As is widely known, the Kondô of Hôryûji in Nara has been discussed from a variety of thematic approaches. Debate continues today on the subject of the wall paintings on the Kondô interior. However, if we focus on the Number Six wall (Pl. IV) we can find a 12th century reference to the “Amida jôdô zu” 阿彌陀淨土圖 (pictures of Amitābha's paradise) and thus conclude that from an early date there was a firm belief that the central image in this panel is Amitābha. The standard interpretation of this panel states that the central figure is Amitābha accompanied by the two Bodhisattvas, Avalokitesvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta. We might then ask, what is the basis for the identification of these three figures as Amitabha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta? The central deity is shown with the bothshoulder style of kasāya garment, with hands joined at chest-height, the back of the left hand facing the viewer with the thumb and middle finger touching to form a circle. The palm of the right hand faces the viewer with the thumb and index finger touching to form a circle. This is the so-called dharmacakra mudra, or teaching hand gesture. The figure's legs are folded into the full lotus position, the nyaşi-dat-paryankam ābhujya. The Bodhisattva on the Buddha's right, i.e. the left side of the painting, holds a lotus flower in a lowered right hand, while the left hand is raised to chest height. He stands on a lotus pedestal. The Bodhisattva on the Buddha's left, i.e. the right side of the painting, holds the end of a yôraku 瓔珞 jeweled garland in the right hand, which is at chest height. The left hand is lowered and holds the other end of the yôraku and a lotus flower. This figure also stands on a lotus pedestal. In its crown a small Buddha image can be seen, though there is no mark on the crown of the other Bodhisattva.
The representation of a small Buddha in the crown, as seen here, is one of the attributes of Avalokitesvara described in the Guanwuliang shoujing 觀無量壽經 sutra. The same sutra describes Mahasthamaprapta as having a crown decorated with a water vase, though the other Bodhisattva in this wall painting does not show that iconography. On the other hand, it is not clear what source was used as the basis for the identification of the central Buddha image as Amitābha with both-shoulder style kaşāya and dharma-cakra mudra. Some reasons for this identification as Amitābha could include the fact that the Number Six wall painting under discussion here is on the west wall, the wall associated with Amitābha, among the paradise scenes painted on four large walls of the Hôryûji Kondô. Seventeen small figures of Bodhisattvas, including one reborn child are shown on lotus flowers which rise from a single stem emerging from the lotus pond beneath the three deities. There is a small Buddha image in the crown of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. These various elements in combination indicate that the Number Six wall painting depicts Amitabha's paradise. Also in this regard, Paul Pelliot provided an overall introduction to the wall paintings in the Mugaoku caves of Dunhuang, China, and indicated the presence of a painting (Pl. III) on the east wall of cave 332 (present-day numbering system) at Dunhuang which resembles the Hôryûji image. Naito Toichiro commented on this resemblance and suggested that the source for this imagery lies in the description of “Amitābha and 50 Bodhisattvas” recorded in Daoxuan (596-667) 's Jishenzhousanbaogantonglu 道宣、集神州三寶感通錄. The majority of later scholars based their work on Naito's interpretation, and generally agreed that the central deity on the Number Six wall painting of Hôryûji with its two-shoulder kasaya and dharma-cakra mudra is an image of Amitābha. This author also concurs with the Amitābha. Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta identification. But, while agreeing with that identification, the following areas of the painting present questions for further discussion.
