha.

In Shingon Buddhism, Japanese Vajrayana, heir to Chinese Esoteric Buddhism Tangmi, Amitābha is considered one of the thirteen Buddhas to whom practitioners can pay homage. Shingon, like Tibetan Buddhism, also uses special devotional mantras for Amitābha, although the mantras used differ. Amitābha is also one of the Buddhas featured in the womb realm mandala used in True Word practices, and is found in the west, where Amitābha's Pure Land is believed to dwell. Amitābha is the focus of a number of mantras in Vajrayana practices.

The Sanskrit form of Amitābha's mantra is oṃ amitābha hrīḥ), which is pronounced in its Tibetan version as Om ami dewa hri His mantra in Shingon Buddhism is On amirita teizei kara un which represents the underlying Indian form oṃ amṛta-teje hara hūṃ. In addition to using the mantras listed above, many Buddhist schools invoke Amitābha's name in a practice known as nianfo in Chinese and nembutsu in Japanese.

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Hindi अवलोकितेश्वर Avalokiteśvara “lord who watches from above”, Chinese 觀世音 Guānshìyīn or 觀音 Guānyīn, Shanghainese Kueu(sy)'in, Korean Gwanseeum 관세음, Japanese 観音 Kan'non, Tibetan Chenrezig, Vietnamese Quán Thế Âm, Indonesian Kwan Im, Khmer លោកេស្វរ Lokesvara), is arguably the most revered and popular great bodhisattva among Great Vehicle Buddhists. He is also used as a yidam (tutelary deity) in tantric meditations. Protean and syncretic bodhisattva (he can represent all other bodhisattvas), embodying ultimate compassion, he can be feminine in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, in the form of Quan Yin. He is considered the protector of Tibet where King Songtsen Gampo and later the Dalai Lamas are seen as his emanations. This is also the case with other tulku such as the karmapa. Also called Padmapāṇi or Maṇipadmā, he is invoked by the famous mantra Om̐ Maṇipadme hūm (ॐ मणिपद्मेहूम्). Chenrezi is the bodhisattva of love and compassion.

The aim of Chenrezi Puja is to develop loving friendship and compassion for all living beings without distinction. Chenrezi manifests in different forms: the 10-headed, 1000-armed Chenrezi of compassion is the best known: he promised his spiritual father, Amitabha Buddha, to expend all his energy to liberate all living beings and not to rest until all living beings are delivered from their suffering. Should he ever doubt his mission, 'then may my head splinter into ten and my body into 1000'.

When, after meditating deeply and reciting the Mani Mantra non-stop, he saw that the ocean of suffering still had not emptied, then he fell into deep despair and broke his head into 10 and his body in 1000.

The six-syllable mantra OM MANI PEME HOENG is the best-known mantra of Tibetan Buddhism.

Mahāsthāmaprāpta is a mahāsattva bodhisattva who represents the power of wisdom. Its name literally means "the arrival of the great force". Mahāsthāmaprāpta is one of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism, along with Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteśvara, Ākāśagarbha, Kṣitigarbha, Maitreya, and Sarvanivarana-Vishkambhin.

In Chinese Buddhism, he is usually depicted as female, with a similar likeness to Avalokiteśvara. He is also one of the Thirteen Buddhas of the Japanese school of Shingon Buddhism.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Mahāsthāmaprāpta is equated with Vajrapani, who is one of his incarnations and was known as the protector of Gautama Buddha. Mahāsthāmaprāpta is one of the oldest bodhisattvas and is considered powerful, especially in the Pure Land school, where he plays an important role in the great Infinite-Life Sutra. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Mahāsthāmaprāpta recounts how he gained enlightenment through the practice of nianfo, or the pure and continuous mindfulness of Amitābha, to obtain samādhi. In the Amitayurdhyana Sutra,

Mahāsthāmaprāpta is symbolized by the moon while Avalokiteśvara is represented by the sun. In the introductory chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Mahāsthāmaprāpta is present among the 80,000 bodhisattva mahāsattvas who gather on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa to hear the Buddha preach on the wondrous Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra.

The Buddha also addresses Mahāsthāmaprāpta in Chapter 20 of the Lotus Sutra to recount the Buddha's past life as Bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta ("Never despise"), a monk who was abused and reviled by monks, nuns , lay people and arrogant lay people when he paid homage to them saying that they would all become Buddhas.

The Buddha explains to Mahāsthāmaprāpta how these arrogant people were punished, but are now bodhisattvas present in the assembly on the path to enlightenment. The Buddha then praises the great power of the Lotus Sutra thus: “O Mahāsthāmaprāpta, know that this Lotus Sutra will greatly benefit the bodhisattva mahāsattvas and lead them to the highest and complete enlightenment. For this reason, after the parinirvāṇa of the Tathāgata, the bodhisattva mahāsattvas should always keep, recite, explain and copy this sutra.

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