Legend of Guanyin

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: The Legend of Guanyin

Applicant: Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province

Item No.: 527

Project No.: I-40

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Zhejiang Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province

Protection unit: Zhoushan Putuo Mountain Scenic Area Management Committee

Introduction to Guanyin legend:

Applicant: Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province

Putuoluojia mountain, located in the east of Zhoushan archipelago in Zhejiang Province, is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China. It is the site of Guanyin Taoist temple. The legend of Avalokitesvara has a history of thousands of years, most of which originated from Mount Putuo.

As early as in the Baoqing period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1225-1227), there was a record of "Guanyin Baotuo temple in meicen mountain (today's Putuo Mountain)". The records of "Huie, a Japanese monk, sent Guanyin" in Siming tujing in Qiandao period of Xiaozong in Southern Song Dynasty are earlier. Since then, the legend of "not willing to go to Guanyin" has been handed down to this day. Sheng Ximing, a monk of the western regions in the Yuan Dynasty, wrote the biography of butalojia mountain, which records such legends as "good fortune 18, visiting freely", "the appearance of Guanyin 33 according to the category", "the appearance of the ten fingers burnt in front of Chaoyin cave by Tang Dazhong, a Buddhist monk of Tang Dynasty", and so on. The new records of putuoluojia compiled in 1923 specially set up "supernatural gate" to record 68 supernatural legends of Guanyin. In addition to the ancient records, a complete biography of Guanyin in the South China Sea appeared in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and in the early years of the Republic of China, a script of Guanyin Didao spread among the people.

For thousands of years, as a boundless Bodhisattva of Buddhism, Guanyin has been widely believed in Zhoushan folk and other regions. The belief of Guanyin has gone far beyond the nation and national boundaries, forming a "Guanyin culture" of persuading people to be good and loving peace. The legend of Guanyin plays a special role in communicating the friendship between compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and spreading Chinese traditional culture. It also has high research value in aesthetics, archaeology, history, sociology and psychology.