Rethinking Disability Through Medieval Chinese Buddhist Narratives

This paper examines representations of disability in Chinese narrative tradition from the fourth to tenth century, arguing that disability is not a fixed category, but a fluid condition embedded in broader discourses of the body, suffering, and karma. Through an analysis of both translated Indian avadāna literature and indigenous Chinese miracle tales, I explore how these texts frame disability in shifting and context-dependent ways, sometimes as karmic retribution, sometimes as a contingent condition to be healed, and sometimes as an ambiguous marker of distinction. Rather than reinforcing a moralist view of disability as punishment, Buddhist narratives allow space for an empathetic recognition of disability as a shared yet transient condition among all sentient beings. Engaging with scholarship on disability aesthetics and ethics, this paper highlights how Buddhist texts mobilize bodily difference not only to elucidate doctrine but also to invite moral reflection, compassion, and a reimagination of embodied experience.