Folk Legend and Woodblock Prints: Feminized Guanyin Image in Vietnam

Abstract

<p>妙善觀音傳說不僅在中國，也在越南的觀音崇拜信仰都形成女性形象的基礎。儘管佛教或崇拜觀音的信仰在十世紀之前已在越南傳播，但直到十四世紀初，這個傳說的出現才在越南得到證實。從十六世紀末到十九世紀末二十世紀初，小說、寶卷、真經等不同類型的妙善觀音傳本被越南文學接受，並翻譯成六八體喃字詩傳。這些喃字傳故事對大眾的文化和宗教生活產生深遠的影響。本論文基於漢喃資料重現妙善觀音傳說傳播的歷史過程，以分析它們對民間雕刻木版畫的影響。其中，各種妙善觀音傳說喃譯版本的民間藝術創作資料，以圖畫的方式呈現，使得版畫成為喃傳觀音故事向公眾傳播喃字故事的渠道。書籍與版畫不僅使崇拜觀音成為越南主流信仰的動力之一，也顯示本土化的女性觀音特徵。 </p> <p> </p><p>The legend of Miaoshan-Guanyin constitutes the foundation of beliefs in the female form of Guanyin not only in China, but also in Vietnam. Although Buddhism and Guanyin beliefs in particular had spread in Vietnam before the 10th century, the appearance of this legend can be confirmed only at the beginning of the 14th century. From the end of the 16th century to the end of the 19th -- beginning of the 20th century, different versions of Miaoshan-Guanyin legend, such as novels (xiaoshuo), precious scrolls (baojuan), and true scriptures (zhenjing), were adapted in Vietnamese literature and translated into six-eight verse narratives. These Nôm versions have a profound impact on the cultural and religious life of the folk. This article presents the spread of the legend of Miaoshan-Guanyin in Vietnam to analyze its Nôm adaptions’s influence on the folk woodblock prints. The Nôm versions of the Miaoshan-Guanyin legend which are represented in folk woodblock prints become a channel for transmission of the story of Guanyin to the commoners. Sino-Nôm manuscripts and woodblock prints not only propagate the worship of Guanyin one of the main driving forces of Vietnam’s mainstream beliefs, but also express characteristics of the localized female form of Guanyin. </p> <p> </p>