Buddha resumed his own form and praised the sacrifice: "He who forgets himself, the most modest of all earthly creatures, shall reach the Ocean of Eternal Peace! All men should learn from him and be as compassionate and helpful as he!" Buddha instructed that the likeness of the rabbit should adorn the moon and thus remain a shining example for all time. And thanks to the rabbit, all the animals in the forest were placed in the world of saints.

Taoism, the indigenous religion of China, adopted the rabbit in the moon along with many other concepts that originated in Buddhism. They called it the Jade Rabbit and pictured it with short front paws, very long back legs and a short tail. It is said to stand under a magical cassia tree on the moon making pills of immortality, also know as the jade elixir.

Keeping the Jade Rabbit company in the Moon Palace is the immortal, Wu Gang. Exiled by the Jade Emperor (the supreme deity of the Jade Emperor), amnesty could be extended only when he succeeded in felling the cassia tree. Unfortunately each time Wu Gang struck the tree with his ax, the tree healed immediately, thus dooming him to eternal futility.

The most popular tale of all is that of the Moon Lady who turned into a three-legged toad when she ascended to the moon. Like the story of the rabbit, this also originated in India. From the earliest times, the various elements of this myth have been interwoven: the moon, female essence (yin), water, and amphibians (toad).

Chang E and her husband Hou Yi, the miraculous archer, lived during the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao (about 2000 B.C.). Hou Yi was a member of the Imperial Guard, wielding a magic bow and shooting magic arrows.

One day ten suns appeared in the sky. Unbearable heat and drought continued for years with no end in sight. The emperor called upon Hou Yi to shoot the extra suns to bring relief to the people. Using all of his skills, Hou Yi knocked down nine of the suns, leaving one in the sky.

Afterwards, Hou Yi's fame spread to as far as the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wang Mu) in the faraway Kunlun Mountains. She summoned him before her at her fairy palace and offered to reward him with the pill of immortality, first warning him: "You must not eat the pill immediately. First prepare yourself through prayer and fasting for twelve months." Being a careful man, he took her advice and set about preparing himself, first hiding the pill in his house. Unfortunately he was called away on an urgent mission, and in his absence, his wife Chang E discovered the pill and promptly swallowed it. She soon discovered that she could fly. Soon after she heard her husband returning and flew out the window in terror. Bow and arrow in hand, Hou Yi pursued her across half the sky, but a strong wind drove him back.

Chang E, in her fear, flew all the way to the moon, where she panted so hard from her exertions that she spit out the pill casing which instantly turned into a jade rabbit, while she herself transformed into a three-legged toad.

Since then, she has lived on the moon and continues to fend off the magic arrows from Hou Yi who now lives in a palace on the sun. On the fifteenth of each month they see each other. Chang E and Hou Yi, respectively symbolizing the sun and the moon, have come to be regarded as embodying the yin and yang , the negative and positive, dark and light, feminine and masculine, and the duality which governs the universe.

Source:   "The Moon Festival" in Chinese Creeds and Customs by V.R. Burkhardt. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1982, pp. 62-67.

"A Rabbit" painting by Akira Kajiura. To view Akira's gallery, or for further information, please click on the banner below.