Golden-Nosed White-Haired Mouse Spirit

Golden-Nosed White-Haired Mouse Spirit
Journey to the West character
First appearance
Chapter 82
In-universe information
AliasesLady Earth Flow; Half-Guanyin
SpeciesMouse
WeaponTwin swords (双股剑)
FamilyHeavenly King Li Jing (godfather); Nezha (godbrother)
Abode
Bottomless Pit (无底洞), Trap-Hollow Mountain (陷空山)

The Golden-Nosed White-Haired Mouse Spirit (Chinese: 金鼻白毛老鼠精; pinyin: Jīnbí Báimáo Lǎoshǔ Jīng), also known as Lady Earth Flow (地涌夫人) and Half-Guanyin (半截观音), is a yaoguai in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West (西游记). Appearing in the novel, she attempts to seduce and marry the monk Tang Sanzang to consume his yang essence. The spirit has a connection with Heavenly King Li Jing, whom she identifies as her godfather, and with Nezha, whom she identifies as her godbrother.

In Journey to the West

According to the novel, the Mouse Spirit originally cultivated her powers at Vulture Peak (Lingshan), where she stole and consumed the Buddha's fragrant flowers and candles. The Heavenly King Li Jing and Nezha were sent to capture her, but the Buddha ordered them to spare her life. She subsequently recognized Li Jing as her godfather (义父) and Nezha as her godbrother (义兄), and established memorial tablets for them at her residence. She later established her residence in the Bottomless Pit (无底洞) at Trap-Hollow Mountain (陷空山).[1]

During the pilgrims' journey, the Mouse Spirit disguises herself as a woman bound to a tree in the Black Pine Forest (黑松林). Tang Sanzang takes her to the Zhenhai Temple (镇海寺), where she kills and eats several monks before abducting him and taking him to the Bottomless Pit. She attempts to force Tang Sanzang to marry her so that she can obtain his vital essence and attain the status of a Taiyi Golden Immorta (太乙金仙, Tàiyǐ Jīnxiān), one of the highest possible ranks a spiritual being can achieve.[2]

When Sun Wukong enters the Bottomless Pit to rescue Tang Sanzang, he discovers the memorial tablets dedicated to Li Jing and Nezha. He takes the tablets to Heaven and confronts Li Jing over the Mouse Spirit's actions. Li Jing initially does not remember her, but Nezha reminds him of their previous encounter. Li Jing and Nezha then go to the Bottomless Pit with heavenly soldiers, capture the Mouse Spirit, and take her away.[1]

Origins

The Mouse Spirit has been associated with a legend from the ancient Kingdom of Khotan recorded by the monk Xuanzang in the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (大唐西域记). The text describes a "golden" (金色) Rat King at a place called the "Rat Mound" (鼠壤坟). When a large Xiongnu army invaded Khotan, the local king prayed to the Rat King for help. During the night, rats gnawed through the invaders' bowstrings and saddle straps, leaving their army unable to fight effectively. The Khotanese then built a temple in honor of the Rat King. A modern Chinese account connects this legend with the Mouse Spirit in Journey to the West, particularly the character's golden nose and white hair.[3][4]

The Mouse Spirit's relationship with Heavenly King Li has been linked to Buddhist traditions concerning Vaiśravaṇa (毗沙门天王), the Guardian of the North. Zhu Gang traces the association to Tang dynasty texts concerning the monk Yixing (一行). In these accounts, Vaiśravaṇa helps the Tang army by sending divine "golden rats" (金鼠) to destroy the equipment of its enemies. Zhu connects these accounts with the earlier Khotanese legend and argues that the golden rat motif later became associated with the Chinese figure of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li. In Journey to the West, this association appears in the Mouse Spirit's identification as Li Jing's adopted daughter.[5]

Folk culture

The Mouse Spirit's attempt to marry Tang Sanzang has been described as a variant of the Chinese "Mouse Bride" or "Mouse Marriage" tradition (老鼠嫁女 or 老鼠娶亲). The motif is found in different forms in Chinese folk culture and New Year popular art. In one common version, the mouse family seeks a powerful husband for their daughter, approaching figures such as the sun, clouds, wind and a wall before turning to the cat, which is feared by mice. The story usually ends with the cat eating the mouse bride.[6]

The motif also appears in older literary traditions. Li Tianfei points to a story in the Tang-period Guangyi Ji (广异记) in which a mouse spirit takes a human woman as a wife, noting the connection between the mouse–human marriage motif and the Mouse Spirit's attempt to marry Tang Sanzang in Journey to the West.[3]

The two traditions were combined in some later Chinese New Year prints. A Suzhou Taohuawu print titled Wudong Laoshujianü (无底洞老鼠嫁女, "Mouse Bride of the Bottomless Pit") combines the story of the Mouse Spirit from Journey to the West with the "Mouse Bride" folk theme. The print depicts the Mouse Spirit seeking to marry Tang Sanzang and bribing the Old Cat King (老猫王) to act as a matchmaker, while Guanyin appears in the form of a cat spirit and defeats her.[3][6]

A Shanghai Xiaojiaochang New Year print titled Tang Sanzang Fetches Scriptures: The Western Mouse Marries Her Daughter (唐僧取经 西洋老鼠嫁女) likewise combines the Journey to the West story with the "Mouse Bride" theme.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "83". Journey to the West (西游记) (in Chinese).
  2. ↑ "老鼠精唐僧的"娘子"" [The Mouse Spirit: Tang Seng's "Wife"] (in Chinese). Chinese National Geography.
  3. 1 2 3 "西游记为何必然会安排老鼠精？老鼠精为何能让唐僧叫"娘子"" [Why Journey to the West Inevitably Includes the Mouse Spirit, and Why Does She Call Tang Sanzang "Wife"?] (in Chinese). The Paper. 2016-05-02.
  4. ↑ "网上展览：瑞鼠吐宝——庚子鼠年新春生肖文物图片联展" [Online Exhibition: Auspicious Mouse Spitting Treasures — Gengzi Year of the Rat Zodiac Cultural Relics Image Exhibition] (in Chinese). Fujian Museum. 2020-01-15.
  5. ↑ Zhu, Gang (2020-09-21). "于阗的毗沙门信仰及"托塔李天王"名号之由来" [Vaiśravaṇa Belief in Khotan and the Origin of the Title "Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li"] (in Chinese). Center for Ancient Chinese Literature, Fudan University.
  6. 1 2 3 "民间艺术与年味②|民俗年画与剪纸中的鼠文化" [Folk Art and New Year Flavor: Mouse Culture in New Year Prints and Paper-cuts] (in Chinese). Sina News. 2020-01-26.
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