Bodhisattva Guanyin and an Oolong Tea

painting of the Bodhisattva Guanyin as typically depicted in Chinese art: on lotus holding a water jar and a willow branch.

Guanyin (观音), the Bodhisattva for compassion and mercy, is one of the most recognizable figures in contemporary and historical Chinese Buddhism and her likeness is found throughout China in imperial palaces and small village shrines.  

According to various folk legends (which we will describe below),  Tieguanyin oolong tea from Anxi, Fujian, one of Chinese tea’s most popular oolong teas, is named after the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

Who is the Goddess and Bodhisattva Guanyin

In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is someone who has achieved enlightenment and reached nirvana but chooses to stay on earth to guide and help others towards enlightenment.  Since Guanyin (sometimes spelled kuanyin) has been depicted as a female in China since the 12th century (though not necessarily so in other countries), her title/status is frequently translated in English as “goddess” instead of Bodhisattva. 

Worshiped and revered throughout China and East Asia, Guanyin is considered the embodiment of compassion, kindness, and mercy and the patron of mothers and seamen, protector of women and children. Women wishing to give birth have prayed to Guanyin for ages as she has become seen as a fertility goddess.  According to traditional Chinese superstition, a woman wishing to have a child offers a shoe at a Guanyin temple. Chinese seamen and fisherman pray to Guanyin for safe voyages.

There are statues of Guanyin in the Imperial Forbidden City Palace in Beijing and there is a famous photo of Cixi, the last Emperess Dowager in costume as Guanyin during a Peking Opera Performance in the Summer Palace. It is just as common to see mini guanyin statues or trinkets in taxis or a humble shrine in honor of Guanyin in a small rural village in China’s countryside.

The first recorded mention of Guanyin is in 252 A.D. in a translation of the Sanskrit Avalokitesvara from the Buddhist text Pure Land Sutra. In Sanskrit she’s known as padma pani “born of the lotus” and usually depicted sitting or standing on a lotus.  The Lotus symbolizes purity, peace, and harmony. 

In Chinese depictions Guanyin is usually shown in a white flowing robe, wearing necklaces and headpieces of Indian or Chinese royalty, holding a water jar and a willow branch. The water jar is one of the Eight Buddhist Symbols of good Fortune and the willow branch is a symbol of flexibility and had traditional medicinal uses. 

Guanyin and Tieguanyin oolong tea

So know that we known Guanyin a little bit better, lets go into the legends of how Tieguanyin oolong tea was named after Guanyin which both point to Anxi, Fujian as the historical origin of this deliciously fragrant oolong tea.

The most popular legend goes something like this: a poor farmer named Weiyin in rural Anxi, Fujian regularly attended to a dilapidated Guanyin temple in his village.  He would carefully sweep, dust, and burn incense at the temple on his way to toiling in the fields.  One night in a dream Guanyin appeared to him.  Thankful for his faithful devotion, she said there was a treasure for him in a cave behind the temple which he must share with others. 

The next morning Weiyin went to the cave and voila! there was a tea branch.  He took the tea branch, planted it and the tea leaves that sprouted were the source of a wonderfully aromatic and floral tea which he named after Guanyin who led him to the plant. 

That legend doesn’t entirely explain why they added “tie” meaning iron to the name–though some accounts say there was an iron statue of Guanyin in the temple or how Weiyin magically learned the complex 14 step process in the transformation of tea Tieguanyin tea leaf and the final product.

The more historically rooted legend also starts with a man named Weiyin during the Qing Dynasty except this time he is from a prominent tea making family from Anxi, Fujian. Weiyin discovered the special tea leaf cultivar that was used to produce an exceptionally fragrant oolong tea.  As was common during that time, tea was often sent as a tribute to the Emperor. 

The local official, Wang Shirang presented this pioneering oolong to the Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796) as a tribute from Anxi, Fujian.  Emperor Qianlong was so impressed with the flavor that he named the tea “铁观音“ (Tieguanyin) "tie” because the color was like iron (traditionally the tea is not so green and a darker more iron color because of charcoal roasting) and “Guanyin” because the taste of the tea was pure and transcendent like the Bodhisattva herself.

Which legend of Guanyin and Tieguanyin tea do you like better?