The development of paradise cults and imagery is a hallmark of East Asian Buddhism. The belief that multiple Buddhas and bodhisattvas inhabit different paradises or pure lands (kshetriyas) is common in Buddhism and is discussed in much Buddhist literature. Despite a strong textual tradition, images of these heavenly spheres are relatively rare in India and Southeast Asia. Much of the East Asian iconography of this type can be traced to the images that evolved in China beginning in the 6th century.