Kuan Yin is the Chinese Buddhist goddess of compassion, mercy, and healing. She is the "compassionate savioress" worshipped for centuries throughout China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Known also as Quan Yin, Guanyin, and Guan Shih Yin, she is the patron and protector of women, children, sailors, artisans, and those who are imprisoned. She is as popular as the Virgin Mary is in Western culture. She's frequently called upon by women having difficulty conceiving and is seen as a great source of fertility and feminine vitality. Statues of her divine form bless every Buddhist temple in Asia, and today almost every Chinese home is adorned with art depicting Kuan Yin. Her name is translated as the being "who hears the cries of the world." She is a bodhisattva, which in Buddhism is a human being who has completed all karma and reached enlightenment. Although her bodhisattva status entitled her to enter the paradise of nirvana, Kuan Yin decided to remain on earth until all suffering was ended.
Various cultures have different tales of Kuan Yin's beginnings. In one, she began life as a male. Another legend tells us that she once walked the earth as the princess Miao Shan, whose father ordered her execution because she disobeyed him and refused to marry; some versions say she was spared from death and lived her days in a nunnery. Kuan Yin is often depicted as a classic Chinese beauty wearing a flowing white gown with her hair pulled up in a headdress. She's seen seated on a lotus or majestically riding a dragon. Sometimes she's pictured as the Thousand-Armed Kuan Yin. She's seen carrying many special emblems, such as a willow branch that she uses to dispense flower essences and ambrosia; a porcelain vase that carries these pure, healing unguents; scrolls or books of Buddhist prayers and wisdom; or a crystal rosary used for meditation.
By Laurie Sue Brockway © 2022