Panoramic perspectives on transformative trajectories in visualization across Huayan and Pure Land Buddhism

Panoramic perspectives interfuse multiple views on the same scene, out of which emerges a vision none held alone. Such synergistic dynamics are reflected in practices of visualization, on which Huayan and Pure Land Buddhism offer particularly illuminating perspectives. Their canonical accounts, including the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and Amitāyus Contemplation Sūtra, find multimedia parallels in transformation tableaux and further instantiation in the extracanonical domain of contemplative experience, though not without undergoing significant transformations. Building upon previous work, I engage the canonical sources, multimedia analogs, experiential instantiations and neurophenomenological implications of visualization in Huayan and Pure Land Buddhism. This article contributes new data on contemplative experience from an ethnographic case study on Huayan practice and experimental fieldwork on Pure Land practice in Chinese Buddhist contexts. It offers a set of panoramic perspectives on transformative trajectories in visualization across Huayan and Pure Land Buddhism through a synergy of interdisciplinary insights, fleshing out a fuller picture of Buddhist practice.