This work is based on an image of the 43.8 foot tall, 13th century bronze Amida Buddha sculpture located in the Japanese town of Kamakura. The Kamakura Daibutsu sits in the grounds of Kotokuin, a temple belonging to the Jodo Sect of Buddhism.  Amida is the Japanese name for Amitabha, one of the five Dhyani Buddhas.  Amida, the Buddha of the West, was very popular in Japan, and depictions of him abound, especially in the context of Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo), a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, where the faithful would repeat Amitabha’s mantra in order to be reborn in Sukhavati, his Pure Land paradise.