The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (170 page)

Amice
.

A Christian
eucharistic
vestment. It is an ornamented linen neckcloth worn above the
alb
so as to form a kind of collar.

 
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Amida
or Amita
.

In Far Eastern Buddhism the name of the principal
Buddha
of the
Pure Land
lineages, the Jap. pronunciation of the Chinese transliteration (O-mi-t’o) of the Skt. (Amita, ‘Immeasurable One’). The titles Amit
bha
(Skt., ‘He of Immeasurable Light’) and
Amit
yus
(Skt., ‘He of Immeasurable Life’) are, contrary to the Tibetan tradition, regarded by the Japanese as synonyms for Amida. The invocation (
nembutsu
) to Amida is
namu Amida butsu
, ‘veneration to the Buddha Amida’, the ‘Original Vow’. In Chinese, it is
namo o-mi-to-fo
, ‘veneration to Amit
bha’.
For the basic text,
Amida-ky
, see
SUKH
VAT
VY
HA
. See also
AMIT
YUS
.

 
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(Heb., ‘standing’). A Jewish prayer consisting of eighteen
benedictions
which is a core part of the structure of each of the three daily services. It is also known as the Shemoneh-Esreh (‘eighteen’) or, in
Talmudic
sources, as
ha-tefillah
(‘the prayer’). It is said standing (facing in the direction of Jerusalem), and is recited in different forms on weekdays,
Sabbaths
, and
festivals
.

 
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