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

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Introduction 39 of the Wolf of Zhongshan, he makes use of ‘‘a wolf’s heart and a dog’s innards’’ (p. 17b) to fill out the corpse. The ingratitude of the resurrected skeleton now is perhaps only to be expected, and Master Zhuang is finally led to conclude that ‘‘in this world all people are evil skeletons!’’ (p. 18b). In contrast to the story of the Wolf of Zhongshan, the major change in The Precious Scroll of Good-in-Talent and Dragon Girl is of course that the wolf is replaced by the snake as the ungrateful protagonist. The snake can be regarded as the embodiment of female sexuality, and as such as a tempting and destructive power. In many other legends and tales the snake has the same function: it may present itself in the guise of a young and alluring woman ready at any moment to devour the man it has seduced. 129 One only has to think of the famous Hangzhou legend of the White Snake. That the dangers to a young man of sexual passion are very much on the mind of the anonymous author of the precious scroll is shown by the following passage, which appears right before Chen Lian’s departure from his parental home for the hermitage of his master: Let’s talk about the mahāsattva Guanyin. ‘‘Seven years have passed since I sent that lad down to the mortal world. He was given the name of Chen Lian and was born into the realm of dust. He does not eat any pungent food: his root in the Way has not yet been obscured, and his single-minded heart is still undivided. If I do not provide him guidance along with the Way and its Virtue, I fear he will end up taking the wrong road. ‘By practice people grow distant.’ Availing myself of the opportunity that ‘his hole of passion has not yet been opened,’ I will lead him into the Way, so he will avoid stumbling into the domain of misty flowers.’’ 130 By ‘‘leaving the household’’ a man puts himself outside the ties of marriage (and sexuality). But as soon as he entertains the thought of even a temporary ‘‘return to the household,’’ he opens himself up to temptation. This is what happens to Shancai. While the bodhisattva (who herself succeeded in evading marriage) may wish to safeguard Shancai from experiencing passion, the author of The Precious Scroll of Good-in-Talent and Dragon Girl shares with the author of the famous eighteenth-century novel Dream in the Red
40 Introduction Chamber (Honglou meng) the insight that passion can be transcended only after it has been experienced to the fullest degree. The danger implied in passion, as it is spelled out in The Precious Scroll of Good-in-Talent and Dragon Girl, is annihilation: the snake threatens to devour Shancai. 131 Shancai’s meeting with the buffalo and Master Zhuang may also hint at a message that was spelled out in more detail in the writings of the early Quanzhen masters: a man who is induced by passion to marry is only a beast of burden to his wife and children, a running corpse pulling a cart filled with his dependants, a walking skeleton engendering ungrateful skeletons. 132 It is also important to note that the man is incapable of killing the snake. Nor are the old buffalo and Master Zhuang of any use either. The snake has to be subdued by the intervention of a young girl, who tricks the snake into returning to its bottle. While the intervention of the three judges in The Precious Scroll of Good-in-Talent and Dragon Girl seems to be inspired by the story of the Wolf of Zhongshan, the victory of a young girl over a snake echoes much older legends and seems to reflect more general anxieties about female sexuality (at least in the southeastern coastal areas). Let us have a look at the story of Li Ji as told in the fourthcentury In Search of the Supernatural (Soushen ji). A man-eating snake that lives in a cave in the wilds of Fujian has the power to bring either prosperity or disaster to the surrounding area, depending on whether or not it is supplied with its annual offering of a young virgin. The officials, the male representatives of the community, find themselves unable to subdue the monster. A young girl, Li Ji, against her parents’ wishes, volunteers to be sacrificed. She tricks the monster and succeeds in killing it with the help of a dog and a sword; the snake dies as it crawls back into its cave. When Li Ji enters the monster’s cave, she finds all the skulls of its earlier victims. The story ends with the marriage of Li Ji to the local king. 133 In this tale we can already see the various motifs we encountered in The Precious Scroll of Good-in-Talent and Dragon Girl: a devouring snake, ineffective males, skulls and skeletons, and a victorious maiden. The tale of Li Ji may be read in many different ways. It may be read as a reflection of the many dangers the first settlers of the southeastern coastal region encountered while clearing the snakeinfested jungle. It may also be read as a reflection of the development of yet another local cult in which an animal is replaced as
Page 1 and 2: PERSONAL SALVATION and FILIAL PIETY
Page 4 and 5: CLASSICS IN EAST ASIAN BUDDHISM Per
Page 6: Kuroda Institute Classics in East A
Page 10: Acknowledgments My interest in the
Page 13 and 14: 2 Introduction twelfth century. As
Page 15 and 16: 4 Introduction Guanzizai (The lord
Page 17 and 18: 6 Introduction of these bodhisattva
Page 19 and 20: 8 Introduction the Lotus Sutra is c
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192 Notes to Pages 4-5 association
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196 Notes to Pages 12-13 teenth and
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198 Notes to Pages 18-21 66. Ibid.,
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200 Notes to Pages 24-26 88. Cole 1
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Glossary ao 鰲 Baiyi Guanyin 白
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Glossary 219 Yao Shouzhong 姚守
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222 Bibliography ———. 1973. T
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224 Bibliography Karetzky, Patricia
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226 Bibliography Ahern and Hill Gat
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About the Author Wilt L. Idema (Ph.
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Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Bu
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Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her ... - Khamkoo

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