The Goddess of Compassion and Mercy
Quan Yin - Kuan
Yin - is an incarnation of Mary, Sophia, and other feminine icons. They are all
the same soul - given the Yin frequency.
For centuries, Kuan Yin
has epitomized the great ideal of Mahayana Buddhism in her role as "bodhisattva
(Chinese "p'u-sa)--literally "a being of bodhi, or enlightenment,"
who is destined to become a Buddha but has foregone the bliss of Nirvana with
a vow to save all children of God.
Quan Yin carries the Goddess and Divine
Mother aspect of Buddhism. The same Goddess and Divine energy carried by the Virgin
Mary in Christianity. In the Egyptian mysteries it is carried by Isis. In Hinduism
it is carried by Shakti, wife of Vishnu, by Parvarti, wife of Shiva, by Radha,
wife of Krishna, and by Sita, wife of Rama.
Quan Yin's name is a translation
of the Sanskrit name of her chief progenitor which is Avalokitesvara, also known
as Avalokita. In its proper form it is Kuanshih Yin, which means "She who
harkens to the cries of the world."
In Korea, Japan, and China she is
called Quan Yin. She is a celestial bodhisattva and an ascended master. One of
her jobs in the celestial spheres is to sit on the board of the Lord of Karma.
Buddhist mythology tells of Avalokitesvara's being born from a ray of light
that sprang from Amitabha Buddha's right eye. He immediately said, "Om Mane
Padme Hum". This is one of the mantras by which he can be invoked in Buddhist
tradition.
Avalokitesvara came to be known by most Tibetans as Buddha's earthly
representation and as chief gusrdian of the dharma (doctrine) until the advent
of Maitreya Buddha.
Avalokitesvara and Quan Yin are embodiments of compassion.
She is roughly equivalent to Green Tara in Tibetan Buddhism.
In Tibetan
Buddhism Quan Yin is seen in her male form as Avalokitesvara. Some feel that the
current dali Lama is an incarnation of Avalokitesvara. It is thought that the
female form of Avalokitesvara, Quan Yin, originated in the twelth or thirteenth
century in both China and Japan.
The Saddharma Pundarika Sutra affirms that
Avalokitesvara had 357 incarnations.
Quan Yin is one of the most
universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition. Also known as Kuan Yin,
Quan'Am (Vietnam), Kannon (Japan), and Kanin (Bali), She is the embodiment of
compassionate loving kindness. As the Bodhisattva of Compassion, She hears the
cries of all beings. Quan Yin enjoys a strong resonance with the Christian Mary,
the Mother of Jesus, and the Tibetan goddess Tara.
In many images She is
depicted carrying the pearls of illumination. Often Quan Yin is shown pouring
a stream of healing water, the "Water of Life," from a small vase. With
this water devotees and all living things are blessed with physical and spiritual
peace. She holds a sheaf of ripe rice or a bowl of rice seed as a metaphor for
fertility and sustenance. The dragon, an ancient symbol for high spirituality,
wisdom, strength, and divine powers of transformation, is a common motif found
in combination with the Goddess of Mercy.
Sometimes Kuan Yin is represented
as a many armed figure, with each hand either containing a different cosmic symbol
or expressing a specific ritual position, or mudra. This characterizes the Goddess
as the source and sustenance of all things. Her cupped hands often form the Yoni
Mudra, symbolizing the womb as the door for entry to this world through the universal
female principle.
Quan Yin, as a true Enlightened One, or Bodhisattva, vowed
to remain in the earthly realms and not enter the heavenly worlds until all other
living things have completed their own enlightenment and thus become liberated
from the pain-filled cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
There are numerous
legends that recount the miracles which Quan Yin performs to help those who call
on Her. Like Artemis, She is a virgin Goddess who protects women, offers them
a religious life as an alternative to marriage, and grants children to those who
desire them.
The Goddess of Mercy is unique among the heavenly hierarchy
in that She is so utterly free from pride or vengefulness that She remains reluctant
to punish even those to whom a severe lesson might be appropriate. Individuals
who could be sentenced to dreadful penance in other systems can attain rebirth
and renewal by simply calling upon Her graces with utter and absolute sincerity.
It is said that, even for one kneeling beneath the executioner's sword already
raised to strike, a single heartfelt cry to Bodhisattva Quan Yin will cause the
blade to fall shattered to the ground.
The many stories and anecdotes featuring
this Goddess serve to convey the idea of an enlightened being who embodies the
attributes of an all pervasive, all consuming, unwavering loving compassion and
who is accessible to everyone. Quan Yin counsels us by Her actions to cultivate
within ourselves those particular refined qualities that all beings are said to
naturally possess in some vestigial form.
Contemplating the Goddess of Mercy
involves little dogma or ritual. The simplicity of this gentle being and Her standards
tends to lead Her devotees towards becoming more compassionate and loving themselves.
A deep sense of service to all fellow beings naturally follows any devotion to
the Goddess.
The name Kuan Shih Yin, as she is often called, means literally
"the one who regards, looks on, or hears the sounds of the world." According
to legend, Kuan Yin was about to enter heaven but paused on the threshold as the
cries of the world reached her ears.
Scholars believe that the Buddhist
monk and translator Kumarajiva was the first to refer to the female form of Kuan
Yin in his Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra in 406 A.D. Of the thirty-three
appearances of the bodhisattva referred to in his translation, seven are female.
(Devoted Chinese and Japanese Buddhists have since come to associate the number
thirty-three with Kuan Yin.)
Although Kuan Yin was still being portrayed
as a male as late as the tenth century, with the introduction of Tantric Buddhism
into China in the eighth century during the T'ang dynasty, the image of the celestial
bodhisattva as a beautiful white-robed goddess was predominant and the devotional
cult surrounding her became increasingly popular. By the ninth century there was
a statue of Kuan Yin in every Buddhist monastery in China.
Despite the controversy
over the origins of Kuan Yin as a feminine being, the depiction of a bodhisattva
as both 'god' and 'goddess' is not inconsistent with Buddhist doctrine. The scriptures
explain that a bodhisattva has the power to embody in any form--male, female,
child, even animal-depending on the type of being he is seeking to save. As the
Lotus Sutra relates, the bodhisattva Kuan Shih Yin, "by resort to a variety
of shapes, travels in the world, conveying the beings to salvation."
The twelfth-century legend of the Buddhist saint Miao Shan, the Chinese princess
who lived in about 700 B.C. and is widely believed to have been Kuan Yin, reinforced
the image of the bodhisattva as a female. During the twelfth century Buddhist
monks settled on P'u-t'o Shan--the sacred island-mountain in the Chusan Archipelago
off the coast of Chekiang where Miao Shan is said to have lived for nine years,
healing and saving sailors from shipwreck--and devotion to Kuan Yin spread throughout
northern China.
This picturesque island became the chief center of worship
of the compassionate Saviouress; crowds of pilgrims would journey from the remotest
places in China and even from Manchuria, Mongolia and Tibet to attend stately
services there. At one time there were more than a hundred temples on the island
and over one thousand monks. The lore surrounding P'u-t'o island recounts numerous
appearances and miracles performed by Kuan Yin, who, it is believed, reveals herself
to the faithful in a certain cave on the island.
In the Pure Land sect of
Buddhism, Kuan Yin forms part of a ruling triad that is often depicted in temples
and is a popular theme in Buddhist art. In the center is the Buddha of Boundless
Light, Amitabha (Chinese, A-mi-t'o Fo; Japanese, Amida). To his right is the bodhisattva
of strength or power, Mahasthamaprapta, and to his left is Kuan Yin, personifying
his endless mercy.
In Buddhist theology Kuan Yin is sometimes depicted as
the captain of the "Bark of Salvation," guiding souls to Amitabha's
Western Paradise, or Pure Land--the land of bliss where souls may be reborn to
receive continued instruction toward the goal of enlightenment and perfection.
The journey to Pure Land is frequently represented in woodcuts showing boats full
of Amitabha's followers under Kuan Yin's captainship.
Amitabha, a beloved
figure in the eyes of Buddhists desiring to be reborn in his Western Paradise
and to obtain freedom from the wheel of rebirth, is said to be, in a mystical
or spiritual sense, the father of Kuan Yin. Legends of the Mahayana School recount
that Avalokitesvara was 'born' from a ray of white light which Amitabha emitted
from his right eye as he was lost in ecstasy.
Thus Avalokitesvara, or Kuan
Yin, is regarded as the "reflex" of Amitabha-a further emanation or
embodiment of "maha karuna (great compassion), the quality which Amitabha
himself embodies in the highest sense. Many figures of Kuan Yin can be identified
by the presence of a small image of Amitabha in her crown. It is believed that
as the merciful redemptress Kuan Yin expresses Amitabha's compassion in a more
direct and personal way and prayers to her are answered more quickly.
The
iconography of Kuan Yin depicts her in many forms, each one revealing a unique
aspect of her merciful presence. As the sublime Goddess of Mercy whose beauty,
grace and compassion have come to represent the ideal of womanhood in the East,
she is frequently portrayed as a slender woman in flowing white robes who carries
in her left hand a white lotus, symbol of purity. Ornaments may adorn her form,
symbolizing her attainment as a bodhisattva, or she may be pictured without them
as a sign of her great virtue.
Kuan Yin's presence is widespread through
her images as the "bestower of children" which are found in homes and
temples. A great white veil covers her entire form and she may be seated on a
lotus. She is often portrayed with a child in her arms, near her feet, or on her
knees, or with several children about her. In this role, she is also referred
to as the "white-robed honored one." Sometimes to her right and left
are her two attendants, Shan-ts'ai Tung-tsi, the "young man of excellent
capacities," and Lung-wang Nu, the "daughter of the Dragon-king."
Kuan Yin is also known as patron bodhisattva of P'u-t'o Shan, mistress of
the Southern Sea and patroness of fishermen. As such she is shown crossing the
sea seated or standing on a lotus or with her feet on the head of a dragon.
Like Avalokitesvara she is also depicted with a thousand arms and varying numbers
of eyes, hands and heads, sometimes with an eye in the palm of each hand, and
is commonly called "the thousand-arms, thousand-eyes" bodhisattva. In
this form she represents the omnipresent mother, looking in all directions simultaneously,
sensing the afflictions of humanity and extending her many arms to alleviate them
with infinite expressions of her mercy.
Symbols characteristically associated
with Kuan Yin are a willow branch, with which she sprinkles the divine nectar
of life; a precious vase symbolizing the nectar of compassion and wisdom, the
hallmarks of a bodhisattva; a dove, representing fecundity; a book or scroll of
prayers which she holds in her hand, representing the dharma (teaching) of the
Buddha or the sutra (Buddhist text) which Miao Shan is said to have constantly
recited; and a rosary adorning her neck with which she calls upon the Buddhas
for succor.
Images of Avalokitesvara often show him holding a rosary; descriptions
of his birth say he was born with a white crystal rosary in his right hand and
a white lotus in his left. It is taught that the beads represent all living beings
and the turning of the beads symbolizes that Avalokitesvara is leading them out
of their state of misery and repeated rounds of rebirth into nirvana.
Today
Kuan Yin is worshipped by Taoists as well as Mahayana Buddhists--especially in
Taiwan, Japan, Korea and once again in her homeland of China, where the practice
of Buddhism had been suppressed by the Communists during the Cultural Revolution
(1966-69). She is the protectress of women, sailors, merchants, craftsmen, and
those under criminal prosecution, and is invoked particularly by those desiring
progeny. Beloved as a mother figure and divine mediatrix who is very close to
the daily affairs of her devotees, Kuan Yin's role as Buddhist Madonna has been
compared to that of Mary the mother of Jesus in the West.