Ak?obhya
AK?OBHYA
One of a large number of so-called celestial buddhas known to Mah?y?na Buddhists in India during the first millennium, Ak?obhya was believed to inhabit a paradise-like world system far to the east, known as Abhirati (extreme delight). Bodhisattvas reborn there could make rapid progress toward buddhahood, while ?r?vakas could achieve arhatship within a single life. Belief in Ak?obhya appears to have emerged in India around the beginning of the first millennium c.e. and spread widely in Buddhist communities before being eclipsed by the growing popularity of Amit?bha. Today Ak?obhya is known mainly as one of the five directional buddhas who appear in tantric ritual texts.
Bibliography
Chang, Garma C. C., ed. The Dharma-Door of Praising Tath?gata Ak?obhya's Merits (partial translation of the Ak?obhyavy?ha). In A Treasury of Mah?y?na S?tras: Selections from the Mah?ratnak??a S?tra, tr. Buddhist Association of the United States. University Park and London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983.
Dantinne, Jean, trans. La splendeur de l'inébranlable (Ak?obhyavy?ha). Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Institut Orientaliste, 1983.
Nattier, Jan. "The Realm of Ak?obhya: A Missing Piece in the History of Pure Land Buddhism." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23, no. 1 (2000): 71–102.
Jan Nattier