Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/154

142 drives away demons, hence the widespread use of cock's blood on the prow and stern of boats on the Yangtse. The Ssŭch‘uanese say that their province is a chi lung hsüeh (雞籠穴), a chicken coop; that is, it is surrounded by mountains, and when a coop is full the first thing to be done is to seize some chickens and kill them. This has been what other provinces have done to Ssŭch‘uan in the past and what is feared in the present. So whenever trouble breaks out, chickens are killed and eaten wholesale to avert if possible this calamity.

Wu fu p‘êng shou (捧壽), the five happinesses complete in old age. These five blessings are age, riches, peace, virtue, happiness. In this charm the character shou for old age occupies the centre with five bats fluttering around it; the five bats represent the five happinesses (蝠 for 福).

(觀音), Kuan Yin.

Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy, is said to have been the third daughter of Miao Chuang wang (妙莊王), she and her sisters being styled as follows:

Ta chieh Wên Shu (大姊文殊), Erh chieh P‘u Hsien (二姊普普賢), San chieh Kuan Yin (三姊觀音).

Miao Chuang wang is of aboriginal origin, and legend has it that he migrated from the Indian border to Ssŭch‘uan and settled in Sui-ling hsien at a temple called Pei ch‘ŭeh ssŭ, where his daughters became nuns. The temple where they lived was burned down; probably by their father, because of the lewd lives they were living; but legend says that the three nuns were unharmed. The worship and deification of lust is not unknown in Ssŭch‘uan even now. The presence of the harlots' quarters in the city of Kuan hsien is said to preserve the good luck of the city. A few years ago when the police pulled down their houses and drove them away, several things happened which were reckoned unlucky and all was put down to the disturbing of these bad places. In some temples obscene pictures are still to be found; and the worship of the tribesmen in the Wa si region is still a worship of evil passions.

The goddess holds in her left hand a small bottle of dry dew, containing the elixir of life, which carries people over the