Ancient Sun Gods

Mithras
Also known as: Mithra, Mitra

Mithra was originally a Persian god. Worshiped for centuries as God's Messenger of Truth, Mithra was long revered by the Persians (Zoroastrianism) and the Indians as "Mitra" (see the Vedic literature).

In Roman times, Mithras resurged as a popular "mystery religion" among military ranks. It is now thought to have had very little to do with the Persian and Indian religions, but became a new religion in its own right. As Mithraists wrote very little about their religion, little is known about their rites, though early Church Fathers like Justin Martyr and Tertullian decried similarities between the rites of Christians and those of Mithraism, claiming that the similarities were inspired by the devil.

Mithras was born in a cave on the Winter Solstice (around December 25th), formed out of solid rock. Celebrations of his birth were incorporated into Saturnalis, becoming the Sol Invictus festival in the first few centuries CE.

Mithras's followers ate sacramental meals in remembrance of Him. The sacred meal of bread and water, or bread and wine, was probably symbolic of the body and blood of the sacred bull.

A form of Baptism was sometimes done in the blood of the bull (taurobolium). This was done in order to purify the believer of sins. Services were conducted in small caves, and the number of participants of each rite probably numbered only a few dozen.

Mithraic rituals brought about the transformation and Salvation of His adherents—an ascent of the soul of the adherent into the realm of the divine. It was believed that Mithras would judge the dead.

Also known as: Amitabha, Amida Beddru

Amida Butsu is a popular figure in Buddhism known by many names throughout Asia, including Amitabha (阿彌陀佛), Āmítuó fó 阿弥陀佛 Amita Bul , 阿弥陀如来 Amida Nyorai (=Amida Tathagata), the Buddha of Limitless Light (無量光佛), Amida Beddru and Amida Beddin

According to tradition Amida was in ancient times a king who, having come in contact with the Buddhist teaching, renounced his throne and became a monk with the name of Dharmakāra. He resolved to become a Buddha and in this way to come into possession of a paradise in which all who call his name might be born into a life of unbounded joy. This is the result of his forty-eight vows 四十八願, of which in the eighteenth and nineteenth, he promises not to achieve supreme perfect enlightenment until he has saved all sentient beings in his paradise.

Amitabha as a saviour figure was never as popular in Tibet and Nepal as he was in East Asia, but he is highly regarded in those countries as one of the five “self-born” buddhas who have existed eternally. Depictions of the Western Paradise and of Amitabha descending to welcome the newly dead are beautifully expressed in the Raigo paintings of Japan's Late Heian Period (AD 897–1185).

The basic doctrine concerning Amida and his vows can be found in the Amitābha-sūtra.

Amida is red in color. In Tibetan Buddhism, red is the color of love, compassion, and emotional energy. His direction is the west. It is in this direction that sunset takes place and indeed he is envisioned as the setting sun (red). He is seen as the supreme power and energy of nature, cast on an earthly plain, accessible to all sentient beings.

Some scholars have pointed out the strong connection surrounding Amita, and a possible influence by the Iranian cult of Mitra. The Buddha Amitabha (literally meaning "Infinite radiance") with his Western paradisiacal "Pure Land" "seems to be understood as the Iranian god of light, equated with the sun" (Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road").

The very notion of paradise is a Persian invention (Old Persian: "Para Daisa"), which may have been relayed by the Indo-Greeks or through the incursions of the Indo-Parthians in India.