The Buddha Amitayus

If for any reason you have been sentenced to the infernal but legal horrors of hell, you’ll need a good lawyer. Fittingly, that is exactly who you see here: the Buddha Amitayus. Think of him as your public defender.

Amitayus defends his clients by exploiting a legal loophole in the law (dharma) called “truthspeaking” (satya-vachana), wherein Amitayus makes a promise (pranidhana): “May I not become a Buddha unless everyone who encounters me is instantly freed from the horrors of hell.” As you can see from the present sculpture, Amitayus has indeed become a Buddha. That means his entire statement was “truth-speaking.” Under these conditions, the rest of the formula must be true as well. The final verdict? Anyone who encounters Amitayus—his name or his 208 form—will be released from the horrors of hell.