This story is kind of strange...but fun to read. I wish I could find Thai stories about Guanyin. Lately, I read an article about Chinese entertainers went to Puket, Thailand to perform a play, they fell in love with the beaches/town, so they decided to settle down in Puket and built a big Guanyin Temple/statues there. When I was young, I only know the Guanyin Temple at Mount Sam-Mook, Bang-Saen, Thailand that situated on a mountain right on the beach where I could watch whales playing not so far away from the shore. And the temple was surrounded by many many monkies...1 of them snatched my red silky blanket and ran away! But a Chinese nun gave me a jade bracelet..why? Because I was such a cute babe!
เจ้าแม่กวนอิม Guanyin and Chen Jinggu
[Wikipedia]
When the people of Quanzhou, Fujian could not raise enough money to build a bridge, Guanyin changed into a beautiful maiden. Getting on a boat, she offered to marry any man who could hit her with a piece of silver from the edge of the water. Due to many people missing, she collected a large sum of money in her boat. However, Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, helped a merchant hit Guanyin in the hair with silver powder, which floated away in the water. Guanyin bit her finger and a drop of blood fell into the water, but she vanished. This blood was swallowed by a washer woman, who gave birth to Chen Jinggu (陈靖姑) or Lady Linshui (临水夫人); the hair was turned into a female white snake and sexually used men and killed rival women. The snake and Chen were to be mortal enemies. The merchant was sent to be reborn as Liu Qi (刘杞).
Chen was a beautiful and talented girl, but did not wish to marry Liu Qi. Instead, she fled to Mount Lu in Jiangxi, where she learned many Taoist skills. Destiny eventually caused her to marry Liu and she became pregnant. A drought in Fujian caused many people to ask her to call for rain, which was a ritual that could not be performed while pregnant. She temporarily aborted her child, which was killed by the white snake. Chen managed to kill the snake with a sword, but died either of a miscarriage or hemorrhage; she was able to complete the ritual, and ended drought.
This story is popular in Zhejiang, Taiwan, and especially Fujian.
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tidathep
