Avataṃsaka Meditation in Khotan: Samādhi, Visualization, and the Cult of Buddha Images
Religions January 25, 2026 Imre Hamar
Khotan was a crucial center for the transmission and reception of Avataṃsaka/Huayan Buddhism, where the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra enjoyed exceptional prestige and royal protection, creating favorable conditions for the circulation and possible redaction of large Mahāyāna compilations. Two meditation texts translated by the Khotanese monk Devendraprajñā combine Huayan cosmology and non-obstruction with visualization-based contemplative techniques. A functional differentiation within Khotanese practice emerges: the meditation texts prioritize cognitive and visionary transformation and largely omit formal repentance, whereas an image-making sūtra explicitly requires repentance as a precondition for karmic purification, promising the elimination or mitigation of karmic consequences through making Buddha images.