| Everyone knows how to chant Amitabha Buddha, and | | | | Those who could expect a dreadful penance in other |
| every household worships Kuan Yin | | | | belief systems can attain rebirth and renewal by simply |
| - Chinese saying | | | | calling for help with utter and absolute sincerity. It is said |
| Women everywhere have prayed to her as the | | | | that, even for one kneeling beneath the sword of the |
| Tibetan Tara, the Christian Madonna or as the African | | | | executioner, a single heartfelt cry to Bodhisattva Kuan |
| Yemaya and, as Kuan Yin, she is one of the most | | | | Yin will cause the blade to fall shattered. |
| universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition. | | | | Kuan Yin may be shown either in a standing or in a |
| Kuan Yin is invoked for healing of a sick child, relief | | | | sitting position, but on top of her crown there is always |
| from pain and help in all times of trouble. Like Artemis, | | | | an image of a buddha. In her hands she may hold a |
| she is a virgin Goddess who protects women, offers | | | | willow branch, a vase with water, or a lotus flower. |
| them an alternative to marriage, and grants children to | | | | The willow branch is used to either heal the ill or to |
| those who desire them. | | | | grant requests and the water symbolises cleansing so |
| She is said to be a bodhisattva, one qualified to enter | | | | that all living things are blessed with physical and |
| Nirvana but who chooses to remain in the earthly | | | | spiritual peace. Her right hand often points downward, |
| realms and not enter the heavenly worlds until all other | | | | with the palm facing outward, the posture of granting a |
| living things have completed their own enlightenment | | | | wish. In many images she also carries the pearls of |
| and liberated from the pain-filled cycle of birth, death, | | | | illumination. She holds a sheaf of ripe rice or a bowl of |
| and rebirth. "I am cultivating this method of great | | | | rice seed to denote fertility and the dragon, an ancient |
| compassion and hope to save all living beings," Kuan | | | | symbol for wisdom and strength is associated with |
| Yin said. "Any living being who calls my name or sees | | | | her. Dressed in flowing white robes she is sometimes |
| me will be free from all fear and danger." | | | | adorned with ornaments to denote her attainment as |
| Her presence calms those who suffer and brings | | | | bodhisattva, or she is shown without them as a sign of |
| peace to the heart. Her name means "She who hears | | | | great virtue. |
| the cries of the world" and she looks without | | | | A popular form depicts her with a thousand eyes and |
| judgement, reflecting back even the tiniest amount of | | | | a thousand hands. The thousand eyes let her see the |
| love magnified a thousandfold. There are numerous | | | | suffering creatures in this world, and the thousand |
| legends that recount the miracles which Kuan Yin | | | | hands allow her to reach out to help them. |
| performs to help those who call on her. For the | | | | The compassion of Kuan Yin can transform us. We |
| Goddess of Mercy is unique among deities. She does | | | | learn the blessing of mercy in the arms of a mother |
| not believe in vengeance, and is reluctant to punish | | | | and, with our own eyes and hands, we can help |
| even those who would benefit from a severe lesson. | | | | others. |