The idea of three life spans comes from the concept of reincarnation in Buddhism, which means the previous life, the present life, and the next life. The belief of the promise across three life spans comes from the Yuan Jiao’s 袁郊 (died 844 AD) story collection Ganze yao 甘澤謠 [Songs of the Sweet Rain], where the official Li Yuan 李源 befriends with the monk Yuanguan 圓觀 who promises to meet him after death and rebirth into the world. Later generations regard a rock in the Fajing 法鏡 temple of Tianzhu 天竺 mountain in Hangzhou as indicating the place where Li Yuan and Yuanguan meet and call it sansheng shi 三生石 [rock of predestined relationship across three life spans]. Because of the image of deep connection and predestination, the term sansheng is gradually used to refer to the relationship of romantic love and marriage.
Language and Culture Center (LCC) at Duke Kunshan University
