Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her ... - Khamkoo

148 ThePreciousScrollofIncenseMountain,Part2
The emperor said: ‘‘We are the ruler of the mountains and rivers, of
the wide world, and the emperor of the entire nation and its ten
thousand clans. Grateful for your favor, great Immortal, We have
come from afar to thank you face to face. So why don’t you say
even a single word and insist on keeping silent?’’ The emperor retired
shamefacedly, and then told the empress and the concubines
to bow before the immortal and ask her how she was doing. So let’s
see what happened!
Awe inspiring the blaze of her might consubstantial with Great
Emptiness:
Whether in the heavens above or in the world of men, she is
without equal.
Namo Guanshiyin pusa
The empress then promptly went inside the hermitage,
With the imperial concubines all following behind her.
They lit a candle: its blaze illuminated mountain valleys,
They burned incense: the smoke rose up in huge clouds.
When she had made her bows, she stepped forward to look,
But the immortal’s face was covered with blood and grime.
The black balls of her two eyes had both been gouged out,
She was missing both her arms, the knife marks still visible.
The empress immediately called for scented bathing water,
And washed her with scented water, so as to know the truth.
Time and again she pondered all the details of the matter:
‘‘She looks exactly like Marvelous Goodness, my child.’’
The empress wept in a most gut-wrenching way,
Each time she wept, she would faint, then come around:
‘‘My child, we have been apart now for a full nine years,
And all those years your mother never stopped crying.
How many times did I search for you in my dreams?
My weeping would wake all the women of the palace.
During the day I did not eat, nor sleep during the night,
Sorrow and worry became a disease, I lacked all spirit.
In the palace I never dared raise my voice in weeping,
Afraid your father would hear and be filled with anger.
I took no joy at all in the thousand kinds of pleasure,
All the thoughts of my heart were with you, my child!