Pigs really can fly

 

This is one of the sillier miracles stories I´ve seen. It´s undated, but supposedly took place in a small village somewhere in Sichuan in China. 

The story revolves around the pious Buddhist wife Lianxiang and her uncomprehending husband, who is (of course) also the village butcher. The husband prohibits Lianxiang from chanting the Niamfo, the mantra of Amitabha Buddha (called Amituofo in Chinese), the savior figure of "Pure Land Buddhism", the particular Mahayana tradition spinning the miracle story. Even worse, the husband forces his wife to participate in the pig slaughter (apparently, Chinese Pure Land Buddhists are supposed to be strictly vegetarian). However, by repeating the Niamfo in her mind every time a pig is killed, Lianxiang saves the immortal souls (or non-souls?) of the hapless animals, until all of them are reborn as angelic humans in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the name of Amitabha´s paradise! In this story, apparently, pigs can fly... 

Then, the ex-suid angels kindly informs Lianxiang that she will be taken to the Pure Land herself in three days. The husband and his drinking buddies will have none of it, and roundly mocks the wife and some other old ladies from the village as they fervently pray to Amitabha. In the end, Lianxiang *is* translated body and soul to Heaven, while the villagers beg Amitabha for forgiveness, meat-eating and hostility to the Niamfo being their foremost sins. 

I´m sure this all happened as stated.

One thing did struck me when watching the excerpts from the amateur movie about the rebirth story. All Amitabha devotees are women, and so is the YouTube narrator, while all skeptics are male. The angels are also female. The only good male in the story seems to be Amitabha, but he is never actually shown (as far as I can tell). This might tell us something about both the social base of this particular Buddhist group, and gender roles in Sichuan villages. 

Another thing that struck me was the "sectarian" or "cult" angle, since the wife is obviously converted by some outsider (perhaps one of the older ladies in the village?) to Pure Land Buddhism, which leads to a conflict with her more conventional husband. Note also that it´s considered OK to challenge your husband, but only so far - after all, Lianxiang pretends to be the good waifu and is saved only by supernatural intervention. Sounds familiar, somehow?

Seriously, are these people stuck in the early 1950´s, or something? Which brings me to another aspect of the story I´ve found strange: no mention of Communism. Or did the original story take place even earlier? 

I admit that this channel rubbed my onion the wrong way when it claimed that anyone who denies that Amitabha Buddha is real risk ending up in Avici, the lowest hell realm of Buddhism. We all heard *that* one before, haven´t we? So perhaps I´m not being entirely objective here. Still, there you go!