Mingong (憫公) is a Chinese deity and the right attendant of the bodhisattva

Kṣitigarbha Kṣitigarbha ( sa, क्षितिगर्भ, , bo, ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་ Wylie: ''sa yi snying po'') is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be tr ...

. His son also entered the way of the bodhisattva and became his disciple and the left attendant, Daoming. Mingong was one of the earliest converts to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and ordained by the Buddha.

Legend

According to the local tradition, Mingong was a wealthy elderly man and landowner of the

Mount Jiuhua Mount Jiuhua () located in Chizhou, Anhui Province in China is an important Buddhist site and natural scenic spot. It is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China, one of the first batch of 5A level scenic spots in China, one of the fir ...

. He was a very kind hearted person and enjoyed giving donations. When Dizang (Kṣitigarbha) arrived at Mount Jiuhua and requested permission to use Jiuhua for his practice, Mingong offered to give him the land. Dizang replied that he needed only as much land as his monk's cloak would cover. Surprised at Dizang's reserve, Mingong nonetheless agreed to the bargain. But when Dizang placed his cloak on the mountain it covered all nine peaks. Finally, Mingong donated all peaks of his mountain to monk Dizang for use as a place of worship where

dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

was taught. He even asked his son to accompany Dizang to become a Buddhist monk who was subsequently called Daoming. Hereinafter Mingong left his full of rich life to become a follower of Dizang. When Dizang became enlightened, he achieved immortality and became a deity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mingong Chinese deities Chinese gods