Kwan Yin
Compassion & Loving Kindness
Kwan Yin is the divine energy of compassion and wisdom, the embodiment of pure intention and mercy in action. She listens to everyone who speaks her name and provides support and comfort to all. She is the divine mother. Kwan Yin has been worshipped for centuries in many countries and cultures. She is known as Avalokitesvara or Chenrezig in Tibet, Guan Yin or Quan Yin in China, Kannon in Japan, and Tara in India and Tibet. Her name means “she who listens to the cries of the world”. She appears in many forms: male and female, miraculous and mundane.
Statues, paintings and icons often show her in flowing white robes carrying a lotus flower (purity of heart) or a willow branch (flexibility and ease) and a vase of holy water from which she pours healing nectar to the world. She may be riding a dragon or standing with a peacock. Sometimes she is in a position of royal ease, or sitting on a lotus in a meditative mudra. Many icons show her as a being with multiple heads, eyes, arms and hands- enabling her to assist all sentient beings who call on her.
Quan Yin is the Great Celestial Bodhisattva of Compassion. A bodhisattva is a human who has reached enlightenment but has decided not to enter Nirvana and instead vows to live a life of compassionate service. In the Sutra named, "The Mahayana Marks of the Treasure King," it says that Kuan-yin is greater than any other Buddha. She is the divine mother who created the world. Her prayer, Om Mani Padme Hum, contains the essence of all of the Buddha's teachings. His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama of Tibet is believed to be the current living incarnation of Kwan Yin.
Statues, paintings and icons often show her in flowing white robes carrying a lotus flower (purity of heart) or a willow branch (flexibility and ease) and a vase of holy water from which she pours healing nectar to the world. She may be riding a dragon or standing with a peacock. Sometimes she is in a position of royal ease, or sitting on a lotus in a meditative mudra. Many icons show her as a being with multiple heads, eyes, arms and hands- enabling her to assist all sentient beings who call on her.
Quan Yin is the Great Celestial Bodhisattva of Compassion. A bodhisattva is a human who has reached enlightenment but has decided not to enter Nirvana and instead vows to live a life of compassionate service. In the Sutra named, "The Mahayana Marks of the Treasure King," it says that Kuan-yin is greater than any other Buddha. She is the divine mother who created the world. Her prayer, Om Mani Padme Hum, contains the essence of all of the Buddha's teachings. His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama of Tibet is believed to be the current living incarnation of Kwan Yin.
