Anxiety and Imagination among Early Pure Land Practitioners in China: An Analysis of Wangsheng xifang jingtu ruiying zhuan 往生西方淨土瑞應傳

Wangsheng zhuan 往生傳 (rebirth tales) were among the most important genres for early Pure Land practitioners in China. The rise of Pure Land practice in medieval China revolutionized Buddhism across East Asia. New practices, particularly nianfo 念佛 (reciting the name of Amitābha Buddha), increased reliance on the power of Amitābha’s vows to achieve a rebirth in his Pure Land, Sukhāvatī. Various forms of literature reflecting on Pure Land scriptures and practices, including commentaries, liturgical manuals, and wangsheng zhuan, emerged to guide practitioners toward a successful rebirth. These concise and engaging rebirth tales simultaneously heightened and alleviated anxieties about attaining rebirth in the Pure Land. Likewise, the imaginations of early Pure Land practitioners played a dual role both fueling and soothing their profound anxiety about whether they would be reborn in the Pure Land. Wangsheng zhuan accounts reveal that Pure Land practitioners envisioned a world where significant encounters or visions could signal their success or failure in realizing their goal. Such tales inspired the community to persist or intensify their efforts for rebirth. This feedback loop of anxiety and imagination, while not unique to early Pure Land practitioners in China, is particularly evident in extant wangsheng zhuan accounts. This article considers the anxiety and imaginative processes present within the earliest extant exclusive collection of Pure Land rebirth accounts, the Wangsheng xifang jingtu ruiying zhuan 往生西方淨土瑞應傳 (T 2070).