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

Notes to Pages 53–66 207
the hells), as sustained by the production of karma by our thoughts, words, and
deeds. Because of our positive and negative attachments, we are bound to suffer
in each of our lives, and create negative karma. The prospects are even bleaker
for women as the blood they shed in menstruation and childbirth pollutes the
gods and creates evil karma.
28. In view of the many sins human beings tend to commit, it is rare to
be reborn as a human being immediately upon one’s death. Only as a human
being, however, can one reach final enlightenment.
29. The Gate of Emptiness is one of the conventional designations of
Buddhism, as it teaches the emptiness of all phenomena.
30. King Yama is the chief of the ten judges (Ten Kings) in the Underworld.
31. A kalpa is the immeasurably long period between the origin of a world
system and its destruction (after which eventually a new world system will come
into being on the basis of the remaining karma).
32. The word used here for fruit (zi) is the same as the one used for son (zi).
33. The night was divided into five ‘‘watches’’ of equal length. The fifth
watch was the last watch of the night, and roughly corresponded to the hour of
yin (3–5 a.m.). Each hour was subdivided into eight ‘‘notches’’ marking a period
corresponding to fifteen minutes.
34. The Three Purities are the highest divinities in the Daoist pantheon.
35. ‘‘Jade leaves’’ and ‘‘golden branches’’ are common metaphors for members
of the imperial family.
36. Chang’e is the beautiful goddess of the moon.
37. That is, he should have passed the competitive metropolitan examinations
with the highest ranking.
38. ‘‘The One Man’’ is a designation for the emperor.
39. ‘‘Impermanence’’ is a euphemism for death. In Chinese popular religion
it also is the name of two messengers of the Underworld, one very tall and one
very short, who come and arrest the soul at the moment of death.
40. The six roads refer to the six modes of rebirth: as a ghost in one of the
hells, as a hungry ghost, as an animal, as an asura (titan), as a human being, and
as deva (a god or denizen of one of the lower heavens, still subject to transmigration).
Only rebirth as a human being allows one an opportunity to achieve
buddhahood.
41. The three pathways refer to the hells of fire, the hells of blood, and the
hells of swords (where every leaf of grass is as sharp as a sword).
42. The Buddha is often referred to as the Great Physician, and his teaching
as the medicine that cures suffering.
43. The jade hare inhabits the moon; the golden crow inhabits the sun.
44. The King of Emptiness refers to the Buddha.
45. The ‘‘right fruit’’ refers to the final, complete nirvana of buddhahood.
46. The Lotus Flower Congregation here probably refers to those who are
reborn in the Pure Land of Amitābha. The longer version writes ‘‘Dragon Flower
Congregation,’’ which refers to the assembly that will be formed by Maitreya
when he appears in the human world.
47. The five kinds of vision are human vision, the vision of a deva (attainable
by man in meditation), arhat-vision, bodhisattva-vision, and Buddha-vision