
Longnü (;
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: ''nāgakanyā'';
Vietnamese: ''Long nữ''), translated as ''Dragon Girl'', along with
Sudhana are considered
acolytes
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...
of the
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
Guanyin
Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...
(
Avalokiteśvara
In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...
) in
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...
. Her presence in Guanyin's iconography was influenced by tantric sutras celebrating the esoteric Amoghapāśa and Thousand-armed forms of Guanyin, which mention Longnü offering Guanyin a priceless pearl in gratitude for the latter visiting the Dragon King's palace at the bottom of the ocean to teach the inhabitants her salvific
dharani.
There are no scriptural sources connecting both Sudhana and Longnü to Avalokiteśvara at the same time. It has been suggested that the acolytes are representations of the two major
Mahāyāna
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
texts, the ''
Lotus Sūtra
The ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram'', ''Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma'', zh, p=Fǎhuá jīng, l=Dharma Flower Sutra) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. ...
'' and the ''
Avataṃsaka Sūtra'', in which Longnü and Sudhana appear, respectively.
The depiction of Longnü and Sudhana with Avalokiteśvara may have been influenced by
Yunü (''Jade Maiden'') and
Jintong (''Golden Youth'') who both appear in the iconography of the
Jade Emperor
In the Chinese mythology, myths and Chinese folk religion, folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the Primordial Divinity (Tai Di), primordial god.
In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of ...
. She is described as being the eight-year-old daughter of the
Dragon King
The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the '' lóng'' in ...
(;
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: ''nāgarāja'') of the
East Sea.
In the Lotus Sūtra

Longnü is depicted in the 12th Chapter of the ''Lotus Sūtra'' (Skt. ''Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra'') as being full of wisdom and achieving instant enlightenment. In the ''Lotus Sūtra'',
Mañjuśrī
Manjushri () is a ''bodhisattva'' who represents ''Prajñā (Buddhism), prajñā'' (transcendent wisdom) of the Buddhas in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The name "Mañjuśrī" is a combination of Sanskrit word "wikt:%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%9E%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9C%E0 ...
Bodhisattva speaks of her, saying:
There is the daughter of the nāga king Sāgara who is only eight years old. She is wise; her faculties are sharp; and she also well knows all the faculties and deeds of sentient beings. She has attained the power of recollection. She preserves all the profound secret treasures of the Buddhas, enters deep in meditation, and is well capable of discerning all dharmas. She instantly produced the thought of enlightenment (Skt. ''bodhicitta
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta ("aspiration to enlightenment" or "the thought of awakening") is the mind ( citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi) through wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.Dayal, Har (1970). ''T ...
'') and has attained the stage of nonretrogression. She has unhindered eloquence and thinks of sentient beings with as much compassion as if they were her own children. Her virtues are perfect. Her thoughts and explanations are subtle and extensive, merciful, and compassionate. She has a harmonious mind and has attained enlightenment.
However, the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
's disciple
Śāriputra
Śāriputra (; Tibetan: ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་, Pali: ''Sāriputta'', lit. "the son of Śāri", born Upatiṣya, Pali: ''Upatissa'') was one of the top disciples of Gautama Buddha, the Buddha. He is considered the first of the Buddh ...
, a
Sravaka, does not believe that a woman can attain buddhahood. In response, the nāga maiden offers a pearl to the Buddha, symbolizing her life and ego, and he accepts it. She then instantly transforms into a perfected male bodhisattva, and then attains complete enlightenment.
According to Schuster, the Lotus Sutra's argument "is directed against the notion that some bodies (male) are fit for the highest destinies, and other bodies (female) are not."
In
Chan Buddhism
Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning " meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song ...
, the story was taken as an example to emphasize the potential of
sudden awakening
Sudden awakening or Sudden enlightenment (), also known as subitism, is a Buddhist idea which holds that practitioners can achieve an instantaneous insight into ultimate reality (Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind). This awakening is describe ...
.
In folk tales
Tale of the Southern Seas
A single chapter in the ''Complete Tale of Avalokiteśvara and the Southern Seas'' (), a sixteenth century
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
novel is the first text that connects Longnü and Sudhana together as being acolytes of Avalokiteśvara. When the Dragon King's third son was out for swim in the sea in the form of a
carp
The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...
, he was captured by a fisherman. Unable to transform into his dragon form due to being trapped on land, he was going to be sold and butchered at the local market. Once Avalokiteśvara learned of his predicament, she gave Shancai all her money and sent her disciple to buy him from the market and set him free. Because the carp was still alive hours after it was caught, this drew a large crowd and soon a bidding war started due to people believing that eating this fish would grant them
immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit.
From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...
. Shancai was easily outbid and begged the fish seller to spare the life of the fish, but to no avail and earning the scorn of the people at the market. It was then that Avalokiteśvara projected her voice from far away saying, "A life should definitely belong to one who tries to save it, not one who tries to take it". The crowd realizing their mistake soon dispersed and Shancai was able to bring the carp back to Avalokiteśvara and return it to the sea.
As a token of gratitude, the Dragon King asked Ao Guang to bring the "Pearl of Light", but his granddaughter volunteers to go in his father's place instead. After offering the pearl to Avalokiteśvara, she decides to stay with her and become her disciple to learn the Buddhist
Dharma
Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...
.
[ Chinese Customs - Avalokiteśvara](_blank)
/ref>[Chün-fang Yü. ]
Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara
'. Columbia University Press, 2001. p. 440. .
The Precious Scrolls
Unlike the ''Complete Tale of Avalokiteśvara and the Southern Seas'' which only briefly mentions Longnü, the ''Precious Scroll of Sudhana and Longnü'' (), an eighteenth-nineteenth century scroll consisting of 29 folios, is completely devoted to the legend of Longnü and Sudhana and seems to have a Taoist origin. The text is set during the Qianfu period of the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
. One day when Sudhana is walking down a mountain path to visit his father he hears a voice crying out for help. Upon investigation, it turns out to be the voice of a snake trapped in a bottle for the last eighteen years. The snake begs Sudhana to release her, upon which she turn into her true form, that of a monster, and threatens to eat him. When Sudhana protests at the snake's behavior, she makes the argument that than ''ēn'' (恩, a kind act) is repaid by a feud, and that is the way of the world. However, the snake agrees to submit the argument to three judges.
The first judge the argument is presented to is the human incarnation of the Golden Water Buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...
Star, who agrees with the snake, given its past experience with humans. The Buffalo Star relates how it never wanted to descend to earth but was pushed out of the gates of heaven by Kṣitigarbha who took pity on the toiling masses. Kṣitigarbha vowed that if the humans did not repay a favor with a favor, his eyes would fall out and drop to the ground. Because of the Buffalo Star's fall to earth, which was face first, it lost all of its upper front teeth. It suffered greatly at the hands of humans; after years of toiling for its master, it was butchered and eaten. Because of this, Kṣitigarbha's eyes did indeed fall out, and transformed into the snails that the buffaloes now trample on when it plows the fields.
The second judge they encounter is the Taoist priest Zhuangzi, who also agrees with the snake, citing an experience he had when he resurrected a skeleton who then immediately took Zhuangzi to court and accused him of stealing his money.
The last judge they meet is a young girl. The girl tells the snake that it can eat her as well, if the snake could show her how it was able to fit into the bottle which Sudhana had released it from. As soon as the snake worms itself back into the bottle, it is trapped. The girl then reveals herself to be Avalokiteśvara. When the snake begs for mercy, Avalokiteśvara tells it that in order to be saved, it must engage itself in religious exercises in the Grotto of the Sounds of the Flood (present day Fayu Temple) on Mount Putuo
Mount Putuo (, from Sanskrit: " Mount Potalaka") is an island in Putuo District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China. It is a renowned site in Chinese Buddhism and is the bodhimaṇḍa of the bodhisattva Guanyin.
Mount Putuo is one of the four sa ...
.
Three years later, Sudhana formally becomes an acolyte of Avalokiteśvara along with the Filial Parrot. After the snake has submitted itself to seven years of austerity, it cleanses itself of its poison and produces a pearl. It then transforms into Longnü and becomes an acolyte of Avalokiteśvara.
Notes
References
Sources
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Further reading
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* Groner, Paul (1989)
The Lotus Sutra and Saicho´s Interpretation of Realization of Buddhahood with This very Body
In George J Tanabe, Jr.; Willa J Tanabe; The Lotus Sutra in Japanese culture. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. , pp. 53–74
External links
Putuoshan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longnu
Buddhism in China
Characters in Chinese mythology
Buddhist mythology
Women in mythology