The Goddess of Mercy

Guan Yin (The Goddess of Mercy)

Culture

Guanyin, a female Bodhisattva¹ associated with compassion as venerated in Buddhism culture. Commonly known in the West as the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin is an extremely popular Goddess in Chinese folk belief and is worshiped in Chinese communities throughout East and South East Asia due to her unconditional love, compassion and mercy. She is generally regarded by many as the protector of women and children. By this association she is also seen as a fertility goddess capable of granting children. She is also seen as the champion of the unfortunate, the sick, the disabled, the poor, and those in trouble. While China's indigenous religion is Taoism, Guanyin is also revered by Chinese Taoists as an Immortal.

Depiction and our turquoise arts

In China, Guanyin is usually shown in a white flowing robe and usually wears necklaces of Chinese royalty. In the left hand is a water jar containing pure water, and the right holds a willow branch. The crown usually depicts the image of Amitabha Buddha, Guan Yin's spiritual teacher before she became a Bodhisattva. Guan Yin is often depicted either alone, sitting in lotus position performing a gesture that signifies the moment when Buddha put the wheel of learning in motion; or stand atop a dragon, sometimes accompanied by a white parrot, flanked by two children. The two children are her acolytes who came to her when she was meditating at Mount Putuo. The girl is called Long Nü (Dragon Daughter) and the boy Shan Tsai (Child of Wealth).

  On the left hand displays a picture of one of our fine turquoise art handcraft of Guanyin, atop of a dragon, holding a water jar and the willow branch, accompanied by her acolytes.

Guan Yin and the Thousand Arms

Guan Yin realized that still many unhappy beings were yet to be saved despite the tremendous effort. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, her head splits into eleven pieces. Amitabha Buddha, seeing her plight, gave her eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Guan Yin attempted to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that her two arms also shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitabha came to her aid and gave her a thousand arms with which to aid the many. 

On the right hand displays a picture of one of our turquoise handcraft collections of Guanyin atop of a dragon with six hands, each holding different objects.

Turqsky.com (c) 2009

1. A Bodhisattva is motivated by pure compassion and love. Their goal is to achieve the highest level of being: that of a Buddha.

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