Transcript Lecture outline 16

Buddhism and
Daoism in
Chinese Fiction
Lady White
Snake
Preamble
The “Anomaly account” (zhìguài
Tradition
志怪
) Literary
– Buddho-Daoist interaction occurred during the
Northern and Southern Dynasties brought
about, among other things, new type of fiction
writing known as “Anomaly account”, or
“Account of Anomaly”
– While the fiction’s audience was learned
scholars, but the source of the fiction was
“story telling”
Despite its “fictional” nature and its inclusion of
strange/unusual/anormlous objects, it was written
in biographical style similar to historical writing
Nevertheless, it has the following characteristics:
– Replete with bizarre and fantastic events:
Daoist fights Demon
Buddhist wonder-working
“return-to-life” tales
Buddhist magic
– portents and auguries
– ghosts, spirits
Sex and marriage with ghost spirit
– Necromantic practices:
Communication and interaction with immortals,
sprits of dead including female spirits, animal
spirits, etc.
These are based on Buddhist and Daoist
worldviews, and their non-dual conceptualization
of supermundane and mundane worlds
This Zhiguai tradition had significant impacts on
classical and vernacular fiction in Chinese
literature
– Full-fledged novels produced in Ming times, such as
The Journey to the West, inherited all important
elements of the Zhiguai tradition
– Modern “Roving Swordsman” novels
The Sorcerer and the White
Snake (1),(2),(3) (A Jet Li
movie)
Green Snake
Repeated adaptations and
expansions of some
stories of this kind formed
“story cycles”, some of
which continued to
develop and expand well
into later imperial times
by infusing elements of
martial arts into story
cycles

Buddhist and Daoist tenets are recurrent
themes in Chinese fiction:

Theories of heavens, hells, and other realms of
existence

A wide array of deities, immortals, and
supernatural beings

different theories of alchemy, longevity,
immortality, calisthenics techniques

Medical, therapeutic, healing, life-saving
formulae

gymnastics and martial arts traditions traced
back to Bodhidharma

Karmic retribution and cross-world interaction
and communication

Boundary between human/natural world and
supermundane/supernatural world is blurred or
broken

Occult, magic, ghosts, demons, fairies, fox spirits
…abound


Young men, often students, encountered bewitching
beauties who turn out to be fox spirits or demons that
had attained the Way after self-cultivation of hundreds
or thousands of years, and could take on human form
Personification and humanization of animals

To some extent, an animal-turned human, is more often
a stickler for moral codes of society than her human
sister or lover
Buddhist monks and Daoist priests
played the role of ritual masters,
demon quellers, and exorcisists
Didacticism
 Fiction writers often end their stories
with didacticism, mostly because
they are influenced by Buddhist and
Daoist ethical and moral theories
 The Precious Scroll of Thunder
Peak provides an typical example
of such didactic ending.(p.84) The
last verse reflect sinicized
Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian
moral views (p.84), demonstrating
the working of "Syncretism"
This kind of fiction usually has a
happy ending
“The Legend of the White Snake” in
Different Forms of Literature
In narrative prose
In precious scroll
In operatic/singing verse (táncí 彈詞)
In theatrical form (stage performance)
The Legend of the White Snake-in narrative prose
 The legend predated the Song dynasty, but became
popular in the Song because of the rise of urban
culture and storytelling
 Had been told many times since then in different
fictional and theatrical forms, before it was written
into a lengthy narrative fiction
 Expansion and adaptation of the legend abounded
during Ming and Qing times, and continued well
into the 21st century
 A Southern Song short story “The Student Qian Yan”
may have been the prototype of the legend
Feng Menglong’s “Madame Bai Is Imprisoned
Forever under Thunder Peak Pagoda”, included
in his story collection published in 1624 (late
Ming Dynasty) is the first full-length,
standardized version of the legend written in
vernacular Chinese
 Since its publication, Feng’s narrative has been
adapted many times into operas and plays for
performance on stage later
Of them, three were most poplar in Qing
times, and all of them bear the same title
Thunder Peak Pagoda
 Referred to as Huang Tubi’s TPP adaptation
 Actors’ TPP adaptation (mid-eighteen century)
 Fang Chengpei’s TPP adaptation
 A tanci singing version, titled The Virtuous
Seductress, by Ma Rufei was also very
popular
The White Snake Legend in
Narrative Prose
West Lake. Ink on
paper. Handscroll.
Southern Song (11271279) period.
Shanghai Museum.
The Legend of the White Snake: Feng
Menglong’s Narrative: Madame Bai Is
Imprisoned Forever under Thunder Peak Pagoda
 Backdrop: Hangzhou, Suzhou, Zhenjiang,
Southern Song (12th c-13th c)
 Main characters:
 Xu Xian, a young pharmacist
 Lady Bai, a white snake-transformed
beautiful widow
 Little Blue, a blue carp-transformed beauty,
Bai’s maidservant
 Xu Xian’s sister and brother-in-law, Mr. Li
 A Daoist master who gives Xu amulets to exorcise
demon
 Li Keyong, owner of a pharmacy in Zhenjiang who
hosts Xu and Bai, but intends to rape Bai
The monk Fahai of the Golden Mountain Monastery
A snake-catcher named Dai hired by Xu’s brotherin-law
 Synopsis:
 Lady Bai is not an ordinary mortal but a
superhuman maiden
 She is a snake assuming a human form after
thousands of years of self-cultivation in
supernatural magic
 Her human quality fulfills her passion and gives her
temporary happiness, but also makes her suffer
 The story begins with Xu and Bai’s acquaintance
and marriage
 Ends with Xu’s use of Fahai’s begging bowl to pin
down Bai’s head and make Bai shrink from a
monstrous snake into a tiny little snake, which is
followed by Fahai’s capture of Little Blue and Xu
Xian’s conversion to Buddhism as a Buddhist
monk
The end of the story:
 Xu Xian raises a lot of alms money and makes the
pagoda into a beautiful piece of architecture
several stories high, thus taming and imprisoning
the white snake under it
 The white snake can no longer enter the human
world for centuries and centuries to come
 Monks chant:





Not until the West Lake dries up,
Not until the ripples cease,
Not until the Thunder Peak Pagoda collapses,
Not until then, will the white snake be free.
Fahai also composes a poem:
 The world should heed my advice: love not the
beauty of women,
 For beauty casts spells on beauty’s lovers.
 Be pure in mind—that will ward off evil spirits;
 And behave properly---then no harm can come
your way.
 Look at Xu Xian---he loved a beautiful woman,
 And what was his lot? All trials and tribulations!
 If I had not come personally to his rescue,
 That snake would have swallowed him, bones and
all!
Xu Xian, after several years of devotion to
Buddhism as a monk, also leaves a poem in
these few lines:
 My master delivered me from this world of red
dust,
 Like an iron-tree in blossom, I am finally see
spring coming.
 As incarnation succeeds incarnation repeatedly,
 Life is transformed, life upon life renewed.
 In truth, is beauty constant? Or is it vanity?
 Know then: that its is formless, yet in various
forms appears.
 Although beauty is vanity, and vanity, beauty,
 Between the two, the line should be clearly
drawn!
 In this narrative, there is neither Buddhist deity
nor Daoist deity
The Legend of the White Snake--in the form of “Precious Scroll”
Precious Scrolls, emerged in as early as the 13th
century as a new literary genre to promote
Buddhism

For instance, “Precious Scroll of Maudgalyāyana”
and “Compassionate and Precious Scroll of
Journey to the West”
From 15th on, religious leaders in Ming and
Qing times used this genre to disseminate
their teachings
Buddhists used it to show the
supremacy of Buddhism over other
religions/teachings


For instance, “Precious Scroll of
Xiangshan or Guanyin”
these were reminiscent of the
“transformation texts” used in late
Tang
 The Precious Scroll of Thunder Peak figured
most prominently among those precious scrolls
propagating Buddhist teachings in Ming times
 It’s a prosimetric oral/singing text, alternating
between prose and verse
 Verses are written in lines of seven-syllable
poetic style, each using the same rhyme
throughout with some exceptions
 Religious pantheons and moral values indicate
the trend of “syncretism” of the three
teachings, but Buddhism dominates other
teachings
Divided into two sections:
 Section 1:
Lady Bai’s seduction of Xu Xian,
her search for the immortal herb to bring
her husband back to life
Her fight with Fahai at the Golden
Mountain Monastery
Lady Bai floods the monastery

Section 2:
Lady Bai’s imprisonment under
Thunder Peak Pagoda by Fahai
Her son, Xu Menjiao discovers his
true identity
His attempt to save his mother,
leading to her liberation and return
to heaven
Main Characters:
 Xu Xian, the young pharmacy assistant
 Lady Bai, a white snake-transformed
beautiful widow
 Little Blue, a blue carp-transformed
beauty
 Xu Xian’s sister and brother-in-law, Mr.
Li Junfu
A Daoist master who gives Xu amulets
 Li Keyong, owner of a pharmacy in
Zhenjiang
The monk Fahai of the Golden Mountain
Monastery
A snake-catcher hired by Xu’s brother-inlaw
Buddhist Deities:
 Guanyin
 The Buddha
Daoist Deities:
 Queen Mother of the West
 The Old Greybeard (of the Southern Pole
Palace) preached the Dharma (p. 32)
 Eight Immortals
 A Divine gardian
 Daoist Lishan laomu, Old Mother of
Black Mountain, Lady Bai’s master
 The Pagoda-Bearing King
 The Star of Literature
Some Aspects of Daoism during
and after the Tang
Flourished and became popular with Tang
rulers and elites
Women in Daoism (Daoist priestesses)
were treated equally as men (Daoist
priests)
Sophisticated Daoist rituals emerged,
which took three forms:
– Sacrifice (si)
– Purification (zhai)
– Thanksgiving or offering (jiao)
Talismans, spirit money were added to
Daoist printed objects because of the
continuous innovation in printing technology
Widespread use of talismans, sacred spells,
incantations, secret hand gestures (zhǎngjué
掌訣) for exorcising demons
– Tantric sacred spells (mantra), divine
incantations (dhârani), and secret hand gestures
(mudrâ) were also popular
Several new schools emerged
– Complete Perfection School, with its new theory
of Pantheon
Daoist Pantheon of the Complete
Perfection School
Gods in three groups:
– The Five Patriarchs
Lord Lao, the Imperial Lord of Eastern
Florescence 東華帝君, the two alchemistimmortals Zhongli Quan and Lǚ Dongbin,
and the founder Wang Chongyang
– The Seven Perfected
Seven main disciples of the founder
– Most prominent of them: Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi
The Seven Perfected
– The Eight Immortals
Zhong Liquan, or Han Zhongli
Zhang Guolao, or Gardener Zhang
Lü Dongbin
Li Tieguai, or Iron Crutch Li
Cao Guojiu, or the Emperor’s Brother-in-law Cao
Han Xiangzi
Lan Caihe
He Xian’gu, or Maiden He
Daoist of old schools, such as the Highest
Purity/Clarity, often referred to as Mt. Mao
(Maoshan) School, remained activive
Eight Immortals (Cross the Sea)
Recurrent Religious themes
 Animals practicing self-cultivation for hundreds or
thousands of years can attain immortality techniques
and become semi-immortals with magic power
 Take on a human shape
 Ascend and travel on clouds and mists
 Call and command the wind and rain
 Bodhisattva Guanyin




Rescues Lady Bai and Xu Xian whenever they are in danger
Saves Xu Mengjiao’s life
A deity to whom all will pray
“Tender compassion” is a standard reference to her quality
 “Red Dust”, a metaphor for the mortal world, or the
world of desire and sensual attraction, is unworthy to
live in
 One will continue suffering and fall into transmigration
 Genuine brotherhood and sisterhood exist among
animals
 Repaying a virtue, a favor as repaying a debt
 Lady Bai reveals her true identity/form after drinking
a cup of realgar wine
 Immortal herbs/elixir and immortal lands exist in
human world
 A snake-turned human suffers unending tribulations
Chan master Fahai and the Golden Mountain
Monastery in Zhenjiang
Fahai has his weapons: a “Nine-dragon
Chan/Meditation Staff”, a magic begging bowl,
and a “demon-binding cord”
He is referred to as “evil monk” several times
Old Mother of Black Mountain in Mt. Emei in
Sichuan
The supernatural power of the Dharma is unlimited
The Gate of Emptiness
Star of Letters and other Daoist divinities
 animals can attain Buddhahood
 Xu Xian shaves his head and becomes a monk
 Once a person has “ left home/household” for good, on
no account will he return to the life of a layman
 Being a filial son and a scrupulous official, one can
accrue good karma, which can be transferred to
posterity
 Rebirth in the western paradise in golden body
 Guanyin's manifestation, an old woman
 Cinnabar pill used by Guanyin to save Mengjiao's life
Hangzhou,
capital of
the
Southern
Song
Kaifeng,
Eastern
Capital
in the
Northern
Song
Earlier Narrative of the White
Snake Legend before Feng’s
The West Lake’s Three Stupas,
13th-14th Century
Probably the oldest surviving story of the
White Snake woman involving the pagoda near
Hangzhou
Protagonist: Xi Xuanzan
Characters:
 an old woman (an otter)
 a young girl named Mao Nu (Black chicken)
 a young woman dressed in white (a snake)
 Xi Xuanzan’s uncle, a Daoist priest called
Immortal Xi
Plot:
Xi Xuanzan rescues a strayed young girl named Bai
Maonu, and reunites her with her family
Xi meets the young girl's mother, a sensuous
woman dressed in white, along with the girl's
grandmother, and becomes the lover of the woman
clad in white.
 The woman customarily kills her previous lover,
eating his heart and liver at the sight of the new
lover
Xi escapes the same misfortune because the
young girl he has recused releases him
A Daoist exorcist reveals the true identity of
the three women, all of whom are animalsturned-humans
He raises funds to build three stone pagodas by
the West Lake. The three demons are
subjugated beneath the pagodas
Xi becomes a religious layman.
Religious themes:
Dragon Tiger Mountain and immortals
The Fiery Spirit Lord in a Taishan
Temple
Demonic Animals transform to humans
Holy water (符水), actually “talisman
water”

The Legend of the White Snake—
on Stage
The Legend of the white snake on
stage
 The legend of the white snake is found in
the repertoire of virtually all genres of
regional opera of recent centuries
 Tian Han's adaptation had a great impact
on the later reworking of the story
 But the story had been adapted even
earlier, in 16th century
 Huang Tubi, Thunder Peak Pagoda, Qing
dynasty
Huang Tubi’s Thunder Peak Pagoda
 Based primarily on Feng Menglong’s
narrative, Huang reenacted these
episodes
 Xu Xian and Ms. Bai, a thousand-yearold snake spirit transformed into a
young widow
 Their encounter on the Clear and
Bright Festival
 They fall in love in the boat and get
married
Religious themes:
Daoism
A Daoist priest of a Buddhist monastery tells Xu that
he is bewitched by demons and gives him an amulet
(talisman)
Little Blue chases the priest away
Buddhism
The Monk Fahai of Golden Mountain Monastery
preaching the Dharma and lifting his tin staff to
scare way Ms. Bai.
Fahai orders a divine guardian to fight Ms. Bai,
defeats and captures her, and Little Blue, in his
begging bowl, and takes them to Thunder Peak
Pagoda
Fahai places a stupa on the of them to pin them
down
Fang Chengpei’s TPP
Fang Chengpei's Thunder Peak Pagoda, also
Qianlong period
Expands Huang Tubi's play, adding the
snake's son and his passing of the
examinations and becoming the top of the list
 Omits scenes including "the theft from the
vault", "the banishment","the theft of the
kerchief","the announced visit", "the painting
of the portrait","the request to the throne"
Revised scenes: “Seeking the Herb”,
“Creating the Pagpda”, “Sacrificing at
the Pagoda”
Rewritten scene: "water battle"
Added scene: "discussion at night"
The virtuous seductress (Yiyao zhuan)
 A Tanci adaptation of Feng Menglong's
narrative
 Bai instructed by Queen Mother of the West
to repay Xu's favor in previous life
 Brother in law is Chen Biao
 Suzhen claims she is Bai Xiuying
 Black Storm Great king steals silver and gives
Bai, who in turns gives Xu
 On double-fifth day, Xu forces his wife to drink
realgar wine for fear she gets sick, causing Bai to
manifest her original shape and frighten Xu to
death
 Bai goes to Mt. Kunlun to steal immortal herb
 Xu is released because of being wronged and
returns to Zhenjiang for no reason
 Bai is pregnant, the child is incarnation of the
star of literature and Fahai's magical weapon
cannot harm her
 Black Wind joins Bai to fight Fahai, and black
wind uses his magic to flood Golden Mountain
Monastery, and is killed by the Dragon God
 Bai and Xu meet at broken bridge In
Hangzhou, then go to Xu‘s sister's house to
await Bai's parturition
 Xu Xian enters Nirvana
Ma Rufei: The Strange Tale of the Thunder
Peak Pagoda (in Tanci singing verse)
 A shorter version of The
Virtuous Seductress
 Religious themes:


Buddhist connection: Thunder
Peak Pagoda (Leifengta),
Jinshan Monastery, the monk
Fahai
Daoist Connection: a Daoist
priest trained at Mt. Mao, a
Daoist Temple named Temple of
Patriarch Lű of Undiluted Yang,
immortal lad White Crane, The
Southern Pole Immortal
Greybeard, Golden Mother
 Other religious
themes:
 Karma
 Repayment of old
favor
 Daoist’s use of amulet
 Land of Darkness
 Immortal medicine,
numinous herb
 The Buddha and the
Dharma
 Mediation staff
 Computing yin and
yang
 Three Teachings
The actors' Thunder Peak Legend
 Qianlong period, based on Huang Tubi’s play
 Expands Huang Tubi's play, adding the snake's
son and his passing of the examinations and
becoming the top of the list
 Religious themes:
 Mt. Emei
 Immortal peaches of the Queen Mother of the
West
 South Pole old Greybeard
 Jingci Monastery
 Fire of Samadhi
 Black Storm Immortal Trayastrimsas Heaven
The Legend in “Youth Book”
(zidishu)
 Popular in Beijing by the middle of the
18th century, known as “Banners Tales”
 Performed as an opera by younger
members of the capital Manchu elite
 Texts also circulated in written form as
common reading materials
 All in seven-syllables verse, but more
syllables could be added to enhance
emotional and lyrical effects of signing
 The story is divided into many episodes
and performed one single episode at a time
Unlike precious scrolls that focus on
moving the story forward, this genre stresses
lyrical and descriptive elaboration
 The episode “The United Bowls”
 Religious themes:
 The Buddha and the Dharma posses
unlimited magical power
 The emptiness of the Buddha’s “Way”
 Small object (bowl) contains large world
“even the heaven”
 Reciting Buddha Amitabha’s name;
rebirth in the World of Ultimate Bliss
(the Land of Utmost Bliss)
 Animals can attain Buddhahood
The episode “The Sacrifice at the Pagoda”
 Religious themes
 Throne of the Buddha
 The compassionate Buddha
 Five Nail (Ding) Giants and Six Scale (Jia)
Gods (Daoist deities governing life
account)
 Mulian, Maudgalyayana
 Terrestrial immortal
 “Achieving the right fruit”
The episode “Weeping at the Pagoda”
 Religious themes:
 Karmic cause
 Queen Mother of the West and
Immortals
 Reincarnation
 The Buddha
 Three Flowers and Five Energies
 Western Paradise
The episode “Leaving the Pagoda”
 Religious themes:







The Ile of Penglai, Mt. Penglai
“the world of dust”
“the Great Way”
Attachment
Emptiness of all dharmas
“sea of delusion”
Animals can become Immortals
The Buddha and
Buddhism (PBS)