This paper addresses the differences between the pure land images of Amitabha at different times and in different regions, and attempts to demonstrate the different pure land ideas, which might explain the differences between Japanese art and Dunhuang wall paintings of this theme. The pure land belief in Japan regarded “happily seeking pure land and leaving dirt land” as an ideal that could be realized, and kept pursuing it. It was exactly embodied in Japanese pure land images: the pure land is nearby. However, the pure land images from China and particularly from Dunhuang never reflect the relationship between the pure land of Amitabha Buddha among themselves in a secular world, and among those being reborn. This is a very different relationship between the secular life and the afterlife.
