Death and Demonization of a Bodhisattva: Guanyin's Reformulation within Chinese Religion

Abstract

The Chinese goddess known as Guanyin may commonly be referred to with the Buddhist epithet of "bodhisattva," yet her many hagiographies contain only the most stereotypical references to anything that could be defined unambiguously as "Buddhist." Instead, the narrative of Guanyin that gains greatest popularity between the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries is one that describes the bodhisattva's last incarnation, as the unmarried Princess Miaoshan, within the parameters of indigenous Chinese religion - or, rather, its demonology. I argue that all of the many versions of Miaoshan's legend represent her deification into Guanyin as a process necessary for solving her spirit's demonical status that has arisen from the recurring violence done to her body by herself and her father. Moreover, I show how Miaoshan's narrative of a violated body is deeply rooted in practices of trance-possession that ultimately explain her efficacy.