This paper argues that standing Amitabha images in Goryeo Buddhist paintings, previously thought to be the illustrations of Amitabha’s welcoming descent ( 來迎圖), are in fact images created to be used in meditation practice named changuan xiuxing (禪觀修行), or to depict its outcome, which is the manifestation of the Buddha Amitabha. This argument comes from a reinterpretation of the images based on an understanding of the Buddhist communities for nianfo(念佛, chanting the Buddha) and practices aimed at achieving rebirth in the Pure Land that f lourished in East Asia from the 11th to the 14th centuries, along with the analysis of the meditation practices performed in different regions and the Amitabha paintings they produced. Pure Land Buddhism in Japan developed in conjunction with death-related ceremonies, leading to a strong belief in Amitabha's welcoming descent to the deceased and the production of a number of the illustrations of Amitabha’s welcoming descent. By contrast, Pure Land Buddhism in Song China f lourished primarily among monks of the Tiantai ( 天台) school in the Ningbo region of Zhejiang Province, spreading through society by way of Buddhist ✽ Hongik University communities such as the Nianfo shijie hui (念佛施戒會). High-ranking officials and monks, the leading figures in these associations, practiced visualization aimed at rebirth in the Pure Land, such as the Sixteen Meditations Practice ( 十六觀妙觀修行). Standing Amitabha images produced during the Song dynasty were mostly created as the aid the Sixteen Meditations Practice of Tiantai school, or represents manifestation of the Buddha Amitabha, which is the outcome of the practice Amitabha paintings of late Goryeo period assimilated iconographies in Southern Song Buddhist paintings and were produced in some aspect under the inf luence of the Tiantai Pure Land faith and meditation practices. It is conformed based on the popularization of the Pure Land faith as a result of Uicheon's founding of the Cheontae (ch. Tiantai) school in Goryeo and the formation of White Lotus Society ( 白蓮結社), along with the spread of Cheontae Pure Land belief among the royal family and the aristocracy in the Goryeo capital, Gaegyeong, after the establishment of Myoryeonsa Temple ( 妙蓮寺) in 1284. Accordingly, standing Amitabha images in late Goryeo Buddhist paintings, previously thought to be the illustrations of Amitabha’s welcoming descent, can instead be regarded as the representations of the Buddha Amitabha manifested and suspended in the air, an image obtained through meditations, and functioned as the visual aid for the meditation practice.