蘭英寳卷 - WUL59
繪圖蘭英寶卷 Hui tu lan ying bao juan |
| 別名 Other Titles: 宣講勧善民間故事, 繪圖蘭英寶卷, 天道無私 |
| 有關人物 Associated Persons: 吳門陳潤身書
出版地區 Place(s) of Publication: 上海 版式 Format: 石印版 出版者 Publisher(s): 惜陰書局印行 出版年 Publication Date: 載於 Located In: Waseda University Library 文庫19 F0399 0066 0011 |
| Cite as 引用為: "CRTA 蘭英寳卷 - WUL59" |
Incorporating many common themes and elements of various other baojuan stories, Lan Ying baojuan 蘭英寶卷 tells a story about retribution, in the aim of advocating for merits through good moral behaviours and proselytising religious practice of the society. This story includes about 12 main characters of different social class from multiple families across three generations over a long span of years. The story started from 大宋仁宗五年 in 江南松江府上海縣. It is a dense story with multiple narratives advancing simultaneously. It also paced very well and changed scenes often at dramatic turning points. This story also depicts a vivid picture of how the celestial deities (聖母 and 玉皇) and the justice of underworld (閻王) interact and influence the events in the human world. One of the eight Taoist immortals, 鐵拐李 also has a minor role in this story.
There are two baojuan named 蘭英寶卷 in the Waseda Collection (published by 惜陰書局 and 文益書局 in Shanghai, both undated), there is another edition published by 西湖瑪瑙經房 seen by Katherine Alexander (located in Regenstein Library, University of Chicago, HY 5725 4243) dated 1884, link below in the “see also” section.
別名 Other Titles
The title page gives the title as 繪圖蘭英寶卷. “宣講勸善民間故事” was placed at the top of the title page and a picture of 普門大士 （觀世音菩薩 Avalokiteśvara）. On the center of each page (版心), the shortened title in this edition is 蘭英寶卷.
出版地區 Place(s) of Publication
The location given on the title page is Shanghai 上海.
出版年 Publication Date(s)
There is no date on the title page.
有關人物 Associated Person(s)
No Additional Information
內容 Contents
- 封面 Title Page
- 序「世風不古…」
- Illustration of main characters: 甄夫人，唐硃德，芮國清，万俟蘭英，唐熙，鐵拐仙
- The opening of the baojuan starts with 先排香案，開壇慶壽。
- 蘭英寶卷（p.1-p.16)
序跋等 Prefaces and Postfaces
- 序 if we can consider the small column at the bottom of the title page as the preface, it starts with「世風不古…」
- no date
- 惜陰主人識
註疏 Commentary
Authorship There is no explicit authorial attribution within the text. We can see the name of the publisher is 上海惜陰書局 in both the title page and the cover page. “吳門陳潤身書” written in the cover page was likely an attribution of the calligrapher of the titles on the title page. We can see on the cover page that it also indicated two addresses: one as publisher: 上海閘北顺徵路二十六號內; another as the vendor: 上海四马路山东路口 .
Themes [上卷] Tang Xi 唐熙 and Zhen Shi 甄氏 do not have offspring by middle age, rather than a nephew Jia Guang 加光, who is a gambler.
In order to have the money to cover for the upcoming expense going to the capital to take the state exam, poor scholar Rui Guoqing 芮國清 put his house in pawn. However, the money is then stolen by the thief Ku Shiquan 庫時全. In dismay, Rui wants to commit suicide in 關帝廟, however he is saved by the passing 唐熙, who gave Rui money to take the state exam.
The good acts of Tang was seen by the god 關帝, who reported to the celestial court. As a reward, Tang is going to have a son. 太白金星 also arranged a series of reincarnation of celestial deities as new births between various couples who will appear later in the story. This part sets up the predetermined relationships among all characters from this point on, some of the characters yet to be introduced. 庫時全 is also scheduled to be punished by 雷神.
The nephew 加光 needs money for gambling, Tang declined to give him any however Zhen gave him some. By this time, Zhen also revealed to Tang that she has been pregnant for 3 months. 鐵拐李 comes to visit Tang, quoting the reputation of his benevolence. Tang wanted to ask a doctor to treat the rotting sores of 鐵拐李. However, Li says the only cure would be having rich people licking his rotting sores. After Tang abides his request, Li promises he will come to take Tang to the mountains to practice one month after Tang’s son is born. After the son is born, he is named 珠德 for the unusual marks on his waist.
With Tang’s gift money, Rui won the Jinshi degree. His wife Lan shi 蘭氏 also gives birth to a son Rubao 如宝, however the son is born mute and suffering from mental disorders. Rui visits Tang to thank him. Tang shared the story of the visit from 鐵拐李. Soon afterwards, Tang leaves with 鐵拐李 to the mountains. Tang’s wife Zhen starts to dedicate herself to vegetarianism and reading Buddhist scriptures.
To get the inheritance of Tang, the nephew Jia guang kidnapped the babe into the Fengming mountain 鳳鳴山. The attempt to kill the babe was prevented by the passing of Chen Ying 陳英. Jia Guang used a classical story of filial piety as a coverup, saying he is too poor. He wants to kill the baby so that the food can go to his mother instead. Chen gives him some money and adopted the babe, whom he names as 鳳鳴.
Jia Guang goes to Tang house to ask for money again. This time he is confronted by Ning shi 寗氏. Jia Guang pushed her into a pond and she drowned.
[下卷] Ning 寗氏 meets with 閻王 in the underworld, who explains her the relationships between her, Jia Guang, and the babe 珠德 in their previous lives. 閻王 also predicts that a reunion will be only happen after 20 years. Due to Ning’s good behavior in her lifetime, she is deemed not yet to finish her life in the human world. Thus, she was resurrected. The revived Ning tells Zhen the stories from 閻王. Ning and Zhen capture Jia Guang and beat him until he promises to change and lead a moral life.
Fast forward 16 years, Chen Ying 陳英 now works as a family teacher for Moqi De 万俟德. Chen’s adopted son Fengming 鳳鳴 is 16 years old and also lives with the Moqi family. Then a romantic love story happened between Fengming and Lanying 蘭英, the daughter of Moqi De. Lanying encourages Fengming to go to take the state exam and gives him money. However, this prohibited relationship is discovered by her father who then accuses Fengming of the crime of stealing money. Fengming was sent to the local court, now chaired by Rui Guoqing 芮國清. Rui notices the marks on Fengming’s waist, and recognizes Fengming as Zhude 珠德, the son of his benefactor Tang. Rui replaces Zhude with his own son 如宝 to answer for the capital punishment of the court. Zhude gets to leave to find his birth family.
Meanwhile, to escape from the punishment from her own father who wants to burn her alive, Lanying leaves to hide in 莲花庵.
Zhude finds his family Tang and invites his adopted father 陈英. Soon afterwards, Chen determines to devote himself to religious practice.
Zhude wins 狀元 from the state exam and is appointed official for Jiangnan 江南巡接, he then asks the emperor to matchmaking him and 蘭英. The emperor also awards a series of titles and promotions to all above mentioned moral characters and capital punishment for Jia Guang. Lanying by this point claims she does not want to break her 金剛不壞之體 by her practice thus cannot fulfil her duty as wife to Zhude. Zhude agrees to marry Zhao shi 趙氏, with whom they then have a son Tang Shanmao 唐善茂. He will then join the practice. The message is laid out here as “為人若有兒穿後，理該學道去修行”. The three women of the family, Zhen 甄氏，Ning 寗氏 and Lanying 蘭英 now practice together.
The official Rui Guoqing 芮國清 captures Jia Guang 加光, who is then sent to 嘉興府 to be executed.
Chen Ying 陳英 has a dream where 聖母 spoke to him about the celestial appointments of the three women and their ascension to 蓮台 on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Chen then successfully persuaded Zhude to give up his official appointments to pursue the practice. Zhude’s wife Zhao also joins the practice by serving her mother-in-law Zhen with filial piety. It follows by 聖母 giving a lesson to 玉帝 a lesson of various forms of the practice can take.
The story ends with the four (Zhen 甄氏，Ning 寗氏， Lanying 蘭英 and 陳英) ascending to the celestial world first. Zhude and his wife then build a house next to their tombs in 白龍山 to continue the practice. Finally, the two families reunite in the celestial world. 蘭英寶卷 continues to be told on 白龍山 to ferry the others. [End of 蘭英寶卷]
