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

Introduction 33
under the Yellow Dragon Immortal (Huang Long zhenren) at the
Hemp Lady Grotto-Heaven (Magu dongtian). 112 Here Chen Lian,
now called Shancai/Good-in-Talent, gladly accepts all the tasks assigned
to him by his master, but whenever his father invites him to
return home for a visit, Shancai, who has left the household, refuses
to go.
When the sixtieth birthday of his father approaches, Chen Lian
is invited home once again. His teacher leaves on some business,
and in his loneliness Chen Lian decides to visit his father just this
once since it is very special occasion. As soon as he starts down the
mountain, he hears a voice crying out for help; the voice turns out
to be that of a snake that has been locked up in a bottle for eighteen
years. Shancai releases the snake from the bottle, but as soon as he
does so, it turns into a huge monster that threatens to devour him.
When Shancai protests at this unseemly behavior, the snake makes
the argument that it is the way of the world that a favor is repaid by
a feud. However, it agrees to submit their disagreement to the judgment
of three persons.
Shancai first comes across an old man who is an incarnation of
the Golden Buffalo Star, who sides with the snake in view of his
own experiences at the hands of man. They next meet with an old
Daoist priest, who also sides with the snake. This Daoist priest turns
out to be Master Zhuang (Zhuangzi), who once brought a skeleton
back to life—but as soon as the skeleton had been revived, he took
Master Zhuang to court for stealing his money. They next meet a
young girl, and the snake begins to salivate in anticipation of a tasty
dessert. The girl promises the snake that it may eat her too, provided
it can worm its way back into the bottle from which Shancai
had earlier released it. As soon as the snake has wormed its way
into the bottle, it finds itself trapped inside. The girl then reveals
her true form, which is the bodhisattva Guanyin. 113 When the snake
begs for her mercy, Guanyin says that in order to be saved it must
first engage in religious exercises for seven years in the Grotto of the
Sounds of the Flood at Mt. Putuo.
Inserted at this point in the precious scroll is a potted version
of the legend of the filial parrot, who in popular iconography is
often depicted with Guanyin. This short account provides a summary
of The Precious Scroll of the Parrot (Yingge baojuan), itself a
sectarian reworking of the fifteenth-century Tale of the Filial Parrot
(Yingge xiaoyi zhuan), a prosimetric adaptation of a well-known