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

The Precious Scroll of Incense Mountain, Part 1 49
heavenly maidens of impeccable beauty, each seated on a golden
lotus throne and majestically floating through the sky, came to the
Good Dharma Hall. When the empress saw this, she inquired the
reason. Because they had become intimate through their conversation,
the heavenly maidens mentioned: ‘‘Empress, they are giving
you an immortal!’’ The empress smiled and expressed her thanks to
the immortals with a bow. When she had returned to the palace,
she awoke with a start. She then composed the following gātha:
The holy domain of the empyrean is quite extraordinary,
The precious hall of Daluo Heaven 11 emits a bright light—
Ten thousand immortals all come and congratulate me,
As they give me a girl to take back home to the palace.
When the empress woke up, she pondered the matter in great detail:
‘‘What a strange miracle! Even now it is still as if I see that marvelous
sight before me! It cannot but be that Heaven will send down
disaster and misfortune, or that the earth will awaken clouds of
dust. Could it be that foreign countries will create havoc or that
the common people will rise in rebellion?’’ She could not find the
peace to sleep, and sat up until dawn, when she went in person to
the throne hall to report this matter to her lord and king. She then
composed the following gātha:
In my dream I went to hear the Dharma in the Hall of Heaven,
The Greatly Enlightened Golden Immortal displayed his light. 12
As I do not know whether this spells misfortune or happiness,
I’ve come here with the aim of reporting this to Your Majesty.
The emperor thereupon issued a placard summoning all interpreters
of dreams. An elderly man appeared, with white hair and a
wrinkled face, wearing a bamboo cap and dressed in a patched cassock,
and supporting himself with a staff. Taking the placard down,
he entered the palace. Pleased, the Marvelous Splendor emperor
asked him: ‘‘Where do you live?’’ ‘‘I live in the land of joy (le),’’ the
old man replied. Then the emperor asked him: ‘‘What is your surname?’’
‘‘My surname is Mi.’’ 13 The emperor also asked him: ‘‘How
old are you? And how many years have you been away from your
family?’’ The elderly man replied: ‘‘I lost my parents early on, and I