Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Escape from Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang

Escape from Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang

Idema, Wilt L.
Grant, Beata

Paperback

Literary CriticismMythology & FolkloreChinese History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0295991208
ISBN13: 9780295991207
Publisher: Univ Of Washington Pr
Published: Dec 1 2011
Pages: 368
Weight: 0.97
Height: 0.90 Width: 6.00 Depth: 8.90
Language: English

These translations of The Precious Scroll of the Three Lives of Mulian and Woman Huang Recites the Diamond Sutra are late-nineteenth-century examples of baojuan (literally, precious scrolls), a Chinese folk genre featuring alternating verse and prose that was used by monks to illustrate religious precepts for lay listeners. They represent only two of numerous versions, composed in a variety of genres, of these legends, which were once popular all over China. While the seeds of the Mulian legend, in which a man rescues his mother from hell, can be found in Indian Buddhist texts, the story of Woman Huang, who seeks her own salvation, appears to be indigenous to China.

With their graphic portrayals of the underworld; dramatization of Buddhist beliefs about death, salvation, and rebirth; and frank discussion of women's responsibility for sin, these texts provide detailed and powerful descriptions of popular religious beliefs and practices in late imperial China, especially as they relate to women.

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