Preface 4

  1. Guanyin appears in a backstreet of a small city, where she sees an old woman standing in the door of a brothel soliciting customers. Lying on the ground next to the woman is her daughter, who is sick and close to death. The old woman shouts, “Help me, help me!” But rich men merely approach, smile coldly, and continue on their way. At this point, Guanyin walks by, and when she sees this elderly woman soliciting customers, she asks, “You are already so advanced in age, why do you still need to do this sort of work?” The woman replies, “My daughter is sick and close to death, and I urgently need money to take her to see a doctor.” Guanyin squats down and silently embraces the child for a long time. The child asks her, “Can you save me?” Guanyin replies, “Yes, I can.” Then Guanyin goes to where the woman had been standing, and begins soliciting customers herself. She appears dignified and graceful, and soon is surrounded by a crowd of dignitaries and officials.

Soon, Guanyin and one of the merchants enter the brothel hand in hand …

  2. While Guanyin is in the brothel with her customer, many other men wait in line outside. Guanyin remembers how when she was young, she had wanted to marry “all the men in the world.” A peaceful smile appears on her face, as an auspicious cloud appears in the sky. The men and the old woman all look up at the cloud, whereupon Guanyin emerges from the brothel and places several silver dollars in the old woman’s hand. At this point, one of the men tugs at her, saying, “Come with me, and I’ll give you twice as much.” Guanyin replies, “No, thank you. This is already enough for the mother and daughter to see a doctor.”

Guanyin leaves the brothel and continues forward, as the people behind her kneel down and shout, “Deity! Deity!” …

In this way, Guanyin saves nine sick children and nine mothers by working in brothels throughout the city. At the same time, she also rescues nine girls who would have been sent to work in brothels by their parents. As for Guanyin, for each child, old woman, and young girl she saves, she needs to enter a brothel herself …

  3. Finally, Guanyin secures a second life from the brothel.

  4. Afterward, the specter of death that covers the sky and earth presses down upon Guanyin. Korea’s typhoid, Japan’s cholera, and the Philippines’ plague … Everywhere Guanyin goes, death follows her like a swarm of locusts. Therefore, in cholera and plague areas, she gives people medicine while running in the shadow of the specter of death …

  5. People throw the children infected with the plague into the fire, while Guanyin pulls them right back out. Life is a series of lights, while death is the darkness that remains after those lights are extinguished. Guanyin is always walking into the light and emerging from the darkness …

  6. Nation after nation, region after region, place after place, time after time—Guanyin repeatedly heads toward the specter of death, and repeatedly returns from the specter of death. Eventually, she succeeds in obtaining a third life.

  7. After obtaining her third life, Guanyin becomes a deity of the masses.

  8. She becomes the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin.