Page 407 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 400

In the gardens of Xi-wang-mu

Since about the 1st century BC, however, she is supposed to bring a peach, the
symbol of longevity, which is associated with her to this day. Old descriptions of
paradise also associate her with the herb of immortality. Her palace is ‘to the west of
the Tortoise Mountains and the Spring Mountains. Her capital contains the Kun-lun Park
and the Wide-Wind Garden… servants with bright turbans and tiger-striped sashes attend
her, while pages wave the feathers of their marvellous fans in the sunlight.’ Her birthday

was celebrated on the 3rd day of the 3rd month (an ancient feast-day) and her visits to the
Emperor took place on the 7th day of the 7th month (a feast-day devoted to women). In
many later texts we are told that Xi-wang-mu attained to the Dao, i.e. to the highest
insight, by sleeping with men of this world. For the same reason she is of surpassing
beauty, her skin being especially fine.
According to another tradition, as soon as one of the peaches in her park ripened, she
invited the gods to a feast of peaches. Great was the disappointment on one occasion,
when the monkey Sun Wu-kong broke into the park and stole all the peaches.
Popular prints show Xi-wang-mu on the jasper terrace of her magic palace; behind her
stands a maid with a canopy-shaped fan. Before her stand three gods of good luck
and a deer.
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Yang