The Precious Scroll of Fragrant Mountain

Introduction

The tale of Princess Miaoshan's path to enlightenment, still chanted from the text by reciters in Changshu

The Precious Scroll of Fragrant Mountain, also called the Scripture of the Deeds of Guanyin, tells how Guanyin, in an earlier life as Princess Miaoshan, followed the path to enlightenment. Written in a mix of classical and vernacular Chinese, with prose and verse in turn, it was made to be chanted aloud; it was probably composed in the early Ming, was already widely popular by the mid-Ming, and later branched into several different versions. In the story King Miaozhuang opposes his daughter's wish to take vows and burns the White Sparrow Temple; Miaoshan is put to death, preaches in the underworld, returns to life, and at Fragrant Mountain gives her own hands and eyes to cure her father before appearing with a thousand arms and a thousand eyes. Around Changshu in Jiangsu, scroll recitation is called jiangjing or xuanjuan, and this scroll is chanted at nearly every local religious gathering held for the needs of the living. A Changshu version first printed in 1868 is still performed there by professional reciters, and the scroll is especially loved by local women, for whom it is part of a shared culture.