Quick Answer: Who Is Kong Xuan?
Kong Xuan (孔宣, Kǒng Xuān) is a Shang commander in Investiture of the Gods (封神演义, Fēngshén Yǎnyì). He blocks the Zhou forces at Golden Rooster Ridge (金鸡岭, Jīnjī Lǐng), where his five-colored divine light (五色神光, wǔsè shénguāng) can draw people and objects out of sight.[1]
- Chapter 69 shows the light catching both a Zhou officer and a ritual implement.[1]
- In Chapter 70, the confrontation draws the religious adept Zhunti (准提, Zhǔntí) to the ridge.[2]
- Chapter 71 reveals a peacock with a red crest beneath the commander’s human form.[3]
The bird is part of the novel’s story. The Buddhist imagery of a Peacock Wisdom King has an older history of its own.[3][4]
The officers confronting Kong Xuan can see his light before they know what he is. The novel makes that gap in their knowledge last across several encounters.
What Happens at Golden Rooster Ridge
In Chapter 69, Kong Xuan calls the Zhou advance a rebellion. Jiang Ziya argues that the ruler has forfeited Heaven’s mandate. The dispute establishes what the two commanders think they are defending before the novel introduces the full effect of the light.[1]
The text names blue-green, yellow, red, white and black. A beam draws the officer Hong Jin out of sight. Another takes Jiang’s ritual whip. The loss of a person and the loss of an object show the same strange power at work.[1]
In the next chapter, Tu Xingsun escapes the light, and Deng Chanyu’s intervention forces the commander to withdraw for a time.[2]
How the Peacock Form Is Revealed
At the end of Chapter 70, others have glimpsed a suggestion of wings, but they still cannot identify the bird. Zhunti arrives from the West and says he has come for Kong Xuan. The resolution continues at the start of Chapter 71. Kong Xuan reveals a peacock form, and Zhunti leaves for the West with him. Before they leave, Kong Xuan tells Jiang’s side where the captives are held.[2][3]
Kong Xuan and the Great Peacock Wisdom King
The opening verse of Chapter 70 connects the story to the title Wisdom King.[2]
The Great Peacock Wisdom King (大孔雀明王, Dà Kǒngquè Míngwáng), or Mahamayuri, also appears in Buddhist sources with a separate history. Early translations of the relevant scripture predate the novel by centuries. The figure belongs to the imagery studied in Chinese esoteric Buddhism.[4]
At the Met, a painted silk banner from the Dunhuang area is catalogued as possibly depicting Mahamayuri. A study identifies the deity by a feather and bowl. The object gives readers an example of how Buddhist art can signal the peacock association through the objects a figure holds.[4][5]
FAQs About Kong Xuan
Does Kong Xuan fight for Shang or Zhou?
He defends the Shang side at the ridge and challenges the Zhou claim to political authority.[1]
Which chapter shows his peacock form?
Zhunti arrives in Chapter 70. The transformation and departure appear at the start of Chapter 71 in the text cited here.[2][3]
What does the five-colored light do in the novel?
It can take people and objects out of sight, including one of Jiang Ziya’s ritual implements.[1]
Источники
[1] Investiture of the Gods. Chapter 69, Chinese text
[2] Investiture of the Gods. Chapter 70, Chinese text
[3] Investiture of the Gods. Chapter 71, Chinese text
[4] Wang, Xin Wen and Susan Whitfield. Buddhism and Silk: Reassessing a Painted Banner from Medieval Central Asia in The Met
[5] The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Banner with Bodhisattva, possibly Mahamayuri