Avalokiteśvara in Chinese Mythology
This Chinese legend is believe to be derived from Taoist ideology with the fusion of Indian-Buddhist ideology.
Tao-hsüan (596-667) once asked a divine spirit about the history of the Quan Yin.
The spirit replied:
In the past there was a king whose name was Miao Chuang Yen.
His queen was named Pao Ying. She bore three daughters.
At the time of her third daughter, Miao Shan's conception, the queen dreamed that she swallowed the moon.
When the time came for the child to be born, the whole earth quaked, and wonderful fragrance and heavenly flowers were spread near and far.
At birth she was clean and fresh without being washed.
The people said that these were signs of the incarnation of a holy person.
Although the parents thought this extraordinary, their hearts were corrupt, and so they detested her.
(This story plot is similar to the birth climax of the Indian Prince Siddhartha Gautama Buddha).
As she grew up the Miao Shan became naturally kind and gentle.
She dressed plainly and ate only once a day. The king prepared to find her a husband.
Miao Shan, with integrity and wisdom, said: "Riches and honour are not there for ever, glory and splendour are like mere bubbles or illusions.
Even if you force me to do base menial work, I will never repent of my resolve to remain chaste."
When the king and his queen sent for her and tried to sweet-talk her, she said:
"I will obey your august command if it will prevent three misfortunes.
" The king asked: "What do you mean by 'three misfortunes'?"
She said: "The first is this: when the men of this world are young, their face is as fair as the jade-like moon, but when they grow old, their hair turns white and their face is wrinkled;
in motion or repose they are in every way worse off than when they were young.
The second is this: a man's limbs may be lusty and vigorous, he may step as lithely as if flying through the air, but when suddenly an illness befalls him, he lies in bed without a single pleasure in life.
The third is this: a man may have a great assembly of relatives, may be surrounded by his nearest and dearest, but suddenly one day it all comes to an end [with his death]; although father and son are close kin they cannot take one another's place.
If it can prevent these three misfortunes, then you will win my consent to a marriage.
If not, I prefer to retire to pursue a life of religion.
The king was angry. He forced her to work at gardening and reduced her food and drink.
(This story plot is similar to the Indian Prince Siddhartha Gautama Buddha’s story, whereby he will tell his father [the king] that he will continue to stay in the palace, if the king can prevent three life misfortunes).
Even her two sisters went privately to make her change her mind, but Miao Shan held firm and would not turn back.
The king was angry. He called for the nuns and charged them to treat her so harshly that she would change her mind.
In response to her, the vegetables flourished even in winter, and a spring welled up beside the kitchen.
Much time went by, and Miao Shan still held firm to her purpose.
When the king heard about the miracles of the vegetables and the spring of water, he was furious.
He sent soldiers to bring back her head and to kill the nuns.
As they were arriving, mountains of cloud and fog suddenly appeared, totally obscuring everything.
When it cleared, Miao Shan was the one person they could not find.
She had been borne off by a spirit to a crag in another place, there to live.
The spirit then said: "The land here is too barren to sustain existence."
Time went by, and the king contracted jaundice. None of the doctors could cure him.
He was about to die when a monk appeared, saying he was well able to cure him, but would need the arms and eyes of one free from anger.
The king found this proposal extremely difficult to meet.
The monk said: "On Fragrant Mountain, in the south-west of your majesty's dominion, there is a bodhisattva engaged in religious practices.
If you send a messenger to present your request to her you can count on obtaining the two things."
The king had no choice but to command a palace equerry to go and convey his message.
Miao Shan said: "My father showed disrespect to the Three Treasures, he persecuted the suppressed the True Doctrine, he executed innocent nuns.
This called for retribution."
Then she gladly cut out her eyes and severed her arms.
Giving them to the envoy, she added instructions to exhort the king to turn towards the good, no longer to be deluded by false doctrines.
When the two things were submitted to him, the monk made them up into medicine.
The king took it and instantly recovered. He generously rewarded the monk-physician.
But the monk said: "Why thank me? You should be thanking the one who provided the arms and eyes."
Suddenly he was gone. The king was startled by this divine intervention.
Ordering a coach, he went with his lady and two daughters to the hills to thank the bodhisattva.
They met, and before words were spoken the queen already recognized her-it was Miao-shan.
They found themselves choking with tears. Hearing her words, the king and queen embraced her, bitterly weeping.
The queen was about to lick the eyes with her tongue, but before she could do so, auspicious clouds enclosed all around, divine musicians began to play, the earth shook, and flowers rained down.
And then the holy manifestation of the Thousand Arms and Thousand Eyes was revealed, hovering majestically in the air.
Attendants numbered tens of thousands, voices celebrating [the bodhisattva's] compassion resounded to shake the mountains and valleys.
In a moment, the bodhisattva reverted to her former person, then with great solemnity departed.
Tao-hsüan again asked:
"The bodhisattva can take mortal form in any place and surely ought not to be present solely at Fragrant Mountain."
(Chinese Cultute Paul Halsall, Brooklyn College)
Reference:
1. Avalokiteśvara. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
2. Bodhisattva. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
3. Buddhism. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
4. Buddha. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
5. Samual Beal, Si-Yu-Ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, (A.D. 629), London.
6. Lionel Giles, Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Manuscripts from Tunhuang in the British Museum, London.
7. Origin of the Avalokiteśvara of Potala by The Tibetan & Himalayan Digital Library
8. Buddha Dharma Education Association
9. (Chinese Cultute Paul Halsall, Brooklyn College)
