Prose describing Guanyin's image

Guanyin, whose real name is Guanyin, is transliterated in Sanskrit as Anapo Lou Ji Diso or Apo Lou Ji Dishwaro. It is also called the four great bodhisattvas together with Manjusri Bodhisattva, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and Tibetan Bodhisattva in China Han temples. In Buddhist scriptures, Guanyin is called the Great Compassion Bodhisattva. As long as all the suffering beings sincerely recite its name, Guanyin Bodhisattva will be freed from its voice immediately, and its name will come from it. According to legend, Guanyin was born on February 19th, Nirvana on September 19th and Enlightenment on June 19th. These three days are important days for devout believers to burn incense and sacrifice. In the Tang Dynasty, in order to avoid the taboo of Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin, Guanyin was renamed Guanyin. Guanyin is a household name among the people, and the broadcast of TV series The Journey to the West made Guanyin famous. But if you ask, is Guanyin a man or a woman? I'm afraid there are not many people who can give the exact answer, because in the so-called Guanyin statue and the records about Guanyin, some are like men and some are like women, which makes people disagree.

Records show that Guanyin was originally a good boy of Indian Brahmanism, whose name was Shuang stable boy, also known as Matou Guanyin. His actions are faster than his thoughts. According to Buddhist scriptures, he is neither a prince nor a good man, so he was named Guanyin. Tathagata has two lotus flowers and two sons, whose left name is Baoyi, which is Guanyin. After the death of Sakyamuni's second son, he became Guanyin. In Buddhism, Buddhists believe that Guanyin is a disciple of Amitabha, while Buddhists say Guanyin is a second-hand person around Amitabha. "Tai Ping Guang Ji" records a eunuch whose wife was taken away by God for no reason and was unconscious, so the eunuch invited a Guanyin Bodhisattva to pray. The eunuch's wife dreamed that a monk came to save her at night. This monk was Guanyin. From the above records and legends, we can know that Guanyin was originally a male.

However, people have the habit of calling Guanyin a goddess, and there are also examples of Guanyin being a woman in the records. For example, it is recorded in the Chronicle Newsletter that when Nanshan Daoxuan lawyer asked the Goddess of Guanyin about his fate, the Goddess replied: In the past, the Lord said solemn, his wife said Baoying, gave birth to three daughters, met Miao Yan, and was promoted to Miao Yin. In the current season, he was called Miao Shan, and Princess Miaoshan was Guanyin Bodhisattva. It is also recorded that Guanyin Bodhisattva refused to marry, became a nun in the temple and became a slave in the kitchen. These records also show that Guanyin is a woman.

Whether Guanyin is male or female can be roughly divided into two categories, one is male and the other is female. Most Guanyin statues before the Tang Dynasty were vigorous and vigorous, with beautiful bones and delicate faces, not female faces; After the Tang Dynasty, the face of Guanyin gradually became plump and round, and then it became more delicate, with slender eyebrows, black hair and Buddha, and became a female image.

Scholars have different opinions about whether Guanyin is a man or a woman, and they have different opinions and arguments. The author believes that it is very likely that Guanyin was originally a male body and later evolved into a woman according to needs. According to the popular religious dictionary, Guanyin statue began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, after the prosperous Tang Dynasty. It is also said that it was not until the Tang Dynasty that Guanyin became a woman. In fact, Guanyin statues are also gradually evolving. There are obvious differences between Guanyin statues in the early Tang Dynasty and Guanyin statues in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. We can see the gradual process, such as putting on a transparent skirt and making your face plump and rich. This is in line with the characteristics of female beauty at that time, but it has not yet become a woman. It was not until the Song Dynasty that Guanyin became a female image. In the Song Dynasty, Buddhist monk Life Life Life once described Guanyin's costume with a Qian Lin's dress. In Wu Cheng'en's works, Guanyin is naturally beaming, with a jade face and red lips. The tassels are covered with pearls, the fragrant rings are bright, the dark clouds are skillfully stacked with panlong buns, and the Cai Feng feathers are lightly floating in the countryside. At nine o'clock in Hua Han, Jurchen appeared. In modern times, in his book studio, Ma Qian emphasized that the painting method of Guanyin is similar to that of Tathagata, which seems to confirm that the gender characteristics of Guanyin are the same as that of Tathagata. However, in his immortal Buddha pictures, the image of Guanyin is: oval face, slender eyebrows, slightly thick chin, and black hair hanging over his ears. Wearing a top ring around his neck, his chest is half naked, and his lining is slightly exposed. Wrist cuff to bracelet, arms crossed against the rocks by the stream, fingers slender. ...

Like a jurchen in meditation.

Some people think that it is wrong to draw or shape Guanyin as a female body. Hu Yinglin, a literary critic in the Ming Dynasty, said in "Talk about Zhuang Yue Wei": Today, all the people who paint Guanyin are women. According to "Xuan He Hua Pu", there were many famous calligraphy Guanyin in Tang and Song Dynasties, all of which did not wear female crowns, and the statues before the Tang Dynasty were not made by women. Monks in the Yuan Dynasty were ignorant, thinking that a beautiful woman was a wonderful girl, but it was just a sum of money.

Many people, including Hu Yinglin, only study Buddhist classics according to portraits when discussing the gender of Guanyin, without tracing back to the source or even considering the needs of Buddhism and life, so that many people are vague and confused when judging the gender of Guanyin.

We believe that since the Buddha is man-made, the image of Guanyin may change from male to female according to people's requirements. Recently, someone analyzed the reasons for the change of Guanyin's image and summarized two points. First, the needs of Buddhism. If someone is eager to become a monk, Guanyin will tell him in the form of a bhikshuni, a queen, a king's wife, a married woman and a virgin. Avalokitesvara saw the body of a bhikshuni, an excellent woman, an elder, a layman, a butcher, a brahmin, a woman and a virgin. You see, in order to say that Guanyin can change identity and gender. Isn't it reasonable for people to call Goddess Guanyin?

The second reason is the needs of the people. Heaven and earth are divided into yin and yang, and the world is divided into men and women. Women account for half of human beings, and even there are women in the fairy and ghost worlds. If only the bodhisattvas are all men, it would be barren. More importantly, this uniformity does not conform to the law of the development of things, nor to the reality of Buddhist life. Besides, there are many Buddhist disciples, and there are also many women who believe in and respect Buddhism. Without female bodhisattva, female believers have no hope of becoming Buddhists, which will inevitably dampen their enthusiasm and enterprising spirit, leading to no one interested in Buddhism, poor incense and exhausted financial resources. People will say that even Buddhism values boys over girls, and it is useless for women to practice. And long-term worship of male bodhisattvas, it is inevitable that men and women can't tell the difference between giving and receiving.

In people's minds, women are symbols of peace, gentleness, kindness and kindness. How much they hope to have a female bodhisattva who can relieve their troubles and help them overcome disasters.

In view of the above reasons, the birth of female bodhisattva became inevitable, so Guanyin readily accepted the opinions of people of insight and made up for the beauty of female Guanyin. Without heavy expectations, he finally turned into a slim girl. Not only women respect her, but men also respect her, hoping to get her love and health.