Avalokiteśvara in the Lotus Sūtra

Chun-fang Yu
Rutgers University

Week One: Avalokiteśvara in the Lotus Sūtra

Lecture 1

AvalokiteÑvara can be seen both as a paradigmatic bodhisattva and a unique Buddhist "deity". The first lecture concentrates on Chapter 25 and examines the characteristics of Avalokiteśvara. One can discuss the central Mahayana concept of upaya (expedient means) by looking at the thirty-three manifestations of Avalokiteśvara. What is the significance of these manifestations? One can also discuss the kinds of spiritual and worldly benefits the devotee receives by worshipping the bodhisattva. Finally, by equating the act of receiving and keeping the name of the bodhisattva with more traditional acts of worship, the chapter offers a method of devotion which has become widely practiced in East Asia. One may relate the emphasis on invoking the bodhisattva's name to the Pure Land invocation of Amitabha's name and the Nichiren invocation of the title of the Lotus Sūtra.

Since many Dunhuang murals which depict Kuan-yin as the savior from the "eight perils" have survived, this would be a good place to bring in art historical materials on this chapter as well as on this bodhisattva.

Reading Assignment

Hurvitz (trs.), Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, Ch. 25

Michael Pye, Skilful Means: A Concept in Mahayana Buddhism

Miyake Murase, "Kuan-yin as Savior of Men: Illustration of the Twenty-fifth Chapter of the Lotus Sūtra in Chinese Painting," Artibus Asiae, vol. 33, nos. 1-2 (1971), 39-73

Willa Jane Tanabe, Paintings of the Lotus Sūtra (Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1988)

Lecture 2

This lecture can be devoted to a comparison between Avalokiteśvara and some other bodhisattvas in the Lotus Sūtra. The uniqueness of the former will become very clear. While most of the other bodhisattvas either preach the Sūtra or protect those who do, Avalokiteśvara alone does not share this feature. In other words, for the other bodhisattvas (e.g. Never Disparaging, Samantabhadra) the central focus is the scripture. They point the readers/worshippers' gaze away from themselves and toward the scripture. Their own importance seems to be derived from their roles as upholders and protectors of the scripture. On the other hand, Avalokiteśvara is unabashedly the central focus of Chapter 25. He occupies the place which is reserved for the scripture in other chapters. He attracts the attention to himself. He is a deity in his/her own right.

Reading Assignment

Hurvitz (trs.), Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, Ch. 20, 28

Luis Gomez, "From the Extraordinary to the Ordinary: Images of the Bodhisattva in East Asia," in Donald S. Lopez, Jr. and Steven C. Rochefeller, eds., The Christ and the Bodhisattva (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987), 141-191

Discussion Questions for Week One

1. Contrast Avalokiteśvara with other bodhisattvas appearing in the Lotus Sūtra. What characteristics do they share in common? What makes Avalokiteśvara unique?

2. Do you see any significance in the fact that Avalokiteśvara assumes thirty-three forms to save beings? Why is this necessary? Relate this to the concept of upaya (expedient means).

3. What spiritual and mundane benefits will a devotee of Avalokiteśvara receive?

Week Two: Salvation and Gender

Because seven out of the thirty-three manifestations of Avalokiteśvara in Chapter 25 are feminine, one may use this as a point of departure in discussing Buddhism and women as well as the feminization of the bodhisattva in East Asia. The two lectures for this week can be devoted to these two topics.

Lecture 3 Buddhism and Women

Images of women and attitudes toward women vary considerably from one Buddhist tradition to another. This would be a good place to introduce students to the general literature on the topic. While women were regarded as impure and spiritually inferior to men in the Hinayana literature, in Mahayana scriptures, women could achieve enlightenment after first undergoing a sexual transformation into men. Finally, because of the teaching of sunyata, the distinction between male and female, like all other distinctions, loses its ultimate validity and women could become enlightened as they were without first becoming men. The Lotus Sūtra contains the theme of sexual transformation as represented by the story of the Dragon Princess in Chapter 12. This can be contrasted with the feminine manifestations of Avalokiteśvara in Chapter 25. Although these feminine forms of the bodhisattva are not real women in a historical sense, the fact that a bodhisattva can appear as both male and female does strongly suggest that enlightenment should not be viewed as gender specific.

Reading Assignment

Hurvitz (trs.) Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, Ch. 12

Diana Y. Paul, Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in the Mahayana Tradition (University of California Press, 1985)

* Nancy Schuster Barnes, "Buddhism" in Women in World Religions. Edited by Arvind Sharma (Albany, N.Y. : State University of New York Press, 1987), 105-133

___________________, "Changing the Female Body: Wise Women and the Bodhisattva Career in Some MaharatnakutaSūtras." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. 4, no.1 (1981), 24-69

* Nancy Auer Falk, "The Case of the Vanishing Nuns: The Fruits of Ambivalence in Ancient Indian Buddhism," in Unspoken Worlds, Women's Religious Lives. Edited by Nancy Auer Falk and Rita M. Gross (California, Wadsworth, 1989), 155-165

Lecture 4 Kuan-yin: The Femininization of Avalokiteśvara

Although the feminine forms of Avalokiteśvara in Chapter 25 provide a theological basis for seeing this bodhisattva as a "Goddess of Mercy", the actual development of this cult in China and East Asia can serve as a powerful example of how indigenous cultures interpret and transform Buddhism. The story of Princess Miao-shan transposes the celestial bodhisattva to a specific locale in China by furnishing her with an identity and a life history. Other myths and images of feminine Kuan-yin, such as the Wife of Mr. Ma and the White-robed Kuan-yin further continued this process of indigenization.

Reading Assignment

*David Kinsley, "Kuan-yin, The Chinese Goddess of Mercy," The Goddesses' Mirror (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989), 25-51

Glen Dudbridge, The Legend of Miao-shan. Oxford Oriental Monographs, No. 1 (London: Ithaca Press, 1978)

Miriam Levering, "The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-shan: Gender and Status in the Ch'an Buddhist Tradition," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 5, no. 1 (1982), 19-36

Barbara E. Reed, "The Gender Symbolism of Kuan-yin Bodhisattva," in Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender, edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon. (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1992), 159-180

Steven P. Sangren, "female Gender in Chinese Religious Symbols: Kuan Yin, Ma Tsu, and the 'Eternal Mother'," Sings, vol. 9, no. 1 (1983), 4-35

Rolf A. Stein, "Avalokiteśvara/Kouan-yin, un exemple de transformation d'un dies en deess," Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie, vol. 2 (1986), 17-80

C. N. Tay, "Kuan-yin: The Cult of Half Asia," History of Religions, vol. 16, no. 2 (1976), 147-177

Chun-fang Yu, "Feminine Images of Kuan-yin in Post-T'ang China," Journal of Chinese Religions, no. 18 (1990), 61-89

Discussion Questions for Week Two

1. What views did various Buddhist traditions hold toward women's possibilities of achieving enlightenment?

2. What are some prevalent images of women in Buddhist literature?

3. What is the significance of Dragon Princess' sexual transformation in the Devadatta chapter (Ch. 12) of the Lotus Sūtra?

4. What does the myth of Princess Miao-shan tell us about Chinese women's spiritual aspirations? What kinds of familial and societal pressures they might have faced in pursuing them?

5. What elements in the Chinese feminine forms of Kuan-yin are not found in the Mahayana Avalokiteśvara?

Week Three: Transformations of Avalokiteśvara

Buddhism is a world religion. As it took roots in different cultural areas in Asia, it interacted with the native traditions and evolved into different "Buddhisms". One of the best way to disabuse students' tendency to see Buddhism as a monolithic system is to point out not only the continuity but also the sharp differences between the "Buddhisms" evolved in these cultural regions. Avalokiteśvara has been worshipped throughout Buddhist Asia and has found devotees among both Theravadins and Mahayanists. However, the deity has been viewed very differently by different people. The multifaceted nature of this bodhisattva can be conveniently used as a opener to a discussion of a larger issue, namely, the cultural adaptation of Buddhism.

Lecture 5

Avalokiteśvara has been transformed into a royal symbol in Sri Lanka in one instance and the Nanzhao-Dali Kingdom in another. He is either changed into a national god (Natha Deviyo) or a wonder-working founder of the ruling house (Acuoye Kuan-yin). This can be contrasted effectively with the Chinese case of Princess Miao-shan which will be examined from another angle in Lecture 6.

Reading Assignment

* Helen B. Chapin, "A Long Roll of Buddhist Images," Revised by Alexander C. Soper, Artibus Asiae, vol. 32 (1971), 4-41, 157-99, 259-306, vol. 33 (1971), 75-140; Supplement-Band, Ascona 1971

*________________, "Y?nnanese Images of Avalokiteśvara," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 8 (1944), 131-186

*Nandana Chutiwongs, The Iconography of Avalokiteśvara in Mainland South East Asia. Leiden, 1984

John Clifford Holt, Buddha in the Crown: Avalokiteśvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka. (Oxford University Press, 1991), Ch. 3,4,5

*Angela Falco Howard, "A Gilt Bronze Guanyin from the Nanzhao Kingdom of Yunnan: Hybrid Art from the Southwestern Frontier," The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, vol. 47 (1990)

*Marie Therese de Mallmann, "Introduction a l'etude d'Avalokiteśvara," Annales du Musee Guimet, vol. 57 (1967)

*_________________________, "Notes sur les bronzes de Yunnan representant Avalokiteśvara," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 14 (1951), 567-601

*Moritaka Matsumoto, Chang Sheng-wen's Long Roll of Buddhist Images: A Reconstruction and Iconology. Princeton University Ph.D. Dissertation, 1976

*Ch?n-fang Y?, "The Cult of Kuan-yin in Y?nnan", paper delivered at the International Conference on Regional Dynamism in Chinese Buddhism, Wutai Shan, China, July 11-16, 1992. (A German version has appeared as "Der Guanyin-Kult in Yunnan," Der Goldschatz Der Drei Pagoden (Museum Rietberg Zurich, 1991), 28-39

Lecture 6

The legend of Princess Miao-shan served as a prototype for the femininzation of Avalokiteśvara/Kuan-yin in China. We have looked at it from this angle in Lecture 4. However, the transformation of the bodhisattva into Miao-shan can also serve as a powerful case study for the topic under discussion: cultural adaptation of Buddhism. The conflict between her spiritual aspiration for enlightenment and the demands of filial piety is resolved through her offering of her eyes and hands as medicine to be eaten by her fatally ill father. The transfiguration of Miao-shan into Kuan-yin occurs as a result of her father's conversion at the end of a vow-fulfilling pilgrimage. In this myth, central Buddhist value of compassion is wedded to the Chinese value of filial piety. Self-sacrifice is of course a recognized virtue of a bodhisattva. There are many stories about such acts performed by the Buddha in his past lives as recorded in Buddhist scriptures. However, they usually are stories about the bodhisattva's giving up his limbs, body and life for other sentient beings, but rarely his own parent. On the other hand, filial piety has long been a virtue extolled in the Confucian tradition. Exemplary acts of filial piety were recorded in dynastic histories for the edification of the public. However, offering parts of one's body as medicine to save the parent's life was not recorded in earlier texts. Once the model of Miao-shan was established, similar acts of piety began to occur in increasing numbers from the 17th century onward. Most typically it was a filial daughter-in-law who offered to cut off a piece of her arm or thigh to be made into a soup and then fed to the hopelessly ailing parent-in-law. Such examples of "filial cannibalism" were not limited to isolated cases or locality, but formed a distinctive feature of female piety in late imperial China. At the same time, we can also detect a growing sentiment against marriage and an idealization of the independent life of spinsterhood in popular religious literature. The transformation of Avalokiteśvara/Kuan-yin into Miao-shan can thus be used as a case study for the dialectic relationship between Buddhism and a native culture, for it shows Buddhism's adaptation to Chinese cultural values as well as the influence Buddhism exerted on the latter.

A related theme to be treated here could be the glorification of self-mutilation or immolation as practiced by the bodhisattva Medicine King and Seen with Joy by All Living Beings in the Lotus Sūtra (Chapter 23). In fact, as Dudbridge pointed out, the model set by Medicine King could be the inspiration for the creator of the Miao-shan legend, even though the former's self-sacrifice is directed toward stupa-worship.

Reading Assignment

Glen Dudbridge, The Legend of Miao-shan, 74-79

Hurvitz (trs.) Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, Ch. 23

Y?n-hua Jan, "Buddhist Self-Immolation in Medieval China," History of Religions, vol. 4 (1965), 243-268

T'ien Ju-K'ang, "Self-mutilating Behavior of Ko-ku" in Male Anxiety and Female Chastity (Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1988), 149-161

Discussion Questions for Week Three

1. What do the different transformations of Avalokiteśvara tell us about the process of cultural adaptations undertaken by Buddhism?

2. Why was Miao-shan persecuted by her father? How did she resolve the conflict between religious vocation and filial obligation?

3. What is the appeal of the Miao-shan legend? What elements in this legend can be seen as representing the Mahayana ethos as revealed in the Lotus? What elements represent Chinese indigenous values?

Week Four: Pilgrimage and Indigenization of Buddhism

The last week of this unit can be devoted to a discussion about how Buddhism becomes indigenized in various cultural regions. This is in a way a continuation from the previous week, but again, by looking at the same process from yet another angle. The indigenization of Buddhism in China can be examined through the pilgrimage tradition.

Lecture 7 Pilgrimage and the Indigenization of Buddhism

Pilgrimage transposes the Mahayana Buddhist sacred space onto specific Chinese places. The cult of Kuan-yin gave rise to the creation of various Kuan-yin sites. By making pilgrimages to these sites and by learning or relearning myths and legends about Kuan-yin preserved at these pilgrimage sites, the Chinese faithful have completely transformed Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of the Lotus Sūtra, into their own beloved Kuan-yin, the "Goddess of Mercy". The creation of a Chinese Potalaka, the mythical home of Avalokiteśvara mentioned in Mahayana scriptures, represents a successful culmination of this process of transposition. For contrast, the Japanese creation of the circuit of thirty-three temples for Kannon pilgrimage can be seen as another example of indigenization.

Reading Assignment

*Chen-hua, In Search of the Dharma: Memoirs of A Modern Chinese Buddhist Pilgrim. Edited with an introduction by Ch?n-fang Y? and translated by Denis C. Mair. (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1992), 181-203

*James H. Foard, "The Boundaries of Compassion: Buddhism and the National Tradition in Japanese Pilgrimage," Journal of Asian Studies, 41:2 (1982), 231-52

*William La Fleur, "Points of Departure: Comments on Religious Pilgrimage in Sri Lanka and Japan," Journal of Asian Studies, 38:2 (1979), 271-81

Ch?n-fang Y?, "P'u-t'o Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese Potalaka," Susan Nanquin and Ch?n-fang Y?, eds. Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China (University of California Press, 1992), 190-245

Lecture 8

The last class meeting for this unit can be devoted to a viewing and discussion of Ch?n-fang Y?'s video, "Kuan-yin Pilgrimage".

Discussion Questions for Week Four

1. What role does pilgrimage play in making Buddhism a part of the Chinese religious experience?

2. The video was filmed on location in Hangzhou and Putuo Island in 1987. Contrast the pilgrims who went to these two sites. Do you notice any differences in their behaviors and avowed purposes in going on the pilgrimage? Can you say something about the regional nature of Chinese Buddhism?

Suggested Topics for A Term Paper

1. Using Avalokiteśvara/Kuan-yin as a paradigmatic model, write a paper on the nature and function of the bodhisattva as a saviour.

2. Gender and Salvation in Buddhism

3. The relationship between Buddhism and Indigenous Culture: How does Buddhism adapt itself to a native culture? Does Buddhism always become indigenized in the process, or does the native culture also become Buddhicized? Students should be encouraged to use concrete historical examples in examining this dialectic relationship.

4. Iconographies of Avalokiteśvara/Kuan-yin

5. Pilgrimage, Miracles and Popular Piety in Chinese Buddhism

(Note to Peter: I am not going to provide you with a separate bibliography. Some of the entries under the assigned reading sections, you will notice, are marked with a *. This indicates that they are not included in your bibliography. Please add these to the master list.)