#Bodhisattva Guanyin

[ruibaozha]

I’ve been stricken with numerous personal life circumstances that have made it difficult to produce solid research pieces as well as answer questions, but I still want to share information.

This type of dance is called Dunhuang and mixes traditional ethnic dancing styles with modern art. The style of the dance itself is influenced heavily by Buddhism. Specific body movements are inspired by fresco paintings found inside the caves of the west China province of Gansu. The dance style owes it’s name to the musical scores found within the city of Dunhuang.

Dunhuang itself used to be a massive center for Buddhist teaching and practices between 500AD-1000AD, being home to several monasteries during that time period. Pilgrims from China, India and Tibet would congregate here leaving behind massive amounts of Buddhist written text and art that would form the strongest body of primary works regarding Buddhist communities in China.

This group here is performing The Thousand Handed Guanyin, and actually happen to be hearing impaired! It’s actually quite mesmerizing to watch.

[the-monkey-ruler]

Non-Human (2018) 非人哉

Director: Zhong Ming Screenwriter: Yi Wang Air Starring: Yang Ning / Shan Xin / Jiang Guangtao / Su Shangqing / Tong Xinzhu / Baomu Zhongyang / You Wu Yue Shan / Ding Dong / Tut Harmon / Yan Meme / Li Lanling / Yan Yeqiao / Chang Rongshan / Liu Mingyue / Ye Zhiqiu Genre: Comedy / Animation / Fantasy Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Chinese Date: 2018-03-29 (Mainland China) Number of seasons: 2 Episodes: 144 Single episode length: 5 minutes Also known as: Inhuman Type: Reimaging

Summary:

How do the "famous" spirits in Chinese classical myths and legends survive in modern society? They have become housewives, warm men, office workers, and dog dads with fairy characteristics around us. They staged funny and weird episodes in life about happiness and friendship, creating an incredible two-dimensional fairyland in our ordinary and busy daily life.

Source: https://movie.douban.com/subject/27620007/

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLytMDv2C97saBjVZwkrWwA2lQ_6-KfzhB

[starsfic]

*Tripitaka and Sun Wukong sitting in jail together*

Tripitaka: So who should we call?

Sun Wukong: I’d call Guan Yin, but I feel safer in jail

Nah, they're used to busting their disciples out of jail. Guanyin would be more annoyed that they got caught.

[journeythroughjourneytothewest]

Chapter 26 Recap: "Amid the Three Islands Sun Wukong seeks a cure; With sweet dew Guanshiyin revivies a tree"

After presenting a short poem on how for as much as “The proverb says the sword’s the law of life” it’s assured that “The strong man will meet someone stronger still,” this chapter begins where the first volume ended; the Zhenyuan Great Immortal grabs the Monkey King, and tells the simian to stop “playing with your magic” and restore his Ginseng Fruit Tree. As is becoming typical for Sun Wukong, the monkey laughs at hearing the angry proclamation of his foe, and even goes on to state that if the Master Zhenyuan had but made this demand in the first place, “we would have been spared the conflict.” The Monkey King then tells the Great Immortal to untie Tang Sanzang, and that he’ll “give you back a living tree.” Master  Zhenyuan declares that if Sun Wukong manages to restore his tree he’ll become the monkey’s sworn brother.

Reckoning that the other pilgrims won’t be able to escape, the Zhenyuan Great Immortal has Tripitaka, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing freed from their bonds. Zhu Bajie accuses Sun Wukong of wanting to “flee and take to the road all by himself” using the excuse of finding a way to revive the Ginseng Tree. The Monkey King declares he is “speaking…only the truth,” and that he plans to travel to the Three Islands and Ten Islets of the Great Eastern Ocean in order to ask the Immortals and Aged Sages that live there for a way to revive the three. He also declares he should be able to get the job done in three days. Likely feeling a bit suspicious of the monke, Tang Sanzang agrees to Sun Wukong’s three-day grace period, but also states that if the simian doesn’t return by then “I’ll begin reciting that ‘Old-Time Sutra’!” Fearful of the potential massive headache (but not enough to not threaten the Great Immortal’s kitchenware if Tripitaka isn’t given the best of care), the Monkey King sets off on his arboreal mission.

“Moving through the air like lightning and meteor,” Sun Wukong’s first stop in the Great Eastern Ocean is the “immortal region of Penglai,” a series of islands. There, he soon encounters a group of three immortals who look like old men playing encirclement chess. These are the Star of Longevity, the Star of Blessing, and the Star of Wealth. After the old men and the old monkey greet each other, Sun Wukong explains his situation while the immortals call him a “completely ignorant” dumb ape for having stolen the ginseng fruit and acting like it wasn’t a big deal, and of course for having broken the Ginseng Tree in the first place. The crux of the matter is that the “level of cultivation in Dao of the Great Immortal far surpasses” that of these three immortals, and that this is equally true for the Ginseng Tree; while “all you would need is one grain of my millet-elixir” to revive an earthly creature, the ginseng fruit “is the very root of all divine trees.” As such, these more lowly immortals have no way to heal it.

The Monkey King is dejected at this news, but the Star of Blessing encourages him by suggesting that there might be a cure for the tree somewhere else. The three immortals are also delighted upon learning of Sun Wukong’s fillet and the sutra that squeezes his head, for had “it not been for this little means of control, you would be crawling all over Heaven again!” Even so, the Star of Longevity promises that though the Great Immortal is these immortals’ senior, they’ll pay him a visit on the Monkey King’s behalf and also ask Tang Sanzang to not recite the Tight-Fillet Spell while the monkey is sincerely looking for a cure. Sun Wukong thanks them, and travels on.

The Stars mount the clouds and travel straight to the Abbey of Five Villages, where their arrival is announced by “the cries of cranes.” Zhu Bajie acts very familiar with the Star of Longevity, even calling him a “blubbery old codger.” The Star of Longevity calls him a “stupid coolie” in return, and the pig yaoguai and the three immortals get into a small name-calling contest before the arrival of Tripitaka and Master Zhenyuan. The three immortals are then able to give their account of Sun Wukong’s actions, all while being pranked by Zhu Bajie.

In the meantime, the Monkey King makes his arrival at the Fangzhang Mountain. It’s a beautiful place, but the simian is “in no mood to enjoy the scenery.” He is able to find an immortal quickly who we learn is the “Grand Thearch of the East,” said to have “saved the world a few times from distress.” Greeting this immortal “somewhat shamefacedly,” Sun Wukong is soon invited into to the Grand Thearch’s palace for tea. While waiting for the tea, the Monkey King is also greeted by a “lowly immortal named Dongfang Shuo,” who we learn had “palmed from Heaven’s gods’ peaches three times.” After Sun Wukong and Dongfang Shuo greet each other as “old burglar” and “little crook” respectively, the Grand Thearch orders Dongfang Shuo, religious name Manqian, to bring them tea. Manqian leaves, and Sun Wukong makes his request for a cure for the Ginseng Tree. The Grand Thearch calls him an “ape” who has “no care for anything except to cause trouble everywhere.” He also tells the Monkey King that Master Zhenyuan is “the patriarch of earthbound immortals,” and that even Sun Wukong doesn’t have the power to escape him. Furthermore, as the Ginseng Fruit Tree is the result of a “spiritual root that came into existence at the time of creation,” there’s no cure that the Grand Thearch knows of. Hearing this, old Monkey decides to take his leave, not daring to stay for an offered cup of jade nectar.

The next stop is the island of Yingzhou, another lovely realm for immortals. Here he finds nine immortals “with luminous white hair and beards” and “youthful complexion” “playing chess and drinking wine, telling jokes and singing songs.” Sun Wukong walks up to this gathering, and these immortals “quickly rose to greet him.” After the Monkey King and these Nine Elders exchange pleasantries (and Sun Wukong is lightly chided by the Nine Elders because had he “not disrupted Heaven, he would be even more content than we are), the monkey gives an account of his so far fruitless effort to restore the Ginseng Tree. After being told that he causes “too much trouble! Just too much trouble. Honestly, we don’t have a cure” but also being invited to “drink some jade nectar and eat some lotus root,” Sun Wukong swiftly takes his leave of the nine elders and heads straight to the Potalaka Mountain. There he finds “the Bodhisattva Guanyin giving a lecture to the various celestial guardians, dragon-ladies, and Moksa in the purple bamboo grove.” Noticing the Monkey King’s arrival, Bodhisattva Guayin sends the Great Mountain Guardian, formerly known as the Black Wind King, to meet him. After almost getting into an altercation with this yaoguai-turned-divine-guardian because he addressed him too familiarly, Sun Wukong “at once became solemn and earnest” when he hears that Bodhisattva Guanyin had asked the Great Mountain Guardian to greet him, and follows the bear down to have an audience with the bodhisattva. The Monkey King bows down and gives an account of what happened. The bodhisattva scolds him as a “mischievous monkey,” and Sun Wukong agrees that he “was truly ignorant.” Bodhisattva Guanyin also asks the Monkey King why he didn’t come to her sooner, which secretly pleases Sun Wukong as he assumes this means she as a cure. And indeed, the bodhisattva reveals that the “sweet dew in my immaculate vase can heal divine trees or spirit roots.” Declaring himself “lucky! Truly lucky!,” Sun Wukong flies behind Bodhisattva Guanyin back to the Abbey of Five Villages.

Master Zhenyuan was in the midst of “having lofty conversation with the Three Elders” when he notices the bodhisattva has arrived. Soon after all the assembled immortals, yaoguai, and one mortal man greet her, Bodhisattva Guanyin leads the party to where the Ginseng Tree lies dead. She orders Sun Wukong to stretch out his left hand, and, dipping her willow twig into the sweet dew of her vase, she “then used it as a brush and drew on the palm of Pilgrim a charm that had revivifying power.” She next tells the Monkey King to “place his hand at the base of the tree and watch for the sign of water spurting out.” Sun Wukong does so, and soon a “clear spring welled up from the ground.” After making it known that only something made of jade should be used to scoop up the water, Bodhisattva Guanyin then says the tree should be pushed back into an upright position and that this water should be poured over it from the top down. And so the Great Immortal “asked the little lads to take out some thirty jade tea cups and some fifty wine goblets with which they scooped up the clear water. Pilgrim, Eight Rules, and Sha Monk raised the tree into an upright position and covered its base with topsoil. They then handed the jade cups one by one to the Bodhisattva, who sprinkled the sweet liquid onto the tree with her willow branch as she recited a spell.” Before long, “the tree turned green all at once with thick leaves and branches.” Furthermore, twenty-three ginseng fruits ripen as well, one more than they had before.

The Great Immortal is very pleased by the restoration of the Ginseng Tree, and has ten of the fruits gathered so that he could host a Festival of Ginseng Fruits in honor of Bodhisattva Guanyin and the Three Elders. Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing each get a fruit, and seeing a bodhisattva and immortals consume the fruit convinces Tang Sanzang to eat one as well, meaning that he is now quite the immortal monk. After Sun Wukong thanks the Bodhisattva Guanyin and the Three Stars for their assistance they go back to their respective homes. To end the celebration, Master Zhenyuan “also prepared some vegetarian wine for a banquet, during which he and Pilgrim became bond-brothers.” And it is on the note that both Tang Sanzang and his disciples go to bed happy and have a restful night at the Abbey of Five Villages that this chapter ends.

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

guanyin cosplay in shanghai comicup29

[yebreed]

Laughing Buddhas From The Flying Peak

Vivid figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas carved in the rock on the Flying Peak, Feilai Feng (飛來峰石窟) in the Wulin Mountains (武林山), Zhejiang.

Their cheerfulness in no way contradicts the solemn and misty ambiance of the Feilai Feng Grottoes themselves. Limestone peak looks alien in the surrounding mountain landscape, so there is an opinion that it flew here by the power of Buddhist wonder-workers. The main cave is dedicated to the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Due to a natural crack in the ceiling, a radiant halo surrounds the statue.

The carvings are from different periods and date from the Tang to the Ming.

Photo: ©俊灵-

[crzyimp]

Here's my contribution to the fandom

[lavaflowe]

Receiving a gift from the Universe

Close ups:

[hinducosmos]

Bodhisattva Guanyin ca. 1125, Song dynasty, China. Polychromed wood. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. Photo by Thierry Ollivier. (via The Kimbell Art Museum)

[quitealotofsodapop]

Answering all three of these asks by @latvian-spider in one post cus they reference the same one.

Referencing: MK's birth & later the Twins

Answer 1:

MK's birth worsens a pre-existing weather event. Macaque has minor wind powers (a ref to another Macaque character in JttW) in addition to his shadows. So when Macaque goes into labor, his latent powers of wind + shadow activate, creating a burst of magic to "protect" him that worsens the regular rain and wind outside. Think regular autumn rain turning into something like Florida. Luckily its more "annoying" than "deadly", but the force of the winds surge during contractions. The Megapolis weather station is confused af trying to control it.

Answer 2:

Connected to the answer above; SWK is heavily associated with earth and stone. Some theories even suggest that his stone egg was one of the stones used by Nuwa (creator of humanity) to patch the hole in the sky, and/or was spawned by the earth goddess Hou tu (considered an entity equal or even higher than the Jade Emperor). So when both SWK and Mac are having the twins, SWK's earth powers start acting up and creating similarly annoying earth tremors. Not fun.

Answer 3:

I absolutely adore this idea for Guanyin, especially since there is a chapter in JttW where she's not "looking her best" and it is hilarous. I feel like she flew into Megapolis via her own cloud, thinking it was just a normal earth storm like predicted - only to get tossed about by the magic high winds, and look royally messed up once she actually makes it inside the shop. Pigsy just staring as she slams the door behind her.

Guanyin: *panting, soaked with rain, hair tossed everywhere, makeup ruined, gifts she brought have been jumbled* Pigsy: "Uh... you ok there?" Guanyin, out of breath: "Where... baby... and parents?" Pigsy: "Through the kitchen, go up the two flights of stairs and through the door on your left." Guanyin, shuffling across the room: "Thank you, Chef Zhu." *walks up stairs* Tang, just recovered from fainting: "...that was Lady Guanyin." Pigsy: "Yup." Nezha, chilling downstairs with them: "She's here to bless the baby." Tang: "You think she'll stay for dinner or...?" Guanyin, calmly walks back down stairs sans gifts: "Baby and parents perfectly healthy. Nezha, your brothers say hello. Namo Amitabha." *braces herself and walks back out into the storm, gets carried off on her cloud like a plastic bag* Pigsy: "I ain't sayin' nothing..." Tang: "If we did, nobody would believe us." Nezha: "She has attended more..." *thinking of his own* "...interesting births." Sandy, from the stairs: "Hey guys! A nice lady just dropped off a bunch of gifts for the baby! You didn't let her go out in that storm did you?"

The gifts Guanyin brought included the traditional sheaths of rice (food blessing) and a vase of pure water (medicine and pain relief for parents and baby). She also smuggled in a bunch of gifts from other immortals who knew about "The Egg" - Lao Tzu sent welding googles in case the little guy had lazer eyes like his dad.

[aura-draws-things]

My Bluestar design hehe

Partially inspired by the Qinglong (青龍)/Azure Dragon

I'm thinking about making other WC designs based on the Chinese constellations too: Zhuque (朱雀)/Vermillion Bird Firestar, Baihu (白虎)/White Tiger Tigerstar- and probablyyyy Xuanwu (玄武)/Black Tortoise Scourge idk

[the-monkey-ruler]

What powers does Guan Yin have? Can she send people visions?

I've never heard her doing such things honestly. But considering that Guanyin has been in hundreds of myths all things considering I can't rule it out just because I have never seen it myself. She is a huge influence in Buddism and as such is super popular when it comes to be in mythos and other tales that use her presence as a guiding light or just a benevolent figure. She is often seen as the protector and planner of the group, her kindness and compassion are unmatched in any regard. She chooses each pilgrim (each with a crime to their name) knowing they can reform themselves and have a chance to escape their heavenly punishments to have a new and better life. She is the one to really push the idea within the narrative that anyone can have a second chance and redeem themselves with a little help.

She is about to change her physical form, something she has been able to show in Xiyouji when she helps Wukong, and also change other objects like how she made the swords into her lotus platform and back into swords and turning Bailong into a horse. she can tame demons with the ease of using a bamboo basket to capture them as she has done with the Spiritual Touch King. Her Jade vase can hold the amount of an ocean and the nectar of the water can cure any plant and extinguish the Samadhi fire. She is wise beyond knowledge, and with her Eye of Wisdom is knowing past and future events and seeing many things on the earth, and being able to see through disguises.

She was the one to create the gold fillets, an item that comes from Buddhist lore and can be seen on other Buddhas. She made the Prohibitive Fillet for the Balck Bear Demon, the Golden Fillet for Red Boy, now Shancai, and the Constrictive Fillet for Sun Wukong. While she is able to make these creations only the wearer can take them off if they no longer need them. Not even she can take them off as these fillets become part of the person and as such only said person has the power to overcome them.

Her steed is Jupiter Rival that was the one to kidnap the King's wife for three years and he has the magic weapon of the purple bells that can shoot off fire, wind, and smoke that belong to Guanyin. She also as the Red Goard that Muzha uses to help cross rivers.

But there is a lot to her outside of Xiyouji as well that isn't in the book. She is also known to have a thousand arms and a thousand eyes that is shown in her temples. I see some media use this as a power for her but not often in literature. I know she is also seen as a protector of travel and transportation. She also has a white parrot as one of her disciples.

Xuanzang’s own writings talk about the miracles that he witness that he credited to Guanyin as well and there are so many stories that have her as well I don't even know if there is a list but those are the most notable traits that I have always seen connected with her.

Edit: I was wrong about Gaunyin being the one to make the fillets, that was Buddha and GuanYin gave them out.

[starsfic]

Tripitaka when unknowingly talking to Guanyin about Wukong: He's the worst person I've ever meet. I want to travel the world with him.

Guanyin: "I can make sure of that!"

Wukong, a few pages later, writhing in pain: "NOT LIKE THIS!"

[journeythroughjourneytothewest]

Chapter 15 Recap: At Serpent Coil Mountain, the gods give secret protection; At Eagle Grief Stream, the Horse of the Will is reined

Traveling together for several days “under the frigid sky of midwinter” (and likely with frigid conversation, if any, given the events of the last chapter), Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong eventually reach Serpent Coil Mountain and its Eagle Grief Stream. While master and disciple are looking at the stream, a dragon suddenly emerges and makes straight for the priest. Sun Wukong immediately springs into action, and throws away the luggage, hauls Tang Sanzang off the horse, and “turned to flee with him at once.” The escape too quickly for the dragon to catch up, so it satisfies itself with swallowing the white horse, harness and all, in one gulp before heading back into the stream. Sun Wukong is thus only able to bring back the luggage before trying to use his “fiery eyes and diamond pupils” in an attempt to locate the horse, but concludes that the dragon ate it. Tang Sanzang starts crying at the news, and Sun Wukong yells at him to first “stop behaving like a namby-pamby” and then accuses him of being “truly a weakling” because the monk is afraid that if Sun Wukong leaves him to confront the dragon then there will be no one to protect him. All this angry shouting ends when a “band of deities sent by the Bodhisattva Guanyin to give secret protection to the scripture pilgrim” make themselves known. So with his protection assured, Tripitaka tells Sun Wukong to be careful in facing the dragon, and old monkey is off.

After exchanging some insults and blows, the dragon is forced to retreat back into the water, and no amount of insults Sun Wukong hurls at him will draw him out. In this stalemate, the Monkey King returns to Tang Sanzang to update him on the matter, to which the monk asks the monkey why he can’t seem to “tame dragons” as he had boasted. And as “the monkey had a rather low tolerance for any kind of provocation, this single taunt of Tripitaka so aroused him” that the Monkey King went straight back to Eagle Grief Stream and, using “his magic of overturning seas and rivers,” creates so many strong currents that the dragon is tossed about. Realizing who’s behind this, the dragon comes back out of the water and again wages a “bitter struggle” with Sun Wukong. Yet this time they fight but a few rounds before “the little dragon just could not hold out any longer; shaking his body, he changed himself into a tiny water snake and wriggled into the marshes,” hiding himself so well that not even old monkey could find him.

An increasingly exasperated Monkey King recites a spell to summon the local spirit and the mountain god and threatens to beat them both to blow off some steam. After begging him not to, these deities inform Sun Wukong on how the Bodhisattva Guanyin had rescued the dragon and sent him to Eagle Grief Stream to wait for the scripture pilgrim. These local deities also recommend that the Monkey King ask Guanshiyin to make an appearance, for the dragon would assuredly surrender with her present. One of the gods guarding Tripitaka, the Golden-Headed Guardian, volunteers to request her presence after Sun Wukong returns. Arriving at the Potalaka Mountain where Bodhisattva Guanyin resides, he makes his request and first gets the dragon’s backstory:

“That creature was originally the son of Aorun of the Western Ocean. Because in his carelessness he set fire to the palace and destroyed the luminous pearls hanging there, his father accused him of subversion, and he was condemned to die by the Heavenly Tribunal. It was I who personally sought pardon from the Jade Emperor for him, so that he might serve as a means of transportation for the Tang Monk.”

The Bodhisattva and the Guardian then travel together to Serpent Coil Mountain, where Guanyin is subsequently yelled at by Sun Wukong for using “your tricks to harm me.” She responds by calling the Monkey King an “impudent stableman, ignorant red-buttocks,” and that as he is “neither attentive to admonition nor willing to seek the fruit of truth,” if it wasn’t for the fillet now rooted to his head then he’d “probably mock the authority of Heaven again without regard for good or ill.” Sun Wukong accepts this state of affairs as his “hard luck,” and learns that the bodhisattva had commanded the dragon to that specific pool to await the scripture pilgrim because “only a dragon-horse” could make the journey west. This party then goes to the edge of the stream and requests that the “Third Prince Jade Dragon of the Dragon King Aorun” come out, for the Bodhisattva of the South Sea is now present.

Upon hearing this cry, the “little dragon appeared and changed at once into the form of a man.” He thanks the bodhisattva for saving his life, and then informs her that Sun Wukong “never mentioned a word about scripture seeking.” The Bodhisattva Guanyin admonishes the Monkey King, and tells him that in the future he should “mention first the matter of scripture seeking,” as there are “others who will join you.” Sun Wukong “received this word of counsel amiably,” and the Bodhisattva changes the dragon into a horse that is almost an identical twin of the one he ate. She also tells the dragon that he “must overcome with utmost diligence all the cursed barriers. When your merit is achieved, you will no longer be an ordinary dragon; you will acquire the true fruit of a golden body.” She then moves to take her leave, only for Sun Wukong to grab her and refuse to let go, insisting that the “road to the West is so treacherous” that even he “may well lose my life.” After some more light admonishment, Bodhisattva Guanyin assures the monkey that if he “should come across any danger that threatens your life, I give your permission to call on Heaven…to call on earth…Inn the event of extreme difficulty, I myself will come to rescue you.” She also grants the Monkey King three magic hairs that he can use “according to your needs” should he find himself in “a helpless and hopeless situation.” Sun Wukong thanks her for all of this, and Bodhisattva Guayin returns to Potalaka.

The Monkey King returns to Tang Sanzang with their new dragon-horse in tow, and the now trio are soon off. They travel for some time before they reach the Lishe Shrine. Tripitaka and Sun Wukong are treated to a vegetarian meal and are promised a place to stay for the night, a bit of peace that’s almost ruined by the Monkey King stealing the shrine guardian’s clothesline to tie up the dragon-horse. Yet this leads them to the good fortune of the guardian revealing that he has riding accoutrements that would be exactly what they need.

The next morning the shrine guardian returns with his riding gear, and Sun Wukong is “secretly pleased” but what high quality items they are. Furnished once again with a horse and a saddle, Tripitaka is in the midst of thanking his host for his generosity before the man vanishes, revealing himself to be the local spirit of Potalaka Mountain. This chapter ends with the group traveling on again for a few months until they come across another building, possibly a monastery.

 What trials may await them there is a question that will be answered in the next chapter.

[renegade-hierophant]

Sendai Tendou Byakue Daikannon (仙台天道白衣大観音), located in Sendai, Japan. It portrays the bodhisattva Byakue Kannon (白衣観音, "White-robed Kannon", a.k.a. The Goddess of Mercy) bearing the cintamani gem (如意宝珠, Nyoihōju) in her hand.

It is the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan and as of 2023 is the 8th tallest statue in the world at 100 metres (330 ft).

[slutpoppers]

Isaac Netero vs Meruem Nen Display: 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva

Hunter X Hunter (2011)