The Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion

Guanyin seated in Royal-ease pose, ca. 1250

Southern Song dynasty, 1127–1279

Chinese

Wood with traces of blue-green, red, and gold pigments on white clay underlayer with relief designs

Princeton University Art Museum

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Guanyin is one of the most well-known and beloved Chinese deities. Originally identified as Avalokiteshvara, a male bodhisattva in the Indian scripture Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life, he soon became the most revered figure in the East Asian Buddhist tradition known as Pure Land.

As with all religious figures, iconography is a historically significant part of Guanyin worship. In his 2012 piece, "The identity of Guanyin: Religion, convention and subversion," Paul Hedges of the University of Winchester details how this iconography has changed over miles and milennia. Often, Gunayin "is seen in her thousand armed form, with the bodhisattva shown with a thousand eyes and arms, which symbolized both her ability to see and hear all prayers and intercessions." Later, "in the Tang Dynasty he became robed in white, then, from around the tenth century, he started to be portrayed as a female figure, becoming the 'Chinese goddess of mercy and compassion.'" In the Chinese Buddhist tradtion, she has become "the most important devotional figure, prayed to for health, wealth, or, what is one of her chief functions, as the provider of children."

This gender fluidity has become one of the more fascinating aspects of Guanyin's history. Yong Luo of Assumption University has shown that, although initially revered as a male deity, the Chinese have come to embrace the more feminine aspects of Guanyin's identity. He writes, "the female features of Guanyin combine love, compassion, kindness, perfection, tolerance and devotion. Her power provides the bridge for her female followers to understand each other."

Over the centuries, she has become known as the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion, both in East Asian Buddhism and more broadly. In that way, she has often been compared with other feminine icons of compassion: for example, the Virgin Mary of the Catholic tradition. In particular, Gang Song of the University of Hong Kong has demonstrated the many paralells in the life, iconography, and popular worship of Guanyin and Mary.

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In order to understand Gunayin's significance in popular worship, it might be useful to define exactly what a bodhisattva is. For the exhibit shown at the top of this post, the Princeton Art Museum wrote: "A bodhisattva is a figure who has achieved the highest aim in Buddhism, enlightenment, and may pass into nirvana, the state of freedom from suffering and the endless cycle of rebirth. However, bodhisattvas elect instead to remain in this world, easing the suffering of all beings and helping others attain enlightenment."

Mahāyāna Buddhism is often called the "Great Vehicle." That term refers to the central aim of Mahāyāna, which is salvation of all beings from suffering. To that end, Mahāyāna followers traditionally take bodhisattva vows. Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi was the founder of San Francisco Zen Center and author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, which was instrumental in introducing many Americans to the Mahāyāna school of Zen in the 1960s and 70s. The first of Suzuki-rōshi's famous bodhisattva vows is: "Sentient beings are numberless: I vow to save them."

The vow, although beautiful, begs the question: "Am I actually expected to save them all?" They are, after all, "numberless." Suzuki-rōshi explains that the vow is not intended to mean that one is solely responsible for the salvation of all sentient beings. Rather, it is a vow to orient one's life towards genuine compassion for all. He clarifies further:

I vow to save them moment after moment, continuously. But “moment after moment, continuously” is not necessary. “I vow to save them” is strong enough and good enough. “I vow to save them.” If the sentient beings are numberless, we will take this vow numberless times, that’s all.  

- Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi, 1969

In that way, the vow is not so much a promise to save everyone, of which no being is remotely capable. It is instead a way of living with compassion, intention, and purpose. Arguably no deity, regardless of faith tradition, embodies this way of living more than Guanyin.

Guanyin represents that which is all too rare in our world right now. After millennia of lionizing the masculine ideals of aggression, achievement, competition, and material development, all of which hold tremendous value for our society, what is most needed now is the glorification of the feminine. I would love to read your comments below. How do we get to that place? Is the elevation of more women to leadership positions part of the answer? If so, how can that be accomplished? If not, what are the answers? Or is my thesis itself off base?

Thank you for reading.

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References

Guanyin seated in Royal-ease pose. Retrieved from https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/23888

Hedges, P. (2012). The identity of Guanyin: Religion, convention and subversion. Culture and Religion, 13(1), 91–106.

Luo, Y. (2016). The Identity of Guanyin: Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Shunryu Suzuki Dharma Talks. Retrieved from https://suzukiroshi.sfzc.org/dharma-talks/april-29th-1969/#more-870

Song, G. (2008). Between Bodhisattva and Christian Deity: Guanyin and the Virgin Mary in Late Ming China. In The constant and changing faces of the goddess: goddess traditions of Asia (pp. 101–120). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Pub.