The Buddhist re-interpretation of the legends surrounding King Mu of Zhou.

• Author: Julch, Thomas
• Position: Report

King Mu of Zhou was subject to two different legendary traditions in classical Chinese sources. Both of these traditions were re-interpreted in Buddhism for the purposes of Chinese Buddhist apologetic thought. In this paper I will examine how these re-interpretations worked and in which Buddhist texts they are present.

King Mu of Zhou [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]: (modern dating according to Mathieu: 956-918 B.C.; traditional dating according to Mathews: 1001-946 B.C.)1 was the fifth king of the Western Zhou dynasty (1122-770 B.C.). Since early times, King Mu had been the subject of legends. Basically there are two different traditions. One can be extracted from the Mu tianzi zhuan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Biography of the Heaven's Son Mu)2 and from the Zhushujinian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Bamboo Annals),3 and another one is found at the beginning of the Liezi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], chapter 3 (Graham 1960: 61-64). According to A. C. Graham, the present text of the Liezi was composed towards the end of the third century A.D. (Graham 1961: 197). So the Mu tianzi zhuan, dating back to 350 B.C. (Mathieu 1993: 342), and the Zhushujinian, dating back to 299 B.C. (Nivi-son 1993: 39-47), would appear to be the older sources.

In the Mu tianzi zhuan and in Zhushujinian, chapter "Zhouji" [TEXT UNREADABLE IN ORIGINAL SOURCE.], we read that King Mu in the seventeenth year of his reign traveled west to meet the Xiwang Mu [TEXT UNREADABLE IN ORIGINAL SOURCE.] (Queen Mother of the West)4 at Mount Kunlun [TEXT UNREADABLE IN ORIGINAL SOURCE.] (Fang 2008: 49ff.). In the Mu tianzi zhuan the banquet the Queen Mother held for King Mu is described. According to the description, the Queen Mother and King Mu at this occasion exchanged poems. In hers, the Queen Mother identifies herself as "the daughter of the Celestial emperor" (Yoshikawa 2008).

The account of King Mu given in Liezi, chapter 3, differs from the tradition in the Mu tianzi zhuan and in the Zhushujinian. In the Liezi, the main part of the story deals with King Mu becoming acquainted with a huaren [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (magician), who guided King Mu on a spiritual journey to heavenly places described in the fashion of Daoist divine abodes. Only on the basis of the impact of this spiritual experience did King Mu undertake his worldly travels, such as the journey to the Queen Mother of the West.

So basically--with the traditions based on the Mu tianzi zhuan...