Riding the wind of rebirth

“I know all too well about Suining.” Zhou Zhi was both amused and exasperated.

There are two disputes regarding the "hometown of Emperor Zhuanxu": one is Mianning, and the other is Yingjing. Mianning belongs to Liangshan, while Yingjing belongs to Yazhou. Therefore, it is self-evident which side Zhouzhi is biased towards.

So, in order to help Mianning obtain the title of "Hometown of Emperor Zhuanxu", Zhou Zhi did a lot of dirty tricks and even found Professor Kong, a history professor from Mianning at Sichuan University, to recommend him to the secretary of Mianning County.

Professor Kong is quite powerful; this title is well-deserved on behalf of Mianning.

Then the funny thing happened. Suining is also the hometown of two great figures. One is Chen Zi'ang, a poet of the early Tang Dynasty and one of the Four Great Poets, whose existence is well-documented. The other is even more remarkable: the famous Guanyin Bodhisattva!

This story is quite magical, and it originates from a legend from the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Legend has it that in the Western Regions, in what is now Changji, Xinjiang, there was a small kingdom called Jie Kingdom, whose king was named Zhuangyan and queen was named Baoying. They had three daughters named Miaoyin, Miaoyuan, and Miaoshan.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Jie Kingdom was destroyed, and the Han government resettled them in the Suining region of China.

King Suining rebuilt his small kingdom, called Xingning Kingdom, and King Miaozhuang's palace was called Heavenly Palace.

The three daughters practiced Buddhism from a young age, and King Miaozhuang built a temple for them called Baique Temple.

Later, the three sisters attained enlightenment in different ways. The eldest sister attained enlightenment at Lingquan Temple on Lingquan Mountain in Suining, the second sister attained enlightenment at Guangde Temple on Lingquan Mountain, and the youngest sister went to a very far place and finally attained enlightenment at Putuo Mountain in the South China Sea.

According to folk legends in Suining, the three sisters were actually incarnations of Guanyin. Therefore, Lingquan Temple, Guangde Temple, and Putuo Mountain in the South China Sea all later became Guanyin's sacred sites.

This is no exaggeration. Lingquan Temple was built during the Sui Dynasty and flourished during the Tang, Song, and Ming Dynasties. It was known as the "Western Sacred Realm" by believers and was on par with the "South China Sea Sacred Realm" of Mount Putuo. It is a major temple dedicated to Guanyin.

Guangde Temple is even more remarkable. Although it was built later than Lingquan Temple, it was built by imperial decree during the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties. The temple has two national treasures: one is the "Imperial Decree Guangli Chan Temple Guanyin Pearl Seal" personally ordered by Emperor Zhenzong of Song, and the other is the "Four Kingdoms Jade Seal" personally ordered by Emperor Wuzong of Ming. They are unique in the whole country.

Because the temple's founding abbot was the eminent Tang Dynasty monk Keyou, a direct descendant of the imperial family, Guangde Temple also received a special honor: while temples throughout the land would receive imperial edicts at the temple gate, which was ten miles outside the temple, Guangde Temple received the edicts directly inside the temple, demonstrating its high status.

Since there is a legend of three daughters, and the youngest daughter attained enlightenment on Mount Putuo in the South China Sea, and the Lingquan and Guangde temples have been recognized as Guanyin's sacred sites throughout history, these various clues have inspired cultural figures in Suining to promote the city as the "hometown of Guanyin."

These days, "birthplace of celebrities" and "former residence of celebrities" have become some of the few cards that local governments can play in promoting themselves. Everyone is quite good at tapping into the "potential" of their localities. Because Mianning has a successful experience, it has become a model for other places to "learn from". Sometimes, Mianning will also find Zhouzhi, the instigator, to ask how to respond to them. So Zhouzhi also knows a lot of the "insider information" in this regard.

The story is recorded on a stone tablet in Guangde Temple. Objectively speaking, Zhou Zhi thinks that the "Xingning Kingdom," the "Zhuangyan King," and the three sisters Miaoyin, Miaoyuan, and Miaoshan are more like an allegory, symbolizing the story of Buddhism's introduction to China. However, this matter can be debated, because the concept of "Guanyin" can refer not to a person or a Bodhisattva, but to a "Dharma," or even a "concept."

This concept has been continuously strengthened and verified through imperial decrees and constructions throughout history, as well as through local legends, customs, and gatherings from ancient times to the present, allowing it to be generated, grown, and spread. In this sense, defining Suining as the "hometown of Guanyin" is not entirely unfounded.

The saying goes, "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, and lightning; thus should they be viewed." The saying also goes, "A single excrement contains three pounds of hemp." This applies to both the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Only by possessing this understanding can one enter the Buddhist path.

Therefore, whether or not to compete for the birthplace of Guanyin depends entirely on people's needs.

Liu Ma was amused by Zhou Zhi's nonsense. She knew about the many customs of Guanyin in her hometown, such as the "Guanyin Birthday" and "Guanyin Festival" held regularly in the township every year. When she was in her hometown, she would go to several large temples to burn incense and fulfill her vows every year. However, she did not know about the stories Zhou Zhi was telling, nor did she know that the Buddhist association she was involved in had such a long history and profound cultural connotations.

Although I was somewhat confused, a feeling arose in my heart that I often couldn't feel from science people like Lao Mai: "This is how a scholar should be."

Moreover, Zhou Zhi was a very skilled storyteller, interspersing his stories with humorous interludes. So when Mai Mingdong walked into the house, he wasn't surprised at all: "I could hear you laughing happily in the yard. Is Zhou Zi telling you a story again?"

"Yes, and it's a story from my hometown," Aunt Liu said with a smile. "This child knows so many local tales and sayings about our hometown, even more thoroughly than I, a local, do!"

Mai Mingdong was already used to Zhou Zhi's extensive knowledge of literature and history, and now he could only sigh: "It was really not a good choice for Zhou Zi to choose the Chinese Literature Department. With your current achievements, if you had chosen the humanities and social sciences back then, you would have obtained your doctorate by now."

As an academician and college leader, Mai Mingdong, although not working in the humanities, is very familiar with the ways of the system. Zhou Zhi has done a lot of projects so far, excluding those in the sciences. Among the humanities projects, many are not even within his own field of study—philology and phonology.

Take, for example, the recent work on the collation and excavation of the Yi Bimo culture in Liangshan. It actually falls under the categories of ethnology, sociology, minority literature, and minority linguistics. The entire result would be difficult for any academic leader with tight funding, let alone a PhD.

But Zhou Zhi managed to do it, and his achievements far exceeded the capabilities of a doctoral student. It can be said that he played a huge role in promoting the study of humanities and social sciences in the Yi ethnic group.

The publication of those precious books not only protected the very important intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, but also provided many research directions and opportunities for countless later researchers.

In this sense, Zhou Zhi, through his years in Lianhe Township, has broken down a huge barrier in the study of Yi humanities and social sciences. It is conceivable that in the future, many academic achievements in Yi literature, history, philology, religion, folklore, and sociology will spring up like mushrooms after rain from this fertile land that Zhou Zhi has unearthed.

Furthermore, because the Yi people are a very ancient ethnic group, many of their historical records and legends can be cross-referenced and verified with those of the Han people, and even have interdisciplinary research significance.

Therefore, the preliminary research findings in Zhouzhi have very important academic value. The several documentaries that won Chi Xueli international awards are just the tip of the iceberg that has surfaced and become known to the public from this research. (End of this chapter)