Guan Yu
Guan Yu was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. After his death, his life was lionised and his achievements were glorified to such an extent that he was deified during the Sui dynasty. He is a deity worshipped in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism.
↻ synthesized from 5 sources
When
- First attested
- 200 CE
- Attested period
- 600 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Deified during the Sui dynasty.
Relationships
- parent of
- Guan Ping
- syncretized with
- Sangharama Bodhisattva
- co occurs with
- Manjushri, Yue Fei, Yue He, Vajrasattva, Vasudhara, Samantabhadra, Kṣitigarbha, Ākāśagarbha, Cundī, Sūryaprabha, Candraprabha, Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin, Prajñāpāramitā-devi, Bhaiṣajyasamudgata, Bhaiṣajyarāja, Akṣayamati, Ushnishavijaya, Cintamanicakra, Avalokiteshvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, longnü, Amitabha, Paṇḍāravāsinī, Shancai, Maitreya, Taras, Vajrapāṇi, Hachiman
- manifested by
- Sangharama Bodhisattva
- student of
- Zhiyi
- enemy of
- Hanba
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Although Cao Cao admired Guan Yu's character, he also sensed that Guan Yu had no intention of serving under him for long. He told Zhang Liao, "Why don't you make use of your friendship with Guan Yu to find out what he wants?" When Zhang Liao asked him, Guan Yu replied”
#9467 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Legend has it that Zhiyi was searching for a site to build a temple on Jade Spring Hill in Jingzhou when Guan Yu appeared while he was meditating in the mountain at night and offered to help him build the temple. After the temple was completed, Guan Yu became a disciple of the Buddha by taking refuge and vowed to be a protector of Buddhism.”
#10410 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“He is recorded in saying that he wished to be considered the equal of Guan Yu and other such famous men from the Three Kingdoms period. Yue succeeded in this endeavor since later "official mythology" placed him on the same level as Guan Yu.”
#21891 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Some examples are Guan Yu in Chinese Buddhism, who is venerated as Sangharama Bodhisattva (Chinese: 伽藍菩薩; Pinyin: Qiélán Púsà) as well as a deity”
#22070 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“The two warriors are the historical general Guan Yu from the late Han dynasty (deified and regarded as the Buddhist protector deity Qielan) and the deva Weituo (who is sometimes referred to as a Bodhisattva).”
#29184 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001