Miao Shan

Elyse Ashe Lord

Miao Shan (or Miaoshan) is widely regarded as a popular iteration of the Buddhist bodhisattva known as Avalokitescara - translated into the Chinese as Guanyin - the bodhisattva of compassion or mercy. In his research, 11th century Chinese Buddhist monk Jiang Zhiqui interpreted the story of Guanyin as that of the princess Miaoshan, who had a religious following on the Fragrant Mountain. This has since been interpreted in several ways, yet the core story remains similar: On the verge of being forced into marriage by her father the king, she said she would obey his order as long as the marriage eased three misfortunes: the suffering that accompanies illness, old age, and death. When asked by her father who could perform such a miracle, she said that only a doctor could. Angered that his daughter would suggest that she marry a doctor rather than a wealthy man, he banished her first to hard labor in the hopes of deterring her; when that did not work, he ordered her to be executed and her spirit sent to Hell.

Miaoshan was carried into the hell realm by a supernatural tiger; yet upon arrival, she was impervious to torture. Flowers blossomed all around her, and she played music for the other spirits trapped in the realm - the flowers and music being symbols of the release of her vast karmic compassion. In the end, her very presence in hell transformed the realm into a paradise and the suffering spirits were sent back into Heaven and Earth

The supernatural tiger appears in more than one iteration of this tale, as a kind of vehicle of transformation. In Elyse Ashe Lord’s depiction, Miaoshan and the tiger journey to the Fragrant Mountain, her final destination and reward for her good deed.