sukhavati

I know I know, I'm cheating again. This is not a photograph but a digital illustration I drew earlier this year (in PhotoShop without using filters). It represents a spiritual state of mind that, hopefully, I am getting closer to.

Sukhavati is a story about Amitabha, the Buddha of immeasurable radiance, whose primary quality is compassion.

When he was on the threshold of illumination, Amitabha vowed that he would not accept illumination for himself unless, through his illumination, he could release all beings from the endless cycle of re-incarnation.

The Gods agreed and, when he did achieve his illumination, there appeared before him a great lotus pond where the jewel of illumination resided in the lotuses. Anyone devoted to Amitabha in their lifetime would no longer be committed to another re-incarnation but would instead be reborn in a closed lotus floating on Amitabha’s lotus pond called Sukavhati, the place of bliss.

Meditating in their lotuses the devotees would hear, on the rippling waters and in the air, only the mantra, "all is impermanent, all is without a self" until finally, they would realize that enlightened truth.

When they did, their lotuses would open and they would be sitting, themselves, as an enlightened Buddhas in meditation; only then to dissolve like a dew drop into the ocean of rapture and transcendence.

Framed & matted, Sukhavati, the finished work, measures 16" x 20". Museum quality prints are available.