The essay is to re-read the transformation issue of Princess Miao-shan as a Chinese Kuan-yin (i.e. Avalokitesvara) from the perspective of the abject mother. The abject mother, according to Julia Kristeva (1941- ), indicates a woman's ambivalent characterization through the ethical confrontations between her selfhood and the patriarchic society, of which involves an intricate re-socializing process when her identity is impacted by a solid belief system, starting from disobeying the arranged marriage to the renewed meaning of filial piety. Kuan-Yin in Hsiang-shan Pao-chuan provides such an image of abject mother, being first as a young daughter vehemently disobeying her father, but later surprisingly and successfully saving he life of her father, by sacrificing her eyes and hands. By perceiving the Chinese-Buddhistic ethical confrontation in the mentioned text as cultural translation, this paper thereby examplifies Princess Miao-shen to be a figure of abject mother.
