In both Taoism and Buddhism Kuan Yin is the goddess of
compassion, she is the Japanese Bodhisattva Kannon or Kanzeon, and
is identified with the Indian Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, including
all of the scriptures which apply to him. Kuan (Shih) Yin means "the
one who hears the cries of the world and comes." John Blofeld says:
"In the eleventh year of the Chin T'ien epoch (2590 BC), there
was a king who, on account of demerits stemming from a former
life, was denied the blessing of a son. Accordingly he sought
husbands of rare accomplishment and fine presence for his three
daughters, hoping to breed outstanding grandsons, the best of whom
would be well suited to inherit his kingdom. His youngest
daughter, however, rejected all talk of marriage and, on reaching
puberty, begged permission to reside at the White Sparrow Convent,
there to engage in a life of pious contemplation. 'Agreed!'
laughed the king, thinking that this gently nurtured girl would
soon long for deliverance from harsh monastic austerities and
could then be given the choice of remaining where she was or
marrying some well-chosen prince.
"Alas, the austere life suited her all too well and the king,
his patience at an end, embarked upon a series of measures marked
by increasing severity to bend her to his will. Rage mounting day
by day, he finally had her dragged from the convent and imprisoned
in a tower, there to be nourished on unspeakably revolting food.
In vain! Drinking to drown his chagrin served only to increase it,
until one day he shouted to his henchmen: 'A monstrous child so
lost to filial propriety as to deny her father his dearest wish
pollutes all under Heaven. The earth must be cleansed of this foul
example of disobedience to loving parents, lest the fashion spread
and corrupt future generations. See to it this night!'
"Sorrowfully his attendants led the little princess to a lonely
spot where the headsman awaited her, weeping but not to be
delflected from his duty. The child was made to kneel and the
headsman, grasping with both hands the terrible sword that had
drunk the blood of many a brutal criminal, was preparing to strike
when a blinding tempest arose. In a moment the stars were blotted
out, thunder roared and a dazzling ray from Heaven shone down upon
the kneeling victim. Ere the headsman could regain his courage, a
gigantic tiger bounded from the darkness and carried the swooning
girl into the nearby hills...
"From a cavern in the hills, whither the deity had borne her,
the Princess Miao Shan now descended into hell and there, by the
power of her unsullied purity, compelled its ruler to release
every one of the shivering wretches delivered to him for
punishment...
"Returning to the dwelling of the tutelary deity, Miao Shan
received the signal honor of a visit from Amitabha Buddha in
person! Assuming the splendidly shining form known as the
Buddha-Body of Reward, he abjured her to seek safety on seagirt
Potala, known to mariners as the Island of P'u-t'o...
"An island diety, summoned from Potala, carried the princess to
her new abode, travelling more swiftly than the wind. For nine
full years Miao Shan, when not engaged in meditation, performed
deeds of compassion which, crowning the merits acquired in
previous lives, completed all that remained to enable her to
attain the status of Bodhisattvahood. It was at this time that the
charming youth Shan Ts'ia (Virtuous Talent) became her acolyte.
"Thereafter, by virtue of her Bodhisattva's all-seeing eye, she
beheld one day a calamity that suddenly befell the third son of
the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. Wandering the ocean joyously
in the form of a fish, he had been caught by a fisherman and was
being carried to the market in a pail heavy with the living
victims of the day's catch. Instantly Shan Ts'ai was dispatched to
purchase those unhappy creatures and return them to the sea. His
Majesty the Dragon King, apprised by his son of his deliverance,
sent Miao Shan a lustrous jewel known as the Night Brilliance
Pearl, by the light of which the Bodhisattva would be able to read
sacred books to her heart's content, no matter how dark the night.
The gift was carried by his own grand-daughter, Lung Nu (Dragon
Maiden), who was so entranced by the virtue and loveliness of her
uncle's deliverer that she vowed there and then to dedicate her
life to the achievement of Bodhisattvahood. To this end, she
entered Kuan Yin's service and has every day since been seen in
her company.
"Some years later, the Princess Miao Shan, divesting herself of
her Bodhisattva's glory, returned to her own country for a space,
and there converted her father and her mother, enrolling them as
disciples of the Buddha."
Illustration: Angel of the Waters" and Bethesda Fountain, Central
Park, New York City, by sculptor Emma
Stebbins (1873), student of Charlotte
Cushman (photo: Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park Conservancy --
see also New
York Images).