Abstract
Migrated into Taiwan during the Ming and Zheng Dynasties, the Avalokitesvara belief occupies a very important position in the hearts of its believers, and has been transformed into a living custom as time gone by. It deeply rooted in the whole society, and also played an irreplaceable role of keeping order between families and individuals.
This study intends to summarize the results of previous research on Avalokitesvara belief, and depicted its progression in so-called “Chiayi area” in this study, which includes Douliu, Meishan, Zhuqi, and Fanlu area of Yunlin County nowadays, by analyzing several main household.
This study also explored the relationship between eight different rocks, including "Hushan Rock", "Huishan Rock", "Taixing Rock", "Jinshan Rock", "Longshan Rock", "Bishan Rock", "Yushan Rock", "Bantian Rock". Basically, all communities held different collective behaviors and memory, but preserving the property of Buddhism were in common.
In order to delved into the characteristic of the Avalokitesvara belief in aforementioned area, this study were based on historical research method, which was supplemented by the "sacrifice circle" and the "belief circle", and also cooperated with field investigation and observation, and also oral interview.