A detailed explanation and description of a traditional thangka painting of the Pure Land of Sukhavati, also known as Dewachen (བདེ་བ་ཅན།), the Blissful Field of Amitabha Buddha (འོད་དཔག་མེད།), which at different places also addressed as Amitayus (ཚེ་དཔག་མེད།).
In this explanation you can find the names, both in English and Tibetan, of the individual figures and groups that are depicted in the Sukhavati thangka.
Sukhāvatī is a a Sanskrit term the describes “a realm of delight, a place where no suffering is experienced. The inhabitants of this realm are spiritually advanced beings who enjoy the presence of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats, and engage exclusively in wholesome activities.”[2]
The reason for the name “Blissful Field” or “Land of Delight” for this realm, as the Buddha explained in “The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī” sutra, is that in the “Sukhāvatī world, sentient beings experience neither physical pain nor mental suffering and the causes for their happiness are limitless. For this reason, this world is called Sukhāvatī.”[2]
Sources:
- Thangka painting by TheThangka.com
- 84000 – The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī
- Rigpa Wiki – Sukhavati
- Lotsawa House – Amitābha and Sukhāvatī Series
- Himalayan Art Resources – Amitabha Buddha – Pureland (Sukhavati)
