Canglanjue （苍兰诀）and the love of God
A few months ago, I stumbled on the TV series Canglanjue on Netflix. The English translation of the title is “Love between Fairy and Devil”, but this translation is misleading. Indeed, I noticed that many terms in Xianxia dramas do not translate well into English, since the English words “devil”, “eternal damnation” etc. all have distinctively Christian connotations, whereas the Xianxia world is permeated with the Taoist/Buddhist worldview. Nevertheless, there are many elements in this drama series that help me to better understand or “visualize” Biblical truths and God’s love in the Christian sense. I’d like to share some of those elements here…
The first episode of the series narrates the story of Xiaolanhua (Orchid or 小兰花), a seemingly low-ranked fairy with absolutely no prospects. She was bullied by everyone around her, mostly because her “fairy root” had been accidentally destroyed by her master when she was young (i.e. she has a birth defect). Upon noticing the birth defect, Xiaolanhua’s master originally wanted to “do away” with her, but the fairy lord Changheng intervened on her behalf, thus saving Xiaolanhua’s life. Xiaolanhua grew up admiring Lord Changheng a lot, regarding him as her savior （救命恩人）and feeling very grateful to him. She even kept a picture of Lord Changheng beside her at all times and could often be found looking at it with eyes full of longing and admiration. Her “friends” and colleagues found the concept of any kind of relationship between the humble Xiaolanhua and Lord Changheng extremely laughable, and proceeded to tear up Xiaolanhua’s prized picture to pieces.
Unbeknownst to all, however, Xiaolanhua is not merely an orphaned Orchid spirit with defective roots. She is the reincarnation of the Xishan Goddess（西山神女）, who is destined to bring peace to the three realms (i.e. fairy, human and “demon”, or “the universe” of this worldview). Her parents had to hide away her true identity in order to protect her from a deadly enemy. Xiaolanhua herself would not fully realize her true identity until much, much later in the series. Also unbeknownst to all, Lord Changheng loves Xiaolanhua very much without ever showing it. Just as Xiaolanhua always keeps a picture of Changheng, so does Changheng keep an orchid branch and an orchid handkerchief as a memento of their love. Xiaolanhua actually once rescued Changheng after he got injured, without knowing his true identity. When he recovered, he erased Xiaolanhua’s memory so that these sweet memories wouldn’t torment her unnecessarily, since before Xiaolanhua’s true identity was revealed, it was impossible for Xiaolanhua and Changheng to be together.
The Xiaolanhua/Changheng love story really helped me to visualize the love between Christ and His Church. Ephesians 5:32 calls the relationship between Christ and His Church a “profound mystery”, and I often had trouble visualizing this actual relationship between God and every believer. We know, for example, that these lines from Psalm 45 are often recited to nuns who enter the religious profession:
Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention:
Forget your people and your father’s house.
Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.
The city of Tyre will come with a gift,
people of wealth will seek your favor.
All glorious is the princess within her chamber;
her gown is interwoven with gold. (Ps 45:10-13)
In real life, however, how do we cultivate this rich and loving spiritual relationship with our King? How do we even visualize Him? For me, it doesn’t help that the Lord is often portrayed (following great Renaissance artists like Da Vinci, Michelangelo etc.) as a bearded European man. I need a way to visualize Christian truths in a culturally relatable manner. This is where Canglanjue comes in. Of course, it’s a good thing that I’m theologically trained; I am therefore able to ignore all elements in the series that are contrary to the Christian faith.[1]
Canglanjue helps me to realize and better understand the following truths:
- God’s love is not always visible or palpable:
In Canglanjue, we often see various manifestations of Changheng’s love for Orchid, which Orchid herself is oblivious to. None of Orchid’s friends even suspected that Changheng loved Orchid; some found this idea to be laughable, while others who had an inkling of it regarded Orchid with jealousy or animosity. On the other hand, the “devil’s” (in this film, he’s called Dongfang Qingcang) attentions on Orchid were more conspicuous and apparent. Similarly, in our daily lives, we are constantly bombarded by various ephemeral and instantaneous things constantly vying for our love and attention. We often give them our hearts, minds and souls, but they disappoint us in the end. God’s love, on the other hand, is deep and everlasting, but it’s often hidden. It’s not conspicuous or showy. We need to be perceptive to it; we need to purify our minds and hearts of all distractions in order to enjoy God’s love and grow in it. Just like what our Lord says in Matthew 7:13-14, “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
- Despite its invisibility, God’s love and sacrifice for us are very real:
In Canglanjue, Lord Changheng truly sacrificed himself for Xiaolanhua. He went to the “demon” realm and even got harmed by evil energy (中了祟气) in his effort to reach Orchid and save her. It’s strange, isn’t it, that we live in a world where “fake” love is so loud and conspicuous,[2] while God’s true and everlasting love, despite being so real, pure and sacrificial, is so hidden and inconspicuous? But that’s the way things are in this world. This reminds me of St. Paul’s words in 2 Cor 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
- Our earthly identity vs. our real/eternal identity:
In Canglanjue, Orchid seems to have a very humble identity: an orphaned low-ranked fairy with defective roots who is bullied and looked down on by everyone around her. But in reality, she is the Goddess Xishan who is destined to bring peace to the three realms. Similarly, many of us do not pause, search or reflect enough on our true, everlasting identities. Our souls are eternal, which means that our “real” lives are everlasting. In Canglanjue, an immortal fairy’s earthly journey is called 下凡历劫 (literally: descending to the mortal realm to experience impermanence), and this journey is seen as a test. Our earthly journeys are also a test, and if we keep our eyes fixed on what is True and everlasting, we will not lose our way.
In his book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence,[3] Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure makes the following remarks about the true riches hidden in poverty and hardships:
We ought to conform to God’s will in poverty and all the inconveniences poverty brings in its train. It is not too hard to do so if we fully realize that God watches over us as a father over his children and puts us in that condition because it is of most value to us. Poverty then takes on a different aspect in our eyes, for by looking on the privations it imposes as salutary remedies we even cease to think of ourselves as poor.
If a rich man has a son in bad health and prescribes a strict diet for him, does the son think he has to eat small amounts of plain or tasteless food because his father cannot afford better? Does he begin to worry about how he will exist in the future? Will other people think that because of his diet he has become poor?
Everybody knows how well off his father is and that he shares in his father’s wealth and he will again have what is now forbidden him as soon as his health is restored.
Are we not the children of the God of riches, the co-heirs of Christ? Being so, is there anything we can lack? Let it be said boldly: whoever responds to His divine adoption with the feelings of love and trust that the position of being children of God demands has a right, here and now, to all that God Himself possesses. Everything then is ours. But it is not expedient we should enjoy everything. It is often necessary we should be deprived of many things.
Let us be careful not to conclude from the privations imposed on us only as remedies that we may ever be in want of anything that is to our advantage. Let us firmly believe that if anything is necessary or really useful for us, our all-powerful Father will give it to us without fail. To those gathered round to hear Him our Savior said: “If you evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father…?” (Lk 11:13)
This film series also helps me to visualize spiritual warfare. Isn’t it ridiculous when we see human beings fighting over unimportant things like power, wealth and prestige? Many people feel worthless without these attributes, so they fight, scheme and hurt each other in order to obtain and hold on to power, prestige and wealth. This is what happens when we look at ourselves simply from an earthly point of view: Materially speaking, are we not simply poor creatures who are prone to hunger, thirst, illness, misery, pain and death, just like other organic life forms on this planet? Seen from this point of view, it is totally natural to fight over resources such as wealth, land, power, prestige and so on, for this is the only way we can cover, run away from, and attempt to treat our miserable and wretched condition.
But the truth is, we are everlasting beings with immortal souls. Our mortal shell and fallen world are temporary, but our souls and true existence are eternal. What’s more, how we live our lives now will determine who we are in the life to come. Didn’t St. Paul once write to the Corinthians:
Do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! (1 Cor 6:2-3)
Other Scriptural passages allude to the reality of spiritual warfare:
Then war broke out in heaven. (Rev 12:7; cf. Dan 10:10-14)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)
We also know that one day, we will reign with Christ eternally (Rev 22:5), and that how we conduct ourselves right now will determine who we are in our next life (what/how much we’ll be entrusted with in the hereafter). These passages of Scripture may provide some illustration:
[From the Parable of the Talents, Lk 19:15-19]
He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
“His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
[From St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians] By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor 3:10-15)
I must admit that these Biblical passages can seem rather obscure and hard to comprehend, but Canglanjue’s vivid scenes helped me to visualize, contemplate, and better understand the eternal truths depicted in Scripture.
- All human beings instinctively know some eternal truths:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Mt 13:44-46)
Permeating all religions and spiritualities is the notion that we are more than our mortal shell (i.e. we are more than the sum total of atoms that make up our physical bodies). Permeating all religions and spiritualities is the notion of human ignorance: there is an important, everlasting truth of which we are ignorant, and without the lifting of this ignorance, we can never be truly complete or happy. Many religious and spiritual traditions also believe that the “flashiness” of material wealth, power and prestige can greatly hinder one’s quest to uncover this truth, and that the quest to discover this truth can be aided by a life of integrity, discipline, virtue, prayer and contemplation.
I came to this conclusion after many years of reflection, aided by my studies leading up to the degree of MTS (Master of Theological Studies) in World Religions from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. Watching Canglanjue simply made me appreciate it more.
- The significance of the Trinity:
In Canglanjue, we see immortals of high power and status (e.g. Lord Changheng, Lady Chidi) being in pain and misery due to loneliness. There’s even a saying in Chinese that illustrates this phenomenon: 曲高和寡. This phenomenon makes me realize the beauty of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: even without the love of His creatures, God can never be lonely, for He is Triune: He is relationally perfect in Himself. This is how Scriptures can proclaim: God is Love (1 Jn 4:8, 16). This is also why Heaven is portrayed in the Bible as a Wedding between Christ and His people (Rev 19:7, 9), as the consummation of Love. I still remember my theology professor quoting the words of St. Augustine, that Time is a creature. When Love has been consummated in Heaven, we won’t feel, nor be bound by, the passing of time. We’ll be one with God, one with the Divine, one with Love itself, never to be separated again. Now, doesn’t that sound truly heavenly?
For further reading: Our Wedding Garment, Our Lord and His Love, Mary and Beauty
[1] Some examples of these elements include:
- a) Body shifting and transformations (e.g. an animal can become a human, who then can become a ghost or a fairy, etc.); this conflicts with clear Christian teachings that God gives to each creature a body that He has shaped and designed for him/her/it for life in this world.
- b) “Devil/demons” being “redeemed” and turning into “good” immortal beings; according to Christian teachings, fallen angels cannot be redeemed.
[2] Cf. Proverbs 9:13-18
[3] Source: http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/Fr.%20Jean%20Baptiste%20Saint-Jure%20and%20St.%20Claude%20de%20la%20Columbiere%20-%20Trustful%20Surrender%20to%20Divine%20Providence.pdf