Pilanpo
Pilanpo (Chinese: 毗蓝婆) is a bodhisattva and the mother of the Sun Deity of Mao (昴日星官) in Chinese folk religion.[1][2]
Pilanpo | |||||||
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Ancient wall painting of Pilanpo bodhisattva at the Xianwu Temple | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 毗藍婆 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 毗蓝婆 | ||||||
Literal meaning | Pralambra | ||||||
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Legends
According to legend, Pilanpo is a shapeshifting bodhisattva, and in her true form she is depicted as a hen. She is the relative of Mahamayuri, a bodhisattva and the godmother of buddha who changed from the great peacock. The prototype of the phoenix (Fenghuang) is the hen, and the peacock is also the daughter of the phoenix. Since the originated from the hen, Pilanpo and Mahamayuri are the close relatives. Pilanpo arranged the phoenix to protect and rescue the peacocks. Her son is Sun Deity of Mao (Sun Rooster of Hairy Head), a sun rooster deity.[2]
Sometime, Pilanpo is often equated with Ākāśagarbha, a bodhisattva who is associated with the great element (mahābhūta) of space (ākāśa), but actually, Pilanpo has her own number of stories and legends. Pilanpo is under the Buddha and so she lived in seclusion. She were living in Thousand Flowers Cave (千花洞) at the Purple Clouds Mountain (紫雲山).
Journey to the West
In Journey to the West, when Tang Sanzang was captured by the powerful Hundred Eyed Demon King, who has a thousand eyes that radiate brilliant golden light to confuse his enemies and victims, Sun Wukong was difficult to defeat the demon king. Fortunately, Lishan Laomu gave instructions, and Sun Wukong requested the help of the Bodhisattva Pilanpo. The demon king is eventually subdued and captured by Pilanpo Bodhisattva with an embroidery needle (The treasure was extracted from the eyes of her son, Sun Deity of Mao), and sent to guard the Thousand Flowers Cave at Purple Clouds Mountain.[3]
References
- "风雨潇潇,鸡鸣胶胶". The Beijing News (in Chinese). 28 January 2017.
- "西游记里的毗蓝婆竟然来历这么深". Sohu (in Chinese). 3 March 2017.
- "300年不管闲事,毗蓝婆菩萨难怪收走蜈蚣精,您看破碎星是谁?_手机搜狐网". Sohu. 15 June 2019.
Sources
- Nikaidō, Yoshihiro (2015). Asian Folk Religion and Cultural Interaction. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 9783847004851.
- 西游记: 李卓吾批评本 (in Chinese). 岳麓书社. 2006. ISBN 9787806657287.
- 评, (明)吴承恩/ 著 李卓吾 (2017). 西 游 记 (下) (in Chinese). 海乾坤文化公司.
- "毗蓝婆菩萨和黎山老母有什么恩怨-看见历史". www.kanjianlishi.com. 20 June 2017.
- "毗蓝婆菩萨有多厉害?一绣花针破蜈蚣精金光,连黎山老母都忌惮她". Beijing Time. 7 July 2018.
- "毗蓝婆菩萨". ZCOOL.
- "毗蓝婆菩萨_版本历史". Baike.