Why does Guanyin ride a dragon?

When it comes to Guanyin Mountain, people usually think of the golden donkey in The Journey to the West, that is, Sai Tai-sui, who is incarnated as Qilin Mountain, a monster who claims to save King Zhu Ziguo from disaster and occupy his queen. However, this golden hair jar is just one of the mounts of the legendary Guanyin Bodhisattva. Guanyin, as the most revered bodhisattva in Han Dynasty, is said to be able to meet the needs of believers, show itself in various images, educate and help all sentient beings. Hokkekyo said that he had 33 bodies, the Shurangama Sutra said that he had 32 bodies, and the tantric classics included six Guanyin, seven Guanyin, eight Guanyin and fifteen Guanyin, all of which responded to Guanyin's compassionate spirit of "seeking for relief and improvising". Because the image of Guanyin is different, the mount has also changed, which shows the elegant and secular feelings of Guanyin Bodhisattva from different angles.

In the early Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, although there are various differences between Buddha and Bodhisattva sitting on the mountain or sitting on the ground, they are not real reference objects, and they are usually visual descriptions of their figure or sitting posture, such as taking the firmness of King Kong as a righteous person, taking the righteousness of Buddha as a lion in people, and taking the purity and innocence of lotus flowers. Later, this visual description was further consolidated in Buddhist murals and statues, so various buddhas, bodhisattvas and celestial mounts came into being.

Judging from the classics describing his life experience and methods, Guanyin has a close relationship with lotus from the beginning. According to the book of Guanyin Bodhisattva, a long time ago, the game Tathagata supported by King Wade reached 8.4 trillion years. Once, King Wade meditated in the garden, and two lotus flowers gushed from its left and right, each with a boy named Baoyi on the left and Baoshang on the right. King Wade and the boy visited Tathagata together, and the two boys took the oath of "compassion for all beings" mentioned above. According to the Buddha in the scripture, the two boys in the lotus are Guanyin Bodhisattva and Megatrend Bodhisattva, which means Guanyin Bodhisattva is transformed from the lotus. Hokkekyo and Pure Land Classics related to Guanyin also regard lotus as a symbol of the pure land world.

Guanyin statues in the Southern and Northern Dynasties often stood on lotus seats, and there were few figures of riding horses. Around the Sui Dynasty, Yang Zhijing bottled the statue of Guanyin, which first linked the lotus with the lion. In this model, Guanyin usually stands on the lotus with a net bottle in his left hand and a poplar branch in his right hand. There is a lion crouching in every corner of the lotus. This lotus Leo, a combination of lotus and lion, can not only show the purity of Guanyin, but also show its compassionate spirit of following the sound to rescue.

In the Tang Dynasty, Guanyin statues were mostly lotus seats, and there were few figures of riding horses. In the "Four Guanyin Manjusri Pu Xian Map" collected by the British Museum, Manjusri and Pu Xian are riding a lion and a white elephant respectively, and Guanyin is standing on the lotus, which is a good example. In this way, the Guanyin statue in the East Hall of the North Monk in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province is very worthy of attention. In this group of statues, Guanyin sits on the back of a lion wearing a crown, and the lion stands on the lotus on all fours. It is said that this statue is a work of the Tang Dynasty. If it is true, this lion is almost the earliest Guanyin Mountain.

After entering the Song Dynasty, the modeling of Guanyin gradually faded from the luxurious atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, showing a kind of friendly life atmosphere. Guanyin's posture and image are more lively, and it is very comfortable to sit in a crouch, fight or sit. Guanyin modeling related to folk customs, such as Guanyin in white, Guanyin in fish basket, Guanyin in Malang, Guanyin in Songzi and other Guanyin images with different themes and regions, appeared one after another, and finally formed the image of thirty-three guanyin, as the people said. Thirty-three guanyin is not the difference in the form of Guanyin itself, but the difference in the scene, posture and instruments. With the diversification of Guanyin's modeling, Guanyin's mount or seat has also developed from a single lotus seat to a more magical and meaningful category.

Among the popular images of thirty-three guanyin, there are many Guanyin images that ride or sit, and each one has a different story of Guanyin's efficacy. For example, the fish basket Guanyin is the Guanyin holding the fish basket. According to legend, Guanyin was once turned into a fisherman's wife to teach fishermen to convert to Buddhism. One-leaf Guanyin, or Lotus Leaf Guanyin or Na 'e Guanyin, is a kind of Guanyin floating on the sea by lotus leaf. It is said that monk Daoyuan was in distress in the South China Sea. After he meditated on Guanyin, he saw Guanyin appear on a lotus leaf, and the storm stopped. Aminti Guanyin, or Fearless Guanyin, is the image of Guanyin worshipped by esoteric Buddhism. Riding a white lion and setting fire, holding Capricorn fish in four arms, white auspicious birds and crested rockhoppers are graceful and elegant, showing fearless meaning. Guanyin is the shape of Guanyin living in a clam shell or crossing the sea by clam. According to legend, Guanyin once appeared in clams when Tang Wenzong ate them. In addition, there are Guanyin, Guanyin holding lotus, Guanyin wearing leaves, Guanyin lying lotus and so on. It is usually the image of Guanyin sitting on a lotus leaf or lotus seat.

In the modeling of Guanyin riding, the most well-known image or scene is Guanyin crossing the sea, that is, Guanyin Bodhisattva appears alone or with others on the blue sea, symbolizing Guanyin crossing countless beings in the sea of human suffering. This model is often placed behind the Buddha statue enshrined in the main hall of the temple and becomes the object of worship and admiration after worshipping Buddha. The statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, a lion made by an anonymous painter in the Song Dynasty, may be an earlier model of Guanyin crossing the sea. In the picture, Guanyin is wearing a crown, with drooping shoulders and flying clothes, sitting on the lotus platform, which is placed on the lion's back. The lion stood on the water with lotus flowers on all fours. This Guanyin style of Lotus Leo corresponds to some statues in Sui and Tang Dynasties.

After entering the Yuan Dynasty, the shape of Guanyin crossing the sea became more common, and the seats were also rich and varied. Dragons, anchovies, lotus petals and lotus leaves all appeared. Fu Sheng Temple in Xinjiang County, Shanxi Province, painted sculptures of Guanyin Bodhisattva crossing the sea in Yuan Dynasty, painted sculptures of Guanyin in Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao, Shanxi Province, and painted sculptures of Guanyin crossing the sea in Guiyuan Temple in Wuhan, Hubei Province are all flying dragons. The statue of Guanyin crossing the sea in Ming Dynasty, preserved in Kannongji, Xinjin County, Sichuan Province, was painted by painter Chou Ying and painter Wu Gen, and stood on the back of the octopus, surrounded by the blue sea. In modern times, it is quite popular to use the octopus as the mount shape of Guanyin Sea. Guanyin crossing the sea in Tianning Temple in Changzhou and Guanyin crossing the sea in Jiuhuashan Garden Temple all stand barefoot on the head of Aoyu. The clay sculpture of the Ming Dynasty in the Tianwang Temple of Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao, Shanxi Province is riding a red lotus, and the Guanyin of "Thirty-two Phases of Guanyin" painted by Ding of Anhui Provincial Museum is also riding a lotus flower. The Guanyin of Yuanzhao Temple in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province is riding a lotus leaf, and the Bodhisattva is sitting on a pedestal with a round lotus leaf on it.

Besides dragons, octopus, lotus petals and lotus leaves, Guanyin was more popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ming Dynasty clay sculpture of Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao, Shanxi Province crossed the sea Guanyin, sitting on the lotus seat, being placed on the back of a lion-shaped beast with a golden bell tied around its neck, just in line with the golden hair jar described in The Journey to the West. There are different legends about your image, such as dog, lion, dragon and horse. The word "Gui" first appeared in jade articles compiled by people in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but this book was adapted from the Tang Dynasty, so it can be said that the word "Gui" appeared in the Tang Dynasty at the latest. This edition of Jade Piece Volume 23 explains the word cloud: "Roar like a dog". The Song Dynasty's Lei Pian (Volume 28) explains: "You, Xu Houqie, in the name of the northern beast, look like a dog and eat people." It seems that people before the Tang and Song Dynasties said that it was a dog-shaped man-eating beast that haunted the north. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Guan Yu was regarded as Guanyin Mountain. In addition to Guan Yu, the golden retriever recorded by The Journey to the West, the Romance of Gods written by Xu in the Ming Dynasty also regarded Guan Yu as Guanyin Mountain, a benevolent figure-Jin Guangxian. As for your specific image, there were different opinions at that time. Chen Jiru, an Amin, said in Said Swallow that he was a strange animal, shaped like a rabbit, with long ears and a figure of only about a foot. His urine will rot his flesh, which often scares liger. Yuan Mei of A Qing Dynasty recorded in "The Jade Continuation" that he was transformed from a zombie, with magical powers, capable of spitting fireworks and fighting dragons, so he was accepted as a mount by the Buddha. Dong Xuan, a master in the Qing Dynasty, said in Tales of Different Things that he lived in the East China Sea and could eat borneol. He was unusually brave and one or two feet long, like a horse and scaly. There is also a legend that Cheng is the son of the Dragon King, commonly known as Wang Tianhou. He has the habit of watching, and is often placed at the top of the huabiao column, roaring at the sky, and is regarded as an auspicious beast that uploads God's will and releases people's hearts. Corresponding to the above different opinions, there are many differences in the modeling of Guanyin Riding in Ming and Qing temples. Kannonji, Changzhi, Shanxi Province, rode Guanyin clay sculpture in the Ming Dynasty and shaped Guanyin into a rare animal with a golden bell and a lion's head. The clay sculpture of Guanyin riding in Ming Dynasty in Cannongji, Xinjin, Sichuan Province is particularly strange, with unicorns, rhinoceros-like dragons, elephants and Tiger Claw with lion's tail on his head. The clay sculpture of Guanyin crossing the sea in Hongji, Pingwu, Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty was a unicorn with a leading horse body. Compared with the above-mentioned lion body and elephant body, it is lighter and more agile, and can better convey the compassion of Guanyin.

From the early lotus and lion to the golden retriever with different shapes, Guanyin Mountain has been continuously processed and transformed with the deepening of Guanyin belief. No matter how it changes, it is always a part of the overall shape of Guanyin, which explains the bodhisattva spirit of Guanyin from different angles.