The China deaf and mute performed Thousands Hands Guan Yin
Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva And Buddhism
By Tan Peng Yau
The Compassionate Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva is universally known to all those living in Asia as a gentle and compassionate one. There was once a survey in China that showed that even though people did not know about Buddha Shakyamuni, they knew about Kuan Shi Yin and Ah mi tuo (Amitabha). This shows how much people are inclined to the Mahayana!
However despite of this, many don't know about His origin. Many less educated Buddhists especially the elderly would cite a story where Guan Shi Yin was once the third princess Miao Shan in ancient China. In the story, she was a compassionate daughter who even gorged out her eyes to cure the illness of her evil father. In reward for her deed, Buddha gave her a thousand eyes and a thousand arms so that she could continue to help others. Later, she was canonized and worshiped by the common people. This story has many versions but among the illiterate majority this was the source of inspiration for the masses who could not read the scriptures.
However, in order for us to understand his origin and mission, it is still the best to use the scriptures for reference as such stories are not that reliable for a serious study of Buddhism. Despite of my limited knowledge, I hope everyone would have a greater understanding of Guan Yin and Buddhism.
Firstly, what is a Bodhisattva (Pu Sa). Bodhisattva is a sanskrit word which can be split into two parts. Bodhi means wisdom and compassion, sattva means a being. Together the term means "A being with great compassion and wisdom". Specifically, such a being wishes to gain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. In fact for many, Bodhisattvas give up their opportunities of Buddhahood so that they can help others as a Bodhisattva where their characteristics of compassion are more pronounced. . In Bodhisattvahood there are ten stages and those of a high level are known as great Bodhisattvas. However it is important to remember that Guan Shi Yin is in fact a Buddha as he attained enlightenment infinite kalpas ago but in order to help others He decided to manifest as a Bodhisattva. (This issue will be elaborated later.)
His origins
Guan Yin's original name in sanskrit is Avalokitesvara (pronounced as Ah va loh ki teh sva ra) which roughly means "The Observer of the sights and sounds of the world" The chinese translations of her name are either Guan Shi Yin???(Regarder of the worlds cries) or Guan Zhi Zai??? (Observer of the ultimate nature of things). Of the two, Guan shi yin is more popular perhaps due to the fact that this world is full of sufferings and people need a great savior to behold them. In Japanese, Korean and Tibetan, his is known as Kannon, KuanUm and Chenrenzig respectively.
Regarding the origin of Guan Shi Yin, there are many sources to refer from. The first is the Suramgarma sutra (Shou Leng Yan Jingº·«ÄY¸g). In it, GuanYin narrated how he learnt from his teacher in his world-Buddha Guan Yin(the disciple takes the name of the teacher in honour of the teacher). He was then taught how to observe things internally and externally as a way to cultivate towards Buddhahood.
The second is that in sutras it was recorded that Guan Yin is actually The Tathagatha of the Brightness of True Dharma (¥¿ªk©ú¦p¨Ó).
The third is from the records of Master Dao Xuan (¹D«Å). Master Dao Xuan of Tang Dynasty was a monk of high attainment, as a result, many heavenly beings came to make offerings to him. Once he asked about the origin of Guan Yin and a deva told him that infinite kalpas ago, there was a king named Zhuanyan (²øÄY¤ý) and he had 3 daughters, the youngest was called Miao Shan (§®µ½) who left home and later became Guan Yin. From this it is highly possible that the Miao Shan story developed from this incident.
In addition, in Bei hua sutra (´dµØ) it was recorded that there was a father -son relationship between Guan Yin and Amitabha. Amitabha was then a King in that world system and Avalokitesvara was one of his sons. Guan Yin vowed before the before the buddha in his world that if any being in misery called upon his name, he would try to relieve his suffering. The buddha praised him and said that he would be named as Avalokitesvara. It was also stated that Guan Yin will one day succeed Amitabha's place.
After reading this, some might think,"So whch is the correct version?". There are many ways of looking at this problem. However, whatever way we try, we should understand that enlightened beings do not have a true body, in fact they exist as energy (mind). Thus the many forms and lifetimes they manifest are just a display of their quest to liberate sentient beings of many shapes and inclination. In the Lotus Sutra (ªkµØ), it is listed that Guan Yin appears in any form in accordance to the needs of the beings who need his instruction. As such, arguments whether Guan Yin is male, female, Chinese, Tibetan etc is as meaningless as arguing whether water is square or round!
In addition, people who know little about Buddhism tend to translate Guanyin Pusa as "The Goddess of Mercy", this is inaccurate. First as said earlier, Guianyin is neither male or female. Secondly, Buddhist do not make gods or goddesses the main object of their devotion. Why? These so called gods/goddesses are only beings on the heaven realm of the six states of existance of Samsara. People are born there due to their large amount of merit in their past life but even though they are happier than humans, they still have to die one day and might even drop down as a animal or hell-being. In short, they are not liberated from the cycle of life and death unlike the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Thus praying to them cannot deliver ourselves from samsara! This accidental/intentional degrading of Guanshiyin might be due to the early westerners in China who had their first contact with the popular religion of the common people which was a mix of Taoism, Buddhism, superstition. As these people were not knowledgeable in orthodox Buddhism, they regarded GuanYin like any other Taoist goddess, this probably resulted in the misnomer " Goddess of Mercy". However, I urge everyone to refer to her as Guan Yin Bodhisattva or Guan yin Pusa as to accord her the full title of her attainment.
The various representations of Guan Yin
In China, Japan, Korean and Southeast Asia, Guan yin is usually represented as a gentle lady in white robes carrying a vase with a willow twig. This image is extremely popular since the Song Dynasty. In India however, images were made portraying him as a handsome prince wearing a crown bearing the image of his teacher-Buddha Amitabha. It is also worth mentioning here that in scriptures, Shakyamuni Buddha addresses Guan Yin as "Virtuous man (µ½¨k¤l)" which implies that he manifested as a male during Buddha's time. In Tibet, Guan Yin is still thought of as male and is portrayed as a youth with 4 arms bearing a string of white quartz prayer beads, a wish fulfilling jewel and a white lotus in bloom. One common manifestation among all Mahayanan schools is the thousand arms and thousand eyes Avalokitesvara. There are also other representations showing him with 18, 42 etc hands carrying various ritual implements. Another common convention is to show Guan yin and bodhisattva Da Shi Zhi (¤j¶Õ¦ÜVajrapani) on the left and right of Amitabha Buddha respectively. This triad is usually called " The 3 holy ones of the West". In addition, there are many other icons of Guan Yin but due to a lack of time only the common ones are described here.
On a side note, in the chinese tradition, Guan Yin has two attendants on her two sides. On her right is a girl carrying a flaming pearl and on the left is a boy folding his palms together. The boy is known as Shan Cai (µ½°]), the Celestial youth of the Treasure of Merit ( kumara Sudhana ). This boy was extremely wise and dedicated his life in pursuit of Buddhahood. He visited 53 saints and finally met Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (´¶½åµÐÂÄ) who advised him to practise the tenfold path in order to be reborn in the western world of Amitabha-Sukhavati and be enlightened there. Many have thought that he was the son of the bull demon, so on and so forth. This is just the imagination of the author of the novel Journey to the West. The girl is called the Dragon girl, normally she is thought to be the 8 year old daughter of a dragon king. This daughter became a buddha later, much to the misbelief of Shakyamuni buddha's disciples who previously thought that only men could be buddhas. Anyway, these two are thought to be Guan yin's attendants.
The symbolism behind the different icons of Guan Yin
As mentioned before, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do not have any true form or shape. However as sentient beings like us live in a material world, there is a need to create a way to remember the qualities of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. One of this ways is through the making of images on paper, cloth, metal, stone etc. Contrary to popular opinion, images have existed during Shakyamuni Buddha's time. It arose from an incident whereby the king and many others missed the Buddha's presence and therefore made an image of him out of sandalwood while he was in the heavens preaching to his mother. Thus the presence of an image is for people who live later to feel the Buddha's presence. In another way, the image is a personification of abstract ideas (like Compassion and Wisdom). The various hand signals (mudras) and ritual implements in iconography have much meaning behind them and some commonly associated with Guan Yin are listed below
full article on this website
http://www.siddham.org/yuan_english/sharing/sharing020101.html