As a note, I spell the goddess’s name Guanyin because that is how it is spelled using Pinyin phoneticization in Mandarin Chinese, which I speak. In English, her name is sometimes also spelled Kwan Yin and Quan Yin. -- Xiao]
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Introduction
Guanyin ((观音) is perhaps the best loved deity in Chinese culture. She is the Chinese goddess of compassion, mercy, and love. She began as the (male) Boddhisatva Avalokitesvara in the 1st century AD, but upon coming to China was known as Guanshiyin (“She Who Hears the Cries of the World”), which has been shortened to Guanyin (“She Who Hears the Cries”). Her influence has spread to many Asian countries and is now coming into the West.
Despite having achieved enlightenment, Guanyin refused to leave the world while people still suffered -- a sign of her great compassion. To this day, it has been said that she will aid anyone who calls out to her in need. She is often seen as a woman dressed in white, flowing robes; sometimes she is seen bearing a child with her.
The Legend of Miao Shan
This is the myth most commonly associated with Guanyin. She was born not a goddess, but a mortal -- the youngest daughter of a king, Princess Miao Shan. The moment she was born, the earth trembled and people throughout the land noticed a flowery fragrance in the wind. Everyone knew that she was special, and she grew up to be kind and gentle. She was beloved throughout the kingdom for her compassion and purity, but her parents, who were corrupt rulers, believed her goodness to be a weakness.
When she was old enough to marry, Miao Shan turned down all the suitors her father wanted her to wed for political alliances. She asked the king to find her a husband who would help ease the suffering of the world, or she would become a nun. When Miao Shan explained that she would like to marry a doctor, the king flew into a rage, but she could not be convinced otherwise and joined a convent.
The king secretly instructed the nuns on pain of death to give Miao Shan the hardest, most menial of tasks. The nuns bade her to grow a garden in the barren land, but the princess could make the flowers flourish even in winter. When nothing would deter Miao Shan from a life of religious devotion, the king decided to have her killed. He sent an assassin after her, but the moment that the assassin struck the fatal blow, she was whisked away by a divine wind to the top of a mountain. There, she continued her life of devotion, and soon the mountain became known far and wide for housing a devout holy woman. (In some versions, she is killed and sent to hell -- but when she arrived, hell became a beautiful paradise, and the gods had no choice but to send her back to Earth!)
Eventually, the king fell ill with a terrible disease that caused him great pain. Knowing that he was about to die, he consulted with a monk, who told him that a potion brewed from the arms and eyes of a person without anger would cure him. The king said that no such person could possibly exist, but the monk had heard tell of a saint who lived atop a mountain who might fulfill his requests. The king sent an envoy to meet this saint (who of course was none other than Miao Shan herself). Hearing of her father’s great pain, she cut off her arms and gouged out her eyes without a moment of hesitation and gave them to the envoy.
Cured of his fatal illness, the king and queen went to thank the saint who had given up so much to save him. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, they found much to their shock that it was their own daughter who had saved him, despite all of the king’s wickedness and cruelty. Her parents immediately fell to their knees and begged for forgiveness. Miao Shan merely smiled; the mutilated woman disappeared into a mist to reveal her new form -- the Thousand-Eyed and Thousand-Armed Guanyin, a goddess. Her parents, now completely changed by the revelation, built a beautiful temple for Guanyin, and returned to their kingdom, now much wiser and kinder rulers.
Guanyin, though she had achieved Enlightenment and could leave the world, chose to stay behind because of her infinite compassion. She vowed that she would never leave the world so long as she could help people who suffered.
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Other Myths
- - Guanyin once rescued a fish from a fisherman’s net; the fish turned out to actually be the son of the Dragon King. In gratitude, the Dragon King sent his granddaughter to present Guanyin with a pearl of wisdom, but the granddaughter was so overwhelmed by Guanyin’s presence that she instantly requested to be her disciple. This is why Guanyin is often accompanied by a dragon.
- In the famous Chinese epic Journey to the West, she regularly protects the devout pilgrim Xuanzang (accompanied by his disciples, one of whom is the mischievous Monkey King) from the demons that threaten him on his way to attain the sacred scriptures and bring them back to China.
- Mazu, a goddess in Southern China who protects seafarers and fishermen while they are at sea, is sometimes believed to be an incarnation or form of Guanyin.
- She Who Hears the Cries of the World
The Thousand-Eyed and Thousand-Armed Guanyin, so that she may see anywhere in the world and help anyone in need of suffering
Bestower of Children
Guanyin of the Southern Ocean
