Canonical Classics ← 第十二回
第十二回
tángwángbǐngchéngxiūhuì
guānyīnxiǎnshènghuàjīnchán

The Tang King, Sincere in Faith, Convenes the Grand Assembly · Guanyin, Manifesting Her Holy Form, Transforms the Golden Cicada

現真身
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原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

現真身 The Bodhisattva Reveals Her True Form

dàilechāfēishànggāotáisuìxiángyúnzhízhìjiǔxiāoxiànchūjiùyuánshēntuōlejìngpíngyángliǔzuǒbiānshìchāhuìànzhízhegùndǒusǒujīngshéndetángwángcháotiānbàizhòngwénguìfénxiāng滿mǎnzhōngsēngdàoshìréngōngjiǎrénbàidǎodào:「hǎohǎo!」yǒuzànwéizhèngdànjiàndàilechāfēishànggāotáisuìxiángyúnzhízhìjiǔxiāoxiànchūjiùyuánshēntuōlejìngpíngyángliǔzuǒbiānshìchāhuìànzhízhegùndǒusǒujīngshéndetángwángcháotiānbàizhòngwénguìfénxiāngmǎnzhōngsēngdàoshìréngōngjiǎrénbàidǎodào:「hǎohǎo!」yǒuzànwéizhèngdànjiàn


逐句解 Line by line

dàilechāfēishànggāotáisuìxiángyúnzhízhìjiǔxiāoxiànchūjiùyuánshēntuōlejìngpíngyángliǔ dàilechāfēishànggāotáisuìxiángyúnzhízhìjiǔxiāoxiànchūjiùyuánshēntuōlejìngpíngyángliǔ

That Bodhisattva, taking Moksha with her, flew up onto the high platform, then trod upon the auspicious clouds, rose straight to the ninth heaven, and revealed her true form as the Reliever of Suffering, holding aloft the pure vase and the willow-sprig.

救苦原身 ('her original body as the Reliever of Suffering') is Guanyin's true bodhisattva form; the 淨瓶 (pure vase) and 楊柳 (willow-sprig) are her standard emblems, used to sprinkle the sweet dew of compassion. is demonstrative .

zuǒbiānshìchāhuìànzhízhegùndǒusǒujīngshén zuǒbiānshìchāhuìànzhízhegùndǒusǒujīngshén

On her left was Moksha Huian, gripping his staff, his spirit alert and keen.

惠岸 (Huian) is Moksha's religious title. in 執著棍 ('gripping his staff') is the durative zhe.

detángwángcháotiānbàizhòngwénguìfénxiāng detángwángcháotiānbàizhòngwénguìfénxiāng

So delighted was the Tang king that he worshipped toward heaven, and all his civil and military officers knelt to the ground and offered incense.

in 朝天 ('toward heaven') is cháo. The revelation collapses the court's decorum into spontaneous worship.

滿mǎnzhōngsēngdàoshìréngōngjiǎrénbàidǎodào:「hǎohǎo!」yǒuzànwéizhèngdànjiàn mǎnzhōngsēngdàoshìréngōngjiǎrénbàidǎodào:「hǎohǎo!」yǒuzànwéizhèngdànjiàn

Throughout the temple, monks and nuns, Daoists and laity, scholars, artisans, and merchants — there was not one who did not bow and pray, saying: 'Blessed Bodhisattva! Blessed Bodhisattva!' There is a hymn in proof. Behold:

in 讚為證 ('a hymn in proof') is wéi; in 但見那 is demonstrative , ushering in the descriptive fu.


總評 Commentary

The disguise falls, and the chapter reaches its climax: the ragged mendicant ascends the platform and manifests as Guanyin herself, in her full iconographic glory — vase and willow in hand, Moksha at her side, borne up to the ninth heaven on auspicious cloud. The effect on the assembly is total: emperor, court, clergy, and commons alike fall to worship as one. What had been staged as a scandal — two beggars disrupting a rite — is revealed as a theophany, and the doctrinal correction of the previous passages is now underwritten by unmistakable divine authority. The revelation transforms the whole meaning of the Grand Mass: it was not the culmination of the emperor's piety but the occasion for heaven to announce a far greater task.