During the bloody upheavals of the Six Dynasties period (222-589), political and military leaders clung to the Buddhist faith out of a fear of karmic retribution, and it was thus that the bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri--originally portrayed in India with the book of knowledge in his left hand and the sword of wisdom in his right--came to be represented in China as always holding a ju-i.
尤其是六朝時代政治混亂，殺戮過盛，使得帝王將相更加畏懼因果而秉信佛法，也因為如此，原本在印度左手拿智書，右手執慧劍，象徵斬去無明，增予智慧的文殊菩薩，到了中國之後，卻變成執握如意，使得如意更加具有祛除不祥，賜予吉祥的法力。