Rare and sublime, The Cleveland Museum of Art’s 15th-century “Amitabha Triad” features three divine beings central to Buddhist belief. Only a hint of the gilt remains of this once-hallowed Buddhist treasure, yet the deities’ meditative serenity shines on.
Each deity is sitting on a lotus-flower throne in readiness to welcome Buddhist adherents to the Western Paradise (Buddha Amitabha’s heaven). In the center, Amitabha sits cross-legged in the lotus position and is flanked by two heavenly attendants: the Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha. Each of the divine beings makes a different heavenly gesture, called a mudra, with their hands.
