Buddhist faith:The paradise of Amida Buddha

Meditation and magic were not the only paths traced in the architecture of Japanese gardens. A third path, that of devotion, inspired a vision of paradise which found concrete correlation in the pond islands within 8uddhist temple precincts

Mahayana Buddhism speculates that space is divided into ten realms which contain countless numbers of world systems Some of these systems lie under the influence of specific Buddhas One such system is Sukhavaii. or Jodo in Japanese, a "Pure Land" under the influence of Amida (Amitabha). a transhistoncal Buddha of infinite light and eternal life. It is located, according to this cosmology, at the "provisional limit of the worlds to the West" in an otherwise "unlimited universe".

To be reborn m Amida's Pure Land after ones death m this world was considered a significant step towards Buddhahood. Belief in Amida and his paradise can be traced back to three Indian sutras, which arose be tween the second and fifth centuries AD, m which Shakyamunt tells of Amida's vow to save anyone who faithfully devotes their life to him. Shakyamum then proceeds to give a vivid description of Amida's para dise, where magnificent palaces are set m beautiful gardens of shady terraces and lotus ponds

The Mahayana Buddhism from which this idea stems is often called the "Great Vehicle" of Buddhism. In place of the arduous meditalional practices of other Buddhist seas, it employs "easier" methods such as chant, prayer and the contemplation of images Per haps this explains why Pure Land Buddhism has at tracted the largest following of all the Buddhist sects m China and Japan It is only natural, therefore, that it should also have the largest number of temples in Ja pan. When looked at more closely, however, the mod els underlying human representations of Amida's para dise reveal themselves to be worldly rather than heav enly in origin The visions of Amida's Pure Land both as painted on mandalas and recreated in garden architec ture bear close resemblance to the royal pleasure gar dens of the ancient Middle East. It is probable, there fore, that Ihe mythological Pure Land of the original Indian sutras was based on descriptions of Middle-Eastern palaces; this would in turn explain why the legendary country lies in the West, and not in the East. The fear of death, as we have already said, runs deeper than all other fears, and goes beyond the bounds of mere history. And thus these last three archetypes of Japanese garden architecture, based respectively on Hindu cosmology, Chinese myth and Buddhist faith, all have one thing in common: they are expressions of man's desire to outwit the laws of nature to which he is subject and to escape death. Paradoxically, man seeks to transcend Nature by means of man-made nature.