A transliteration of the Sanskrit Amita^bha （the Buddha of Limitless Light 无量光佛） or Amita^yus （the Buddha of Limitless Life 无量寿佛）. A Buddha who possesses infinite meritorious qualities; who expounds the dharma in his pure paradise （Sukha^vati^） in the West. According to tradition Amita^bha was in ancient times a king who， having come in contact with the Buddhist teaching， renounced his throne and became a monk with the name of Dharmaka^ra. He resolved to become a Buddha and in this way to come into possession of a paradise in which all who call his name might be born into a life of unbounded joy. This is the result of his forty-eight vows 四十八愿， the most important of which are the eighteenth 十八愿 and nineteenth 十九愿， in which he promises not to achieve supreme perfect enlightenment until he have saved all sentient beings in his paradise. Amita^bha is thus the primary deity of the Pure Land school 净土宗 of Buddhism which developed and spread in China， Vietnam， Korean and Japan. In iconographic art， Amita^bha is usually portrayed as having two assistants: Avalokite/svara 观音 （also considered as his incarnation） who appears on his left and Maha^stha^mapra^pta 势至 who appears on his right. He is also one of the five buddhas 五佛 of the vajradha^tu. The basic doctrine concerning Amita^bha and his vows can be found in the Amita^bha-su^tra 阿弥陀经 and the Sutra of Infinite Life 无量寿经.