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

Introduction 37
also credited to a Song-dynasty author, and even a Tang-dynasty
poet. The story was very popular with playwrights as well: in addition
to a four-act play commonly ascribed to Kang Hai, there is also
a one-act adaptation ascribed to Wang Jiusi (1468–1551). 123
A more detailed comparison between Tale of the Wolf of Zhongshan
and The Precious Scroll of Good-in-Talent and Dragon Girl may
be useful to highlight the underlying themes of the latter work as a
popular legend. When we first turn our attention to the judges, we
notice that the apricot tree has been dropped from the panel, perhaps
for a variety of reasons. The simplest explanation may be that
a talking tree was regarded as being simply too fantastic to be believable.
The precious scroll also tries to provide a rationale for the
miracle of a speaking buffalo by turning the animal into an old man
who is a manifestation of the Heavenly Star of the Golden Buffalo
(Tianshang jin niuxing, p. 13b). On the other hand, the suppression
of the apricot tree may also be related to the Buddhist background
of the legend of Shancai and Longnü as told in our precious scroll.
Traditional Chinese thought, whether Confucian or Daoist, is
very much concerned with life. In this worldview, life is shared by
human beings, animals, and plants alike, and demands respect in
all its manifestations. 124 The zouyu, a mythical white tiger that appears
during the reign of a holy ruler, not only refrains from eating
any meat but also is careful not to tread on a single blade of living
grass. Daoist immortals eat no grain; a special subgroup of Daoist
deliverance plays even feature trees that achieve immortality. Chinese
Buddhism, on the other hand, ended up being much more concerned
with souls and their transmigrations. Although the tiniest insect
is credited with a soul that once may have been human, plants
were not regarded as having souls. Thus, it was considered a sin
to eat meat but a virtue to be a vegetarian. From a Buddhist perspective,
the complaint of the tree and the complaint of the buffalo
in the tale of the Wolf of Zhongshan are of a completely different
order. The buffalo, a harmless and useful creature, accuses man of
a sin when he complains about his many years of servitude without
reward and his master’s desire to have it slaughtered to be eaten.
But what can a soulless tree complain about if its fruit and its timber
are used by men?
If one regards the disappearance of the apricot tree from the
panel of judges in The Precious Scroll of Incense Mountain as related
to the Buddhist orientation of the genre, one can only be surprised