Longnü

Longnü (traditional Chinese: 龍女; simplified Chinese: 龙女; pinyin: Lóngnǚ; Sanskrit: nāgakanyā; Vietnamese: Long nữ), translated as Dragon Girl, along with Sudhana are considered acolytes of the bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara) in Chinese Buddhism. 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 texts, the Lotus Sūtra 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. She is described as being the eight-year-old daughter of the Dragon King (traditional Chinese: 龍王; simplified Chinese: 龙王; pinyin: Lóng Wáng; Sanskrit: nāgarāja) of the East Sea.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.