Amitābha (Sanskrit: अमिताभ, Amitābha (wordstem), Hindi pronunciation: [əmɪtaːbʱə]; Amitābho; Chinese: 阿彌陀佛, Ēmítuó Fó; Japanese: 阿弥陀如来, Amida Nyorai; Tibetan:འོད་དཔག་མེད།, Ö-pa-me) is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in the Pure Land sect, a branch of Buddhism practiced mainly in East Asia. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merits resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. "Amitābha" is translatable as "Infinite Light," hence Amitābha is often called "The Buddha of Infinite Light."