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Updated Monday, January 5, 2009 9:37 am TWN, By Joe Hung, The China Post

Nezha II

"Yes, there's a tooth of the Buddha somewhere in the West (India),” Nezha (哪吒) said in reply to Abbot Xuanlu (宣律), who asked him to look for a holy relic and bring it back to China. The abbot said he needed that tooth. So it was obtained and is now housed in the Chongsheng Temple (崇聖寺) in Sian. Incidentally, there certainly are a number of Buddhist holy relics. Among them are sarira (舍利子), bones after cremation. After the Buddha died, his remains were cremated. His sarira were distributed among the disciples, who built stupas (卒塔婆) to house them. One of them, the left canine tooth, is kept in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The devotional zeal of the Buddhists of Ceylon has been nourished through the years by the relics bought over from India. Aside from the tooth, they include the Buddha's begging bowl and a collar bone. Impressive shrines - now of great age - house them.

During the Song Dynasty (960-1280), a Zen treatise made mention of Nezha. In a one-line sentence, it remarked: “Nezha the Prince shed flesh to return it to his mother and broke his bones to return them to his father; and then he appeared as his original self to speak about the Dharma with divine power on behalf of his father and mother.” It is the Buddha who gave Nezha lotus leaves as flesh and lotus stems as bones to recreate the Prince the Enfant Terrible. But no explanation was given as to why Nezha had to give up his flesh and bones. Nor was any reason given as to why he had to propagate the Dharma on behalf of his parents. Legend has it that Vaisravans was a great tribal chief in Nepal or nearby Kushan, who had spread the gospel of Mahayana Buddhism in his domain. That is why after his death he was venerated and worshipped as the guardian god of the Buddhist temple. His son Nezha, according to this legend, is a giant with three heads, nine eyes and eight strong arms whose strength is as great as Hercules of Greek mythology.

What was not explained was supplied by Taoist mythologists.

They identified Nezha as a great immortal in attendance on the Jade Emperor, not a bodhisattva or the son of Vaisravans the God of Treasure. At first Nezha was a giant, standing at least six zhang (丈) or 60 feet tall. He could spew blue cloud from his mouth, while standing always on huge circular stones. Holding the holy book of the Dharma with one hand, he shouted to get the skies release snow or rain as well as give light in the morning and make stars shine at night. Because there were many demons haunting the world of the living, the Jade Emperor ordered Nezha to be reborn as a son of Li Jing, Tuota tianwang (托塔天王) Heavenly King Tuota and his wife Madam Suzi to conquer all the evil spirits. She bore three sons. Jinzha (金吒) was the first born, Muzha (木吒) the second and Nazha the third.

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