Exploring the Origin of Guanyin Belief Folklore - Research on Native Guanyin Folk Culture and Its Inheritance and Development

Author: Liu Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: The belief in Guanyin is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese nation and a profound accumulation of Huaxia civilization. The long-standing and deeply rooted nature of Guanyin belief in China is due to complex reasons. The different accounts of Guanyin belief and Guanyin's origins in Chinese and Indian Buddhism each have their own profound historical and cultural backgrounds. The Indian Buddhist accounts of Guanyin emerged in the ancient cultural atmosphere of India, bearing the imprint of "Western Heaven mythology," depicting a fictional character with strong religious undertones and a mindset of male superiority and female inferiority. In contrast, the Chinese Buddhist legends of Guanyin align with traditional Chinese views that women are kind, approachable, and virtuous, as well as with Confucian moral and ethical thought, which led to their acceptance by the Chinese people. The reason why Guanyin in China became a revered "personal deity" of the people, a "Buddha" in folk belief, and the core of folk religious faith lies in people's pursuit of Guanyin's compassionate and kind spirit. The folk cultural phenomena of Guanyin demonstrate and promote the pursuit of moral psychology and personality improvement from a spiritual and cultural perspective, the pursuit of moral norms that nourish society, and the pursuit of harmonious unity between humans, nature, the environment, and society.