Page 76 - Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated) and Symbols

are angry or are in despair, comforting those who are sorrow-

ful, and bringing forth feelings of love, devotion and content-

ment to her faithful. How does one become her faithful? Not

by blind faith or through worship which is tinged with selfish

intentions but through the practice of such virtues as kindliness,

gentleness, love, mercy, compassion, charity, morality, patience,

perseverance, contemplation or acts that will bring benefits to

others, one becomes a true disciple of Kuan Shih Yin. Another

feature that should be noted is the eyes which are always depict-

ed as ‘half-opened and half-closed’ which indicates a perfect

harmony of outer and inner life as half of the vision is concern-

ing the outer world, while the other half is directed internally

for proper self-reflection. us it can be said that Kuan Yin is

ever mindful of the external world and all our internal thoughts

and inclinations.

As mentioned earlier, Kuan Yin forms are many, in fact they

are said to be countless, and each of these forms has its own

significant and symbolic meaning. ose who are new to

Mahayana Buddhism should not be startled by the various forms

of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, especially by the number of

arms that they are often depicted with. One of Kuan Yin’s

most famous and compassionate forms is that of the ‘thousand-

arm-thousand eyes’ which is known in Chinese as ‘Chien-shou-

chien-yen Kuan Shih Yin P’usa. In this form, Kuan Yin has

eleven heads and a thousand hands, with extra eyes on the

palms of each hand. Legend has it that he was contemplating

the task of working for the safety and happiness of all sentient

beings when his head split into a thousand pieces upon realising

 