Diting is a divine beast of myth. Wikidata's simplified Chinese label is Diting, and the English label is Diting. The cited article says it is also called Shanting. That is a beast's name, not a person's, so the title stays Diting. This entry records it as a mythical divine beast and lists it under Journey to the West.[1][2]
The record, and the form
It is said to be the mount of the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, and temples often place it beside his altar. The earliest record is the Account of Daoming's Return from the Dead. In the thirteenth year of Dali (778) the monk Daoming entered the underworld, saw Ksitigarbha, painted his true likeness, and said that Manjushri, transformed into a golden-haired lion, was beside Ksitigarbha, while Diting listened to the past lives of the dead. The form is described as a tiger's head, a rhinoceros horn, a dog's ears, a dragon's body, a lion's tail, and the feet of a qilin. It is also said to tell good from evil and the worthy from the foolish.[2]
Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West says that if Diting crouches on the ground, in a short while it can look over the mountains, the states, the grotto-heavens, and the blessed places of the four continents, and can judge the good and evil of every kind of creature and immortal.[2]
Basic facts
- Name: Diting, also called Shanting[1][2]
- Description: a divine beast of myth[1]
- Appears in: Journey to the West[2]