Listen & Chant Along
Meaning & Translation
Transliteration
Om A-mi De-wa Hrih
Deity / Quality Invoked
Amitabha Buddha
Pronunciation
ohm ah-mee DAY-wah hree
Full Translation
Om Ami Dewa Hrih is the Tibetan form of the mantra of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, whose Pure Land (Dewachen) is open to all who turn toward him with faith. Hrih is Amitabha's seed syllable — the sound-essence of compassionate, boundless light.
Spiritual Significance
Amitabha practice is the practice of trust in limitless compassion: reciting his mantra is said to purify the causes of fear, ripen rebirth in his Pure Land, and — in life — open the heart's capacity for warmth without measure. In East Asia the same devotion takes the form of the spoken homage "Namo Amitabha" (nianfo).
Cultural Context & History
Devotion to Amitabha spans the whole Mahayana world, from Tibetan Dewachen prayers to Chinese and Japanese Pure Land recitation. Krishna Das learned the Amitabha mantra in the Tibetan tradition and has recorded it ("Amitabha Mantra," 2022) and sung it at gatherings like Bhakti Fest, bringing this Buddhist practice into his kirtan repertoire.
Terms in the Glossary
Words from this page, explained in our A–Z reference.