Item: Amitabha Buddha - Pureland (Sukhavati)

Amitabha Buddha (Tibetan: o pa me, sang gye, English: the Enlightened One of Immeasurable Light) according to the tradition of Namcho Mingyur Dorje.

Amitabha, red in colour, is seated in front of a large palace with Avalokiteshvara at the left and Vajrapani at the right, the remaining 6 bodhisattvas sit in front. Karma Kagyu lineage masters sit at the sides.

The style of painting is Kham-dri commonly found in Eastern Tibet. With this particular painting it follows very close in drawing and composition to the specific Palpung style of Palpung monastery also in Eastern Tibet, Dege Region. It should be noted that it is not Karma Gardri style (16th/17th century) nor is it the contentious and problematic style referred to nowadays as 'New Karma Gardri' which is commonly used to describe either the popular style of Palpung monastery in the 18th and 19th centuries, or ALL paintings from the Kham region that do not follow a readily identifiable Menri or Khyenri style of Central Tibet.

Jeff Watt 2-2000 [updated 4-2013]