འཕགས་པ་ཚ་དང་ཡ་ཤས་དཔག་ཏ་མད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.14

intro.14

Other than by their names, a further means of distinguishing between these two buddhas is by their buddhafields. In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni clearly introduces Aparimitāyur­jñāna as dwelling in the realm named Aparimita­guṇa­saṃcaya (“Accumulation of Immeasurable Qualities”), which is situated in an upward direction from this world, i.e. toward the zenith. Tibetan authors who commented on the problem, even if they used the short form Tsepamé (Amitāyus), nevertheless took pains to distinguish between the two buddhas. On the one hand was “Amitāyus of the zenith” (steng phyogs kyi tshe dpag med) and “Amitāyus of Akaniṣṭha” (’og min gyi tshe dpag med, in the tantras), both likely to be references to Aparimitāyur­jñāna. On the other was “Amitāyus of Sukhāvatī” (bde ba can gyi tshe dpag med), also sometimes known as “Amitāyus of the Drum of Immortality” (’chi med rnga sgra’i tshe dpag med, Dundubhisvara-Amitāyus), both of whom can be identified with Amitābha.⁷