Chinese myths and supernatural narratives present not only actual historical events and backgrounds of the Chinese culture but also of human experiences, emotions, and above all of their philosophical views about their religions such as Taoism and Buddhism. These narratives are shaped by allegory or fictional techniques to convey messages concerning the aforementioned themes.
Chinese mythological narratives telling about supernatural creatures, their unbelievable journeys and adventures seem to appear simple yet they serve as excellent means for the writers to deliver the meaningful ideas, social issues and problems confronted by the people, specifically the Chinese, in real life. These narratives basically reflect not just the traditions, values, beliefs of the main character in the story but of the Chinese norms and culture as a whole, which is what a typical Chinese supernatural narrative “Ta-mu-ch′ien-lien ming-chien chiu-mu pien wen,” exhibits. This narrative is a transformation text exemplifying a prosimetric form characteristic of Buddhist sutras and stories (HBMC Buddhapia 2005) ,which was adapted by the Chinese writers to enhance their skills to suite their purpose of employing fictional techniques that may help them to impress religious beliefs and values, as well as, to present traditional social norms of the Chinese historical society to the audience regardless of their social status.
Mahamaudgalyayana’s Rescue of His Mother from the underworld illustrates convictions synthesizing reality and fiction of both novel and adopted ideas. Chinese view of circumstances taking place around him and in his own life as well as his fellow’s notion of human existence and beliefs from neighboring countries are put together to come up with such a spectacular narrative that does not only entertain but impart life’s lessons as well.
Mu-lien’s myth speaks of his journey to hell for the purpose of saving his mother. It also depicts his struggles and adventures in the horrifying underworld as he accomplishes the mission. Some of these are his encounter with the Pretas, the creatures who are plagued by endless hunger and unquenchable thirst and his meeting with the different hungry ghosts who became such because of greediness . Further, the writer carefully narrates the details on the gruesome punishment of hell dwellers, the relentless laws of karma, and the unbending underworld official who administer punishments. Mulien’s astonishing actions and reactions as he undergoes the challenging journey reflect the traditional social values and beliefs of Buddhism. Examples of these are the terrifying details provided about hell and the performance of a ritual so as to save the dead from suffering the punishment given to her, all of these led to supernatural transformation, which is apparently used by the writer to deliver convictions of Buddhism to its audience.
As the old saying goes “Charity begins at home” ,thus, before it is imparted to others it must be imparted to the members of the family first and this is exactly the same as showing love to and concern for others. In Chinese traditional society, people deeply give weight to a value of Xiao (filiality). According to Xiao’s teaching, children should obey their parents, and that they have to follow and fulfill their elders’ expectations. Thus, they have to do what is expected of them for it is said that it is by realizing their parent’s wishes that Chinese children can show their love and obedience to their parents. Moreover, filial children cannot bear to see their parents suffering in pain so they end up doing their very best to make them live comfortably. Others even bear the hardship of helping their parents financially to let them live with good fortune.
Filiality is a behavior of the normal human relationship in the Chinese ethical tradition. The writer of “Mu-lien pien-wen” conveys the concept of Xiao by means of a supernatural narrative, which at the same time provides the audience entertainment as they are informed of the teaching. In the story, Mu-lien, who cannot bear to see his mother suffering in underworld tries to find a way to rescue her without considering its cost to him. The mother has committed many sins during her lifetime which is why she was sent to the underworld to suffer the consequence of what she did. The underworld is the place where sinful people are brought to and punished after death. Despite his mother’s disagreeable reputation Mulien sacrificed his own safety only to save her and give her the comfort that he thinks she badly needs. Mu-lien’s deed and behavior towards his mother and the situation advises human beings that repaying benevolence of raise to the parents, no matter how cruel they may be, is a must to every child and that no other thing in the world can ease a parent’s suffering except the love of his/her child.
As for an aspect of religious belief, the writer conveys a Buddhist doctrine of causation through supernatural narrative of Mu-lien. In the story, Mu-lien’s dead mother suffers from starvation in hell due to the burdens of sins that she committed during her existence on earth. She was hung upside down in hell after death. Buddhist causation theory advocates that each one is interconnected to everything else in the world. The Buddhist doctrine gives us a teaching which says: “people have to be responsible for their own behaviors and that whatever the consequences of the said behaviors may be, they must bear”. Thus, sins committed by people during their lifetime are repaid by them whether as they go through life or as they proceed to death . For example, the woman who gave a bowl of urine to the monk was reborn as a hungry ghost due to dishonesty whereas the woman who did not give food to the monk was reborn to suffer endless hunger in the afterlife. The concept of causation also connects to the Buddhist idea of underworld known as hell. To the Buddhist, hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. The concept of underworld and the Buddhist doctrine of co-dependence (causation) impress that when people commit sinful acts during their lifetime, they have to suffer and be punished in the afterlife and that they cannot get away from the consequences of their sins. Another is the self-sacrifice, being demonstrated by Mu-lien. Self-sacrifice is the basis of Buddhism (www.squidoo.com/bodhisattva). And this was proven by Buddha himself when he gave up everything about his life to attain Nirvana. The adventures undergone by Mu-lien and how he dealt with each of them speaks of self-sacrifice and self-discipline considering the dangers that he has to overcome and to eventually succeed in the pursuit of saving his beloved mother.
As a whole the “Ta-mu-ch′ien-lien ming-chien chiu-mu pien wen,” is a transformation text which gives delight to the audience because of the fascinating encounter and escapades of Mu-lien from the fury of the ghosts and monsters which truly tested his endurance and bravery. Mu-lien’s experiences imparts people the knowledge of the Chinese culture and the complexity of the Buddhist folk religion in a sense that Mu-lien in the story had time meeting and speaking with Buddha who answered and explained comprehensively every single question that Mu-lien asked concerning each ghost whom he met along the way. As an explanation was provided by Buddha each ideal and philosophical view of Buddhism surfaced. The ghosts met by Mu-lien made him understand that charity and generosity especially to the monks pay off if shown sincerely and that doing the opposite would result to suffering by the one who did it. All of these instruct the audience on what to do about their lives for them to attain what Buddha had attained. Mulien and his mother impacted every individual the certainty of karmic retribution which is so much like of the teaching of Confucius which says : “Do unto others what you want others do unto you”. Mu-lien’s story tells everyone that kindness repays kindness and that peace and contentment are achieved only if people reflect the same convictions and that they are prepared to make sacrifices for others just like what Mu-Lien did.
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