Saturday Goddess Blogging

Quan Yin is the first, in what I hope will be a series of posts on various Goddesses. I imagine that, after this week, when the Bush junta, and its enablers in Congress and the Senate, abandoned habeas corpus and embraced torture, we could all use a dose of Quan Yin.

Quan Yin, as Wikipedia explains is the bodhisattva of compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. She is also known as the Chinese Goddess of Compassion by many. Quan Yin once came to me when I was called upon to mediate a bitter dispute between two wonderful women in my coven, both of whom had pretty much decided that they'd like to tear each others' hair out. Strangely, in the end, she counseled me to be compassionate to myself.

Another story, describes Kuan Yin as the daughter of a cruel king who wanted her to marry a wealthy but uncaring man. The story is usually ascribed to the research of the Buddhist monk Chiang Chih-ch'i in 1100AD. The story is likely to have a Taoist origin. Chiang Chih-ch'i however when he penned the work believed that the Kuan Yin we know today was actually a Buddhist princess called Miao Shan who had a religious following on Fragrant Mountain. Despite this however there are many variants of the story in Chinese mythology.

The story surrounds is that of Miao Shan (??). Miao Shan who would later become Kuan Yin told her father the king after he made his demands that she would obey command. That is so long as the marriage eases three misfortunes.
The king asked his daughter what be the three misfortunes that the marriage should ease. Miao Shan pointed out that the first misfortune to be eased was that the marriage should alleviate the suffering people endure as they get older in age. The second misfortune is that it should ease is the suffering people endure when they fall ill.The third misfortune it should ease is the suffering caused by death. If the marriage cannot ease any of the above then she would rather retire to life of religion forever.

When the father asked who could ease all the above, Miao Shan pointed out that a doctor was able to do all the above.
The father grew angry as he wanted her to marry a person of power and wealth, not a healer. He forced her into hard labor and reduced her food and drinks but this did not cause her to yield.

Everyday she begged to be able to enter a temple and become a nun instead. Her father eventually allowed her to work in the temple, but asked the monks to give her very hard chores in order to discourage her. The monks forced Kuan Yin to work all day and all night, while others slept, in order to finish her work. However, she was such a good person that the animals living around the temple began to help her with her chores. Her father, seeing this, became so frustrated that he attempted to burn down the temple. Kuan Yin put out the fire with her bare hands and suffered no burns. Now struck with fear, her father ordered her to be put to death. After she died she was made into a goddess for all of her kindness and began her journey to heaven. She was about to cross over into heaven when she heard a cry of suffering back on earth. When she turned around she watched the myriad of suffering beings. Filled with compassion, she asked to be sent back and vowed to stay until all suffering had ended.

One version of this legend states that, at the point of Kuan Yin's father's execution of her, a supernatural tiger took Kuan Yin to one of the more hell-like realms of the dead. However, instead of being punished by demons like the other inmates, Kuan Yin played music and flowers blossomed around her. This managed to completely surprise the head demon. The story says that Kuan Yin, by merely being in that hell, turned it into a paradise.

Another version of the same legend tells that upon entering hell Kuhn Yin was overwhelmed with grief at the suffering souls must endure in hell. Out of compassion, she freed many of the souls from hell before being stopped by Yanluo, King of Hell. She then returned back alive on Earth and resided at Mount Putuo.

A variant of the legend says that Miao Shan allowed herself to die at the hand of the executioner. The legend goes that as the executioner tried to carry out Miao Chuang Yen's orders, his axe shattered into a thousand pieces. He then tried a sword which likewise shattered. He tried to shoot Miao Shan down with arrows but they all veered off.

Finally in desperation he used his hands. Miao Shan, realizing the fate the executioner will meet at her father's hand should he fail let herself die, forgiving the executioner in the process. It is said that she voluntarily took on the massive karmic guilt the executioner generated for killing her, thus leaving him guiltless. It is through this she descended into the Hell-like realms. While in the Hell-like realms she witnessed first hand the suffering and horrors beings there must endure. Filled with compassion she released all the good karma she had accumulated through her many lifetimes, thus freeing many suffering souls back into Heaven and Earth. In the process that Hell-like realm became a paradise. Yama it is said sent her back to Earth to prevent utter destruction of his realm. It is said that upon her return she appeared on Fragrant Mountain.
Another tale says that Miao Shan never died but was in fact transported by a supernatural tiger, believed to be the Deity of the Place to Fragrant Mountain.

Post her return to Earth or to the Fragrant Mountain Miao Shan was said to have stayed for a few years on Putou Island where she practiced meditation and helped the sailors and fishermen who got stranded. Kuhn Yin/Miao Shan is frequently worshipped as patron of sailors and fishermen due to this. She is said to frequently becalm the sea when boats are threatened with rocks. After some decades Miao Shan returned to Fragrant Mountain to continue her meditation.

The Legend of Miao Shan usually ends with Miao Chuang Yen, the father of Miao Shan falling ill with jaundice. It is said that no physician could cure him. Then a monk appeared saying that the jaundice could be cured by making a medicine out of the arm and eye of one without anger. The monk further suggested that such a person could be found on Fragrant Mountain.

Miao Shan when requested offered up her eyes and arms willingly. Miao Chuang Yen was cured of the illness and went to the Fragrant Mountain to give thanks to the person. When he discovered that his own daughter gave up her arm and eyes for him, he begged for forgiveness. The story concludes with Miao Shan being transformed into the Thousand Armed Kuhn Yin and the king, queen and her two sisters building a temple on the mountain for her. The story concludes with Kuhn Yin hearing a cry from the world below turned around and saw the massive suffering endured by the people of the world. Out of love for all man She returned to Earth, vowing never to leave till such time all suffering has ended.

It's easy to invoke Quan Yin. There is an implicit trust in Kuhn Yin's saving grace and healing powers. Many believe that even the simple recitation of her name will bring her instantly to the scene. One of the most famous texts associated with the bodhisattva, the ancient Lotus Sutra whose twenty-fifth chapter, dedicated to Kuhn Yin, is known as the "Kuhn Yin sutra," describes thirteen cases of impending disaster--from shipwreck to fire, imprisonment, robbers, demons, fatal poisons and karmic woes--in which the devotee will be rescued if his thoughts dwell on the power of Kuhn Yin. The text is recited many times daily by those who wish to receive the benefits it promises.

Devotees also invoke the bodhisattva's power and merciful intercession with the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM-- "Hail to the jewel in the lotus!" or, as it has also been interpreted, "Hail to Avalokitesvara, who is the jewel in the heart of the lotus of the devotee's heart!"

I am less compassionate than I might be. My Goddesses tend to be Goddesses who deal in less compassionate ways with the world -- Hecate, Coyote, Eris, Discordia, Athena, Artemis -- than does Quan Yin. But I pray to her now.

Lady of Mercy, Inspire mercy in the hearst of torturers everywhere. Bring comfort to those who are imprisoned unjustly, without due process, far from their homes and those that they love. Give strength to the International Red Cross, to Amnesty International, and to the UN; let them stand up to injustice and cruelty wherever it originates.

I'll burn some incense to Quan Yin tonight. Will you? With whom can you be more compassionate? In what three ways can you be more compassionate with yourself?