1. The Etymology and Translations of Avalokitevara........................... 2 2. The Growing Popularity of Kuan-yin as a Compassionate Saviour..... 3 3. The Feminine Transformation of Kuan-yin........................................

5 4. Searching for the Origins of the Female Kuan-yin ............................. 6 5. The Chinese Domestication of Kuan-yin ........................................... 7 6. Female Kuan-yin as a Gift of Compassion to the Need for the Divine Feminine .............................................................................................. 9 7. Kuan-yin Worship as the Polestar of the Awakening of Ones Compassionate Buddha-nature ............................................................ 9 Bibliography....................................................................................... 11

1. The Etymology and Translations of Avalokitevara

Mahyna Buddhism as the Great Vehicle of compassion is quintessentially represented by the ideal of bodhisattva to selflessly benefit and save all sentient beings. Among the eminent bodhisattvas, Avalokitevara is probably the most popular of all. The word Avalokitevara consists of two parts: avalokita, a past passive participle meaning seen and vara meaning lord. It is translated in various ways the lord who looks down, the lord who is seen, the lord of compassionate glances, the lord whom one sees. Its Chinese translation, as Hsan-tsang ( 602-664) pointed out, should be Kuantzu-tsai (). However, the Sanskrit original contains another name, viz., Avalokitasvara, with svara meaning voice or sound. The latter is equivalent to the commonly known Chinese translation as Kuan-yin (), perceiver of sounds, or Kuan-shih-yin (), perceiver of worlds sounds. It is more religiously significant to call Kuan-shih-yin as the Lord who regards the cries of the world in order to highlight his compassionate role as a saviour. Hsan-tsang was not the originator of the term Kuan-tzu-tsai.1 The fact is, Kuanyin appeared as early as 185 C.E. in the Cheng ju guangming dingyi jing (Perfect Splendor
1

Cf. Kenneth Chen, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey (1964; repr., Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973), 340-41. Kenneth Chen has allegedly attributed the origin of the term to Hsan-tsang, as he writes: All early translators in China used Kuan-yin or Kuan-shih-yin, and

Samdhi stra ) translated by Chih-yao (), contemporaneous with Kuan-shih-yin which was used in the title of a liturgy translated during the Later Han and is not extant. Kumrajva (344-413), who used Kuan-shih-yin in his translation of the Lotus and Heart stras, had already noted that Kuan-shih-yin was also called Kuan-tzu-tsai.2 In any case, while being aware of its multivalent meanings, we will adhere to the use of Kuan-yin here as it is most popularly known for Avalokitevara in the Chinese world, and more importantly, Kuan-yin has later become the uniquely feminine face of compassion the Goddess of Mercy in Chinese Buddhism.

2. The Growing Popularity of Kuan-yin as a Compassionate Saviour

The great popularity of Kuan-yin is evidenced from the saying that in every home there is a Kuan-yin, in every house an Amit Buddha.3 It is by no means clear and conclusive as to the origin of the cult of Avalokitevara in India.4 As indicated in the above, Kuan-yin was introduced into China as early as the second century C.E. with the translation of Cheng ju guangmiing dingyi jing, together with Vimalakrtinirdea Stra () and Longer Sukhvatvyha Stra (). However, here Kuan-yin plays a subordinate role as an attendant of a Buddha such as Amit. It was only in the Lotus Stra

(Saddharmapuarkastra ), in the Avalokitevara chapter, with its Chinese translation as Guangshiyin pumenpin () by Dharmaraka in 286 C.E. or Pumenpin (Universal Gateway ) by Kumrajva in 406 C.E., that Kuan-yin was given a saviour role. This chapter frequently circulated as a separate stra in its own right as Guanyin Jing (Scripture of Guanyin ) or Guanshiyin Jing (Scripture of Guanshiyin ). It describes how calling to mind Kuan-yin will save the devotees from numerous perils and sufferings even if billions of people who call his name single-mindedly when they are in danger, they will be saved by the Bodhisattva. This assurance has given faith even to both Faxian ( 337c. 422) and Hsan-tsang, who in the course of their long and
it was not until Hsan-tsang that the expression Kuan-tzu-tsai, the Onlooking Lord, a correct translation of Avalokitevara, was first used. 2 For the etymologies and their possible chronological development, see C. N. Tay, Kuan-yin: The cult of Half Asia, History of Religious, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1976), 148-150. 3 Ibid., 147. 4 Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 7-15. The uncertainty about the beginning of the cult of Avalokitevara in India is a reflection of the ongoing debates about the origin and early history of Mahyna Buddhism. . . . Even though the question of when Avalokitevara first appeared in Indian cultic life cannot be settled, all evidences confirm that by the fifth century, his presence was well attested by contemporary reports. Also see Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky, Guanyin (Oxford University Press, 2004?), 5.

dangerous journey to and from India, constantly invoked Avalokitevara to preserve them from all kinds of perils. The compassionate Kuan-yin will also heed and fulfil the wish of those women who earnestly pray for children.5 Through his skill-in-means, Kuan-yin can also appear in manifold different forms, adopting the one which is most suitable for aiding, converting and saving sentient beings in a personally affective and effective manner. In this way, [Kuan-yin] comes to be seen as the most wonderful compassionate savior of the universe, constantly and tirelessly acting with all the powers of a tenth-level Bodhisattva for the benefit of all sentient beings without discrimination. As such, [Kuan-yin] is said to be veritable incarnation of all the Buddhas compassion, their essence, and very reason for being. As compassion incarnate, [Kuan-yin] is held to be concerned not only with enlightenment but with all the little sufferings of everyday life. [Kuan-yin] is a divine being to whom one can pray for aid and consolation.6 Kuan-yin as the perfect embodiment and personification of compassion for all suffering beings is thus an all-powerful saviour figure of great hope to whom the Chinese people experiencing the living reality of suffering and impermanence throughout their tumultuous history can intimately relate to in worship. As an example to highlight this, Kuanyin worship was the most predominant feature during the North Wei period (386 to 534, de jure until 535), which has been described as part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change. There were 197 images of the Bodhisattva counted in the Lung-men () caves.7 Interestingly, it is possible to chart the rise in devotion to Kuanyin through counting the statues and dedications inscribed in the Lung-men caves. Those made from AD 500 to 540 show that historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, was the most popular Buddhist figure. There were 43 dedications to him . . . and 22 to Kuan Yin. From 650-690, the dedications show a radical shift. Only 8 are to Sakyamuni . . . and 44 to Kuan Yin. The survey affirmatively demonstrates that the desire for a salvationary, compassionate face to

"If there be a woman who desires a male child, and prays to Kuan-yin the goddess will cause her to become the mother of a well-endowed and highly-gifted child; or if she desires a female child, she shall become the mother of one extremely beautiful, endowed with every gift, and beloved of all." 6 Paul Williams, Mahyna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations (1989; repr., London and New York: Routledge, 2009), 221. 7 Yn-hua Jan, The bodhisattva Idea in Chinese Literature: Typology and Significance, in The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism, ed. and intro. Leslie S. Kawamura), 140 (1981; repr., Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1997).

Buddhism could not be more clearly signalled than in the rise to popularity of both Kuan Yin and Amida, a trend which has never been reversed.8 Kuan-yin belief and worship became popular and widespread in China during Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) among ordinary people as well as learned literati and officials. Chn-fang Y argues that the real reason and the real secret for her success in China, in the final analysis, is the fact that Kuan-yin is worshipped by all classes and by both genders. She is gracious to all and, in turn, possessed by none.9 The popularity of Kuan-yin was also reflected in the development of varied forms of the Bodhisattva as represented in sculptures, paintings, and other creative medium, such as: Kuan-yin with thousand arms and eyes (), Water-Moon Kuan-yin ( ), Kuan-yin with a fish-basket (), Clam Kuan-yin (), and Child-giving Kuan-yin ().10

3. The Feminine Transformation of Kuan-yin

In the first few centuries Kuan-yin remained as a male Bodhisattva as he was in India. The iconographic transformation of Kuan-yin from male to female, according to C. N. Tay, is traceable to the fifth century during the north and south dynasties.11 Yet, until Tang Dynasty (618-907) Kuan-yin was predominantly masculine, as evinced by existing sculptures and paintings, especially those representations in which Kuan-yin is frequently portrayed with a moustache, notwithstanding some representations may appear somewhat androgynous.12 From the time of the Five Dynasties, around the 10th century, Kuan-yin has been increasingly represented as a feminine Bodhisattva. By the Ming (1368-1644) this process of feminisation reached completion, and Kuan-yin became a completely sinicized goddess of

Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion (London: Thorsons, 1995), 8. 9 Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 418. 10 See the pictorial narratives in Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky, Guanyin; also chapter 6 (Indigenous Iconographies and the Domestication of Kuan-yin) of Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara. 11 C. N. Tay, Kuan-yin: The cult of Half Asia, 151. Cf. John H. Chamberlayne, The Development of Kuan Yin: Chinese Goddess of Mercy, Numen, Vol. 9, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1962), 48: Kuan-yin appears in female form about the seventh or eighth century and this becomes general from the twelfth century. 12 C. N. Tay, Kuan-yin: The cult of Half Asia, 151; Kenneth Chen, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey, 341.

mercy.13 Furthermore, her following had established centres of worship and pilgrimage. Her compassion, her role as sea goddess, her bringing male offspring had all added to her growing fame. By the sixteenth century, Kuan-yin, as the Goddess of Mercy/Compassion, was firmly established as the major, if not the most popular, deity of China.14

4. Searching for the Origins of the Female Kuan-yin

There are various hypotheses to account for the feminine transformation of Kuanyin. The most common explanation offered by Chinese scholars is that the quality of compassion is a maternal virtue in the Chinese cultural context.15 Kuan-yin may have acquired female form due to her quality of mercy resembling the Taoist goddess Queen of Heaven, Holy Mother ().16 Martin Palmer et al suggest the following admixture of religious ideas and identities out of which the goddess Kuan-yin first emerged: From the need in popular Buddhism for a goddess to compensate for the maledominated nature of the faith; from the need to compete with the Taoists and their successful goddesses, such as the Queen Mother of the West; from the need for a divine feminine aspect in faith; and from the compassionate image of Kuan Yin, helper of mothers, found in the Lotus Sutra, and Nestorian Christians bearing images of the Mother of Christ, the Madonna.17 The transformation may also be due to the popularity of the pilgrimage to Pu-to Island ( ), which has above all attracted mainly female pilgrims and devotees who have asked for or have obtained children.18

13

Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 294. See also Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 8: By the mid to late ninth century, as dedications from the Buddhist manuscripts found in the sealed caves of Tun Huang confirm, worship of Kuan Yin had not only become a major cult but Kuan Yin was now usually considered and depicted as female. 14 Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 36. 15 Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 414. Y points out that in the Buddhist viewpoint, the two most important Mahyna concepts and primary virtues of a bodhisattva, wisdom is identified as feminine and compassion as masculine. 16 John H. Chamberlayne, The Development of Kuan Yin: Chinese Goddess of Mercy, 48. 17 Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 23. See also p. 9: It was from Chinas wild northwest border, on the Silk Road, a multi-cultural and plural religious melting-pot of different faiths Buddhism and Taoism, alongside shamanism and Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet; Christianity and Manichaeism, alongside Islam and Zoroastrianism that the distinctive female forms of Kuan-yin began to fan out extensively from the north west in the ninth to tenth centuries. 18 Chamberlayne, The Development of Kuan Yin: Chinese Goddess of Mercy, 48. See chapter 9 (Puto Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese Potalaka) of Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara.

Apart from the abovementioned various contributing factors to the process of feminization of Kuan-yin, with none could be claimed as the single source of origin, the feminine transformation has a firm scriptural basis. As a great bodhisattva, Kuan-yin could use skilful means (upyakaualya) to save people in whatever forms according to the situation. Among the thirty-three forms found in the Universal Gateway chapter of the Lotus Stra, seven are feminine: nun, laywoman, wife of an elder, householder, official, Brahmin, and girl. Similarly, among the thirty-two forms found in the uragama Stra, six are feminine: nun, laywoman, queen, princess, noble lady, and virgin maiden.19

5. The Chinese Domestication of Kuan-yin

In spite of the diverse preceding theories, Chn-fang Y reckons that the search for the origin of the female Kuan-yin may be a futile one. She suggests a more fruitful path to understanding is to view the sexual transformation of Kuan-yin in the larger context of the Chinese domestication of the bodhisattva, which has thus successfully and decisively established Kuan-yin as the most beloved Goddess of Mercy.20 Y explains: in fact, a key factor in the successful indigenisation and feminisation of this Buddhist deity in China is that through various myths and legends the Chinese managed to transform Avalokitevara, the ahistorical bodhisattva who transcended temporal and spatial limitations as depicted in the Mahyna scriptures, into Kuan-yin, known by different Chinese names, led lives in clearly definable times and locations on the soil of China. Only in this way could Kuan-yin conform to the model of Chinese deities.21 This can be aptly illustrated by the remarkable legend of the Princess Miao-shan ( ), written in the twelfth century (in 1102 C.E.) by the monk Pu-ming.22 Briefly, Miaoshan was a virtuous young maiden who refused marriage in order to firmly practice Buddhism. Because of her refusal, her father became very abusive to the point of murdering her. She was miraculously saved. Later, despite of the fathers cruelty, she gave him her arms and eyes as medicines to cure him from a deadly disease. In this creative way of story making, although Kuan-yin was originally an ahistorical mythical figure, the legend of Princess Miao-shan changed the bodhisattva into a female historical person with a

19 20

See Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 294. Ibid., 419. 21 Ibid., 294-95. 22 Chamberlayne, The Development of Kuan Yin: Chinese Goddess of Mercy, 48. For the detail and signification of the legend, see Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 63-78; chapter 8 (Princess Miao-shan and the Feminisation of Kuan-yin) of Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara.

biography, including her birthday (the nineteenth day of the second month), which is celebrated by both monks and common people since at least the Yan period.23 The greatly popularity of the story helped to establish the belief that Kuan-yin was a female. In the end, in her theophany, Miao-shan appeared as the Thousand-eyed and Thousand-handed Ta-pei Kuan-yin (), who embodies and personifies the great compassionate heart; the heart of non-discrimination; the unconditioned or spontaneous heart; the heart of non-attachment; the heart of contemplating all things as unreal; the heart of reverence; the heart of humility; the heart of non-confusion or Samdhi; the heart of not clinging to heterodox views and attainment; the heart of unexcelled perfect enlightenment.24. Initially the legend was mainly to domesticate the esoteric Thousandhanded Kuan-yin that was being worshipped in Longxing Temple, Shijiazhuang, Hebei.25 Whenever one sees the Thousand-handed Kuan-yin, one sees Miao-shan. Through this legend, Kuan-yin was domesticated and feminised.26 The similar process and result of sexual transformation through domestication can also be seen in other feminine forms of Kuan-yin, especially the intriguing Fish-basket Kuan-yin and Kuan-yin of the South Sea.27 It is interesting to note here that in the spread of Kuan-yin belief and worship, she absorbed all sorts of other female deities, often local deities such as sea goddesses or mountain spirits.28 At the same time, Y observes that since the Sung when the female Kuan-yin first made her indisputable appearance, other popular goddesses also emerged. . . . There seems to be a strong link between the female Kuan-yin and the births of new goddesses such as Ma-tsu ( Queen of Heaven), Pi-hsia Yan-chn ( Goddess of Azure Cloud), and the Eternal Mother ( Unborn Mother).29

23 24

Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 413. As depicted in the Stra of the Thousand-Hand-and-Thousand-Eye Kuan-yin Great-CompassionateHeart Dhra, see C. N. Tay, Kuan-yin: The Cult of Half Asia, 171. 25 Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 348; See also Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky, Guanyin, 35, 49. 26 Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 350. 27 See chapter 10 (Feminine Forms of Kuan-yin in Late Imperial China) of Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara. 28 Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 25, 41. 29 Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 418.

6. Female Kuan-yin as a Gift of Compassion to the Need for the Divine Feminine
Our limited survey of the belief and worship of Kuan-yin has thus far afforded a multiple perspective from which to view the development of Chinese Buddhism and the evolution of religious worship in China. The popularity of Kuan-yin and the sinicisation of the bodhisattva, especially in her feminine transformation as the Goddess of Mercy, enable us to gratefully appreciate the gift of the great compassion of the Buddha as perfectly personified in Kuan-yin, which has been bestowed on the Chinese people. At the same time, the domestication and feminisation of Kuan-yin has filled the religious vacuum left on the Chinese psycho-spiritual landscape as a result of the decline of Chinese goddess and female shamans after the rise of patriarchal supremacy in the Chou dynasty. With the establishment of Confucianism as the state of religion in the Han, goddesses and real women became increasingly marginalised. The sexual transformation of Kuan-yin as the Goddess of Mercy has subsequently answered the heartfelt need for the divine feminine of the Chinese people, and in that way, hopefully restored the ideal balance of Yin and Yang.30

7. Kuan-yin Worship as the Polestar of the Awakening of Ones Compassionate Buddha-nature

Many people have experienced the beauty and the serenity reflected in the artrepresentation of various forms of Kuan-yin. Seeking her refuge and blessing should inspire peace and tranquillity in the devotees, for in her worship, the divine becomes suffused with beauty and grace, with love and mercy, with gentleness and wisdom.31 But the miracles she performs out of her limitless compassion should not remain only external to the devotees; ultimately the most important miracle of hers is experienced by redeeming and transforming

30

See Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 9-17; Chn-fang Y, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara, 412-13. Y asserts that precisely because there were no strong goddesses around, Kuan-yin could undergo a sexual transformation. . . . This might explain why Avalokitevara did not undergo a sexual transformation in India and Tibet where powerful and popular goddess, such as Durg and Tr, are present. See also p. 415: However, Y warns that there is no necessary correlation between the veneration of goddesses and the status of women in societies that venerate goddess. She refers to the study of Indian women by Leigh Mintum who concludes thus: Goddesses did not empower the women I knew in any practical or secular sense, but they did, in my opinion, contribute to the fortitude and pride that are so much a part of their character. 31 Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok, Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, 52.

what is inherent within each of us, the Buddha-nature. This is in line with what C. N. Tay says of the double identification of Kuan-yin: Kuan-yin is thus identified with the Buddhas above in their pristine enlightenment and salvific compassion and with the beings below in their immanent Buddha-nature and yearning for salvation, and is able to manifest himself to the beings according to their capacity to receive and deliver them from suffering by awakening them to their own immanent Buddha-nature.32 As Edward Conze aptly remarks, the Mahyna came to the conclusion that it is really the Buddha in us who does the seeking [for Nirva] and that it is the Buddha-nature in us which seeks Buddhahood.33 If the worship of Kuan-yin is to be truly characteristic of Mahyna Buddhism, the devotees should strive to awaken ones Buddha-nature after the example of all-compassionate Kuan-yin to be compassionate is Kuan-yin.34 In this ultimate worship of Kuan-yin by becoming one with the Goddess of Mercy, the deeper our insight into suffering and our solidarity with the suffering beings, the more we will be able to give rise to compassion and altruism, thus reflecting the all-merciful face of Kuan-yin in our world that is full of perils and yet at the same time charged with such a hopeful compassion.

32 33

C. N. Tay, Kuan-yin: the Cult of Half Asia, 168. Ibid., 172, citing Edward Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (Oxford, 1960), 149. 34 Ibid., 157.

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Bibliography

Chen, Kenneth. Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey. 1964; repr., Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973. Chamberlayne, John H. The Development of Kuan Yin: Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Numen, Vol. 9, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1962): 45-52. Jan, Yn-hua. The bodhisattva Idea in Chinese Literature: Typology and Significance. In The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism, edited and introduced by Leslie S. Kawamura, 125-52. 1981; repr., Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1997. Karetzky, Patricia Eichenbaum. Guanyin. Oxford University Press, 2004? Palmer, Martin, and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok. Kuan Yin: Myths and Prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion. London: Thorsons, 1995. Tay, C. N. Kuan-yin: The cult of Half Asia. History of Religious, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1976):147-77. Williams, Paul. Mahyna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 1989; repr., London and New York: Routledge, 2009. Y, Chn-fang. Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitevara. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.

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