Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara (Institute for Advanced Study of World

643 Pages·2000·12.03 MB·English

by  Chun-fang Yu

Kuan-yin
The Chinese Transformation
of Avalokitesvara
The Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions
An Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions book, sponsored by the
Columbia University Committee on Asia and the Middle East
IASWR Series
Avatara: The Humanization of Philosophy Through the Bhagavad Gita,
Antonio T. de Nicolás (Nicolas Hays, Ltd.)
A Buddhist Leader in Ming China: The Life and Thought of Han-Shan Te-Ch’ing,
by Sung-peng Hsu (The Pennsylvania State University Press)
Buddhist Monastic Discipline: The Sanskrit Pratimokba Sutras of the
Mahasagghikas and Mulasarvastivadins,
Charles S. Prebish (The Pennsylvania State University Press)
Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra,
Francis H. Cook (The Pennsylvania State University Press)
The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture,
translated by Robert A. F. Thurman
(The Pennsylvania State University Press)
The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis,
Chün-fang Yü (Columbia University Press)
Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma: The Lotus Sutra,
translated by Leon Hurvitz (Columbia University Press)
Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva:
The Collected Lectures of Tripitaka Master Hsüan Hua,
translated by Bhikbu Heng Ching
(The Buddhist Text Translation Society and the
Sino-American Buddhist Association)
The Syncretic Religion of Lin Chao-en,
Judith A. Berling (Columbia University Press)
A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras: Selections from the Maharatnakuta Sutra,
translated by The Buddhist Association of the United States,
Garma C. C. Chang, General Editor
(The Pennsylvania State University Press)
Kuan-y in
T H E C H I N E S E T R A N S F O R M A T I O N
O F A V A L O K I T E S V A R A
Chün-fang Yü
Co lu m b i a U n i ve r s i t y P re s s
N e w Yo r k
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Some images in the original version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook.

Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2001 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yü, Chün-fang, 1938—
Kuan-yin : the Chinese transformation of Avalokitesvara / Chün-fang Yü.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–231–12028–1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0–231–12029–X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Avalokitesvara (Buddhist deity) I. Title II. Series. III. Series: Institute
for Advanced Studies of World Religions. IASWR series
BQ4710.A8 Y8 2000
294.3′4211—dc21 00–024015
Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Credits: Portions of chapters 6 and 10 appeared as “Guanyin: The Chinese
Transformation of Avalokiteshvara,” in Marsha Weidner, ed., Latter Days of the Law:
Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850–1850 (Lawrence, Kan.: Spencer Museum of Art and
the University of Kansas in Association with the University of Hawaii Press, 1994),
151–81.
A section of chapter 8 was used in “The Cult of Kuan-yin in Ming-Ch’ing China:
A Case of Confucianization of Buddhism?” in Irene Bloom and Joshua Vogel, eds.,
Meeting of the Minds (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 144–74.
An earlier version of chapter 9 appeared as “P’u-t’o Shan: Pilgrimage and the
Creation of Chinese Potolaka,” in Susan Naquin and Chün-fang Yü, eds., Pilgrims
and Sacred Places in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), 190–245.
An earlier version of Appendix A will appear in Susan Mann and Yu-ying Cheng,
eds., Under Confucian Eyes (Berkeley: University of California Press, forthcoming).
A portion of Appendix B appeared as “Chinese Women Pilgrims’ Songs
Glorifying Guanyin,” in Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ed. (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1995), 179–80.
To Chi-chen Wang (1911– ),
my mother and also my first teacher
Contents
• • • • • • • • •
Preface ix
Maps 28, 29, 372
1. Introduction 1
2. Scriptural Sources for the Cult of Kuan-yin 31
3. Indigenous Chinese Scriptures and the Cult of Kuan-yin 93
4. Miracle Tales and the Domestication of Kuan-yin 151
5. Divine Monks and the Domestication of Kuan-yin 195
6. Indigenous Iconographies and the Domestication of Kuan-yin 223
7. The Ritual of Great Compassion Repentance and the Domestication of the
Thousand-handed and Thousand-eyed Kuan-yin in the Sung 263
8. Princess Miao-shan and the Feminization of Kuan-yin 293
9. P’u-t’o Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese Potalaka 353
10. Feminine Forms of Kuan-yin in Late Imperial China 407
11. Venerable Mother: Kuan-yin and Sectarian Religions in
Late Imperial China 449
12. Conclusion 487
Appendixes
A. Stele Text of the “Life of the Great Compassionate One” 495
B. Chinese Women Pilgrims’ Songs Glorifying Kuan-yin 505
Notes 511
Bibliography 555
Glossary and Index 595
Preface
• • • • • • • • •
This book has taken me a long time to write. Many individuals, institutions,
and funding agencies have helped me in my intellectual and physical journeys
in carrying out the research necessary for this book. Before I thank them and
acknowledge my indebtedness and gratitude, I would like to say a few words
about why I decided to undertake this project in the first place, for this is a
question that I have been asked many times over the years. The importance of
Kuan-yin in Chinese and indeed East Asian Buddhism is obvious to anyone
familiar with these cultures and, with the increasing interest in New Age spiri-
tuality since the 1970s, even modern Americans have come to know her name.
Despite the great fame of Kuan-yin, however, there have been surprisingly few
comprehensive studies on this bodhisattva. Japanese and Western scholarly
works have tended to concentrate on certain art historical or textual aspects.
My interest in Kuan-yin comes from my maternal grandmother. Growing
up in China during World War II, I moved with my family a great deal, from
north to central China, and finally to the western provinces. Like most Chinese
families in those years of great turmoil and deprivation, children shared bed-
rooms with parents and sometimes with grandparents. I always slept in the
same room with my maternal grandmother, who was a devout Buddhist. She
was usually the first person in the household to get up each morning. After her
morning toiletries, her day began with offering incense to the white porcelain
statue of Kuan-yin holding a baby, chanting the Great Compassion Dharahi,
and reciting her personal prayers. Sometimes she would talk to Kuan-yin
about matters worrying her. Kuan-yin was indeed the “Goddess of Mercy” to
my grandmother, who regarded her as both savior and confidant. Although my