Three Lotuses Joining in Radiance: Origins of the Iconographic Form of the New Western Pure Land Belief

The Western Pure Land belief 西方淨土信仰 entered China in the Eastern Han (25–220 CE). Around the sixth century, it underwent a major shift from mental contemplation 心念 to oral recitation 口念 of “Amituofo 阿彌陀佛 (Amitābha Buddha)” with rebirth in the Western Pure Land 西方凈土 achieved through the Buddha’s power and culminating in buddhahood. This later development is what this study terms the new Western Pure Land belief 新西方淨土信仰. This study examines the origins of the earliest iconographic form of the New Western Pure Land belief, aiming to reveal how the transformation of the Western Pure Land belief was reflected in both imagery and inscription. Through epigraphic analysis, the earliest example of New Western Pure Land votive sculpture is identified, together with their characteristic iconographic features and principal dedicatory formula—“Wangsheng Anle Shijie 往生安樂世界 (to be reborn in the Land of Anle [Peace and Joy])”. Methodologically, this study traces the origins of the iconographic forms of Buddhist images associated with the New Western Pure Land by examining the evolution of sculptures bearing the recurrent inscriptional formulae “Tuosheng Xifang Anle (or Anluo) mouchu 託生西方安樂〔洛〕某處 (to be reborn in a certain place in the Western Land of Anle/Anluo)” and “Tuosheng Xifang Miaole (or Anluo) guotu 託生西方妙樂〔洛〕國土 (to be reborn in the Western Land of Miaole/Miaoluo [sublime bliss])”—hereafter referred to as the “Anle 安樂 formulae” and “Miaole 妙樂 formulae”, respectively. The formula “Wangsheng Anle Shijie 往生安樂世界” constitutes the core dedicatory expression of the earliest New Western Pure Land imagery, derived from the Anle formula prevalent in Northern Dynasties inscriptions. Furthermore, the Anle formulae and Miaole formulae are closely related, both reflecting their patrons’ understanding of and devotion to the Western Pure Land. Their consistent use across a wide temporal span makes them a valuable framework for examining the systematic relationship between belief and iconography in early Chinese Buddhist sculpture. This study argues that the earliest iconographic form of the New Western Pure Land belief—the standing Buddha triad 立佛三尊式—originated directly from a group of “Miaole”-inscribed sculptures in the ancient Qingzhou青州 region (roughly in present-day Shandong Province), in which the standing Buddha served as the principal figure. These sculptures bearing the miaole 妙樂 formula, in turn, derived from Western Pure Land sculptures of similar composition produced during the early Southern Liang 南梁 (502–557 CE). Hence, Southern prototypes can be identified as the source of the earliest New Western Pure Land Buddha sculpture. Furthermore, an examination of the textual and visual evolution of Northern votive sculptures bearing the “Anle” and “Miaole” inscriptions reveals a gradual separation of these sculptures from Maitreya devotion 彌勒信仰. This development clarifies the underlying cause of a phenomenon previously observed by scholars—that Western Pure Land sculptures of the Northern Dynasties exhibit syncretic devotional features comparable to those of the Southern tradition.