Note 19 — Chapter XIII · The Symbolism of Jade
Reading edition
The wishing jewel (“Jewel that grants all desires”) of India, Japan, and China is said to be “the pupil of a fish eye”. In India it was known in Sanskrit as the cintimani, and was believed to have originated from the makara.19 The Chinese records have references to “moonlight pearls” from the eyes of female whales, and from the eyes of dolphins.20 It does not follow that this belief about the origin of shining pearls had a connection with observations made of the phosphorescing of parts of marine animals, because the Chinese writers refer too, for instance, to the nocturnal luminosity of rhinoceros horn.21 Even coral, which, like jade, was connected with the lunar- or sky-goddess, was supposed to shine by night. Laufer quotes from the work, Si King tsa (Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, i.e. Si-ngan-fu), in this connection: