| Mother
Zhusheng |
 |
Every
time you come to Lungshan Temple, you never fail to find a boiled
chicken set out in a pot of noodles in front of the statue to Mother
Zhusheng, and there are always a few old women praying to the goddess to
look after this child or that. |
| We
studied up on Mother Zhusheng and learned that she lived during the Tang
dynasty and her name was Chen Jinggu. In the year 784 A.D. her hometown
was visited by a terrible drought. Lin Jinggu was pregnant, but caring
more for the welfare of the village than for her own flesh and blood,
she aborted her several-month-old fetus to pray for rain. She died from
her exertions and later came to be revered as the patron goddess of
pregnancy and childbirth. You will often see pregnant women worshipping
at the foot of her statue.
|
| Twelve Matrons |
 |
Next
to Mother Zhusheng we found twelve rather unobtrusive statues. When we
asked about them, some of the regular templegoers told us that these are
called the Twelve Matrons, and they are usually at Mother Zhusheng’s
side. Each of the Twelve Matrons is carrying a baby, and each dispenses
happiness and misfortune in accordance with the laws of karma. |
| Chi
Tou Fu Ren |
 |
We
were surprised to see a statue of a goddess called the Mistress of the
Bloody Pool (Chi Tou Fu Ren),
because we had never seen her in any other temple.
|
| The
guide told the story behind this goddess. Back in the mid-19th century,
groups of immigrants from different parts of Fujian Province waged a
blood feud that continued for decades. The worst of the tension was
between people from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. Lungshan Temple was a
bastion of the Quanzhou people. One day a group of Zhangzhou people
caught the Quanzhou community with its guard down, and they swooped in
with weapons to kill and maim. A Quanzhou woman saw the attackers coming
and stood by the pond outside the front gate to Lungshan Temple,
screaming to warn her compatriots of the imminent danger. Thanks to her
brave act, the Quanzhou people were able to flee to safety, but the
woman was killed. People took to worshipping her in the temple, and they
dubbed her Mistress of the Bloody Pool.
|