Transcript for the Piece Audio version of The Journey of Lady Buddha
SOUND: STORM EFFECTS
DMAE:
1956. A year before I was born. The year my Taiwanese mother and my American serviceman father met in Taiwan, there was a great typhoon. Flooding. Devastation. Many people lost their homes and their lives. The people called out "Gwan Yim Posa"--Gwan Yim Posa"--"Gwan Yim Posa"--the Taiwanese name for the great goddess.
While the typhoon flooded the island, some American servicemen stationed in Taiwan took aerial photographs of the storm clouds. Then they returned to their base to develop the film. In the cloud formations, they could see the image of Gwan Yim Posa standing poised upon the head of a dragon.
My mother gave me a painting based on this photograph. I didn't know the stories then, but the kind face staring back at me in the painting wanted to make me find out more about her.
ACTRESS:
Kuan Yin...Gwan Yim Posa, Que Nam, Kannon...
DMAE:
Growing up, I called her Lady Buddha. Lady Buddha. With hair piled up high, dressed in white...Lady Buddha... She sounded beautiful. I marveled that there was this Asian Goddess that my mother worshipped And the only stories that I knew came from Ma. :22
MA:
Gwan Yim Posa...You understand? Gwan Yim Posa...
DMAE:
I would spell that name phonetically. G-W-A N-I- M Posa... See, Ma speaks Taiwanese, and though I know a little Chinese that I studied in college, it hasn't made communicating very easy at all. It wasn't until recently as I began to learn more about Lady Buddha that I realized. Gwa Nim Posa was actually Taiwanese for Kuan Yin.. K-U-A-N Y-I-M Posa. Just a little revelation. But this research would be about a lot of revelations because the stories that my mother would try to tell me, I couldn't understand. I did so want to understand.
MA:
We talk the Chinese, you don't understand. We talk the Taiwanese, you don't understand...
DMAE:
No, but you can tell me about it...
MA:
Gwan Yim Posa.
DMAE:
And so I searched for information about this Goddess...Lady Buddha. Ma began pressing me to join her religion, but what did I really know about Kuan Yin beyond my mother's worship of her? Ma would try to tell me about Gwan Yim Posa. Lady Buddha... who saved her from war and starvation and who always gave her hope.
MA:
Buddha take me to heaven. Different people there. No house. Don't see any trees. The sky beautiful. Don't see the floor either. Seem like you stand there, look like all smoky. Different colors of people.
DMAE:
It's safe to say that most parents and children have communication problems. But add to that, language and cultural differences, it makes talking to each other even harder. As Ma felt the need for me to join her religion, it caused more tension between us. I just can't join a religion I didn't know much about. Not that I even want to--
DMAE:
But out of something akin to self-preservation, I decided to find out more about this Goddess.. This woman of many names. :26
SOUND: A GONG HITS THREE TIMES
ACTRESSES: [speaking in Chinese and English]
#1: Kuan Shih Yin
#2: The One who Hears the Cries of the World
#1: KUAN
#2: --LOOK -
#2: SHI
#1: WORLD -
#1: YIN
#2: SOUND
#2: Kuan Yin has many faces...
#1: Kuan Yin...Gwan Yim Posa, Que Nam, Kannon...
#2: The One Who Hears the Cries of the World. :30
DMAE:
So in China, she is Kuan Yin. In Taiwan, she is Guan Yim Posa. In Vietnam, she is Qua Nam. In Japan, she is Kannon.
Whenever I described Lady Buddha to my Asian girlfriends, they would tell me of their own Kuan Yin stories--of how their mothers kept the small statue in a corner shrine in the living room, how their mothers lit incense and candles, just like my mother and said the name Kuan Yin three times. Their mothers, like my mother would pray and credit this female deity with all kinds of miracles---of how she saved them during childbirth or provided prosperity or luck or how she just made the family healthy and safe. Always it seemed as if Kuan Yin was passed on from mother to daughter.
DR. YU:
MY INTRODUCTION TO KUAN YIN STARTED EARLY--WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG. I GREW UP WITH MY MOTHER'S MOTHER
DMAE:
Dr. Chun-Fang Yu is a professor of religion at Rutgers University.
DR.YU:
MY GRANDMOTHER WAS A DEVOUT WORSHIPPER OF KUAN YIN AS MANY WOMEN IN CHINA STILL ARE. SO SHE AND I SHARED A BEDROOM AND EVERY MORNING WHEN SHE GET UP AND--UH, CLEANED UH--GET DRESSED, FINISHED HER PERSONAL--UH--TOILETRY, WAS TO LIGHT INCENSE IN FRONT OF IMAGE OF KUAN YIN IN THE FORM OF THE WHITE ROBED KUAN YIN, THIS BEAUTIFUL WOMAN STANDING DRAPED IN WHITE ROBE. AND SHE WOULD TELL ME DIFFERENT STORIES ABOUT KUAN YIN THAT SHE HEARD FROM HER MOTHER, :
DMAE:
I met Dr. Yu by chance. Someone had given me an article she had written about Kuan Yin. The article happened to have her email address. That's how I've gathered a lot of information about Kuan Yin. Out of the blue someone would send me articles. There certainly weren't a lot of books to be found in libraries or bookstores. So I emailed Dr. Yu. As luck, or perhaps Kuan Yin, would have it, Chun-Fang Yu is not only a Buddhist from China, but she is one of the foremost scholars of Kuan Yin in this country. Fifteen years ago, she decided to write the quintessential book about the Goddess of Mercy. Her approach may be scholarly, but her inspiration is definitely personal.
DR. YU: I THINK THE REASON I DECIDED TO STUDY BUDDHISM MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH MY CLOSE TIES WITH MY GRANDMOTHER AND THE SIMPLE BUT MOVING PIETY EXPRESSED, DEMONSTRATED BY HER.
NAR:
A description of Kuan Yin from the the 16th century.
Four virtures embodied in a perfect mind,
a golden body filled with wisdom,
Her necklace, a fringe of pearls and precious jade,
Her bracelets treasured with jewels,
Dark hair like clouds shaped smoothly
in dragon coils.
Her elegant sashes lightly fluttering
as a phoenix poised in flight.
DMAE:
Her jade green buttons
And gown of white silk
Bathed in holy light;
Her velvet skirt and golden cords
Wrapped by hallowed air.
With brows of crescent moons
And eyes like two bright stars,
Her jade-like face beams divine joy,
With scarlet lips, a flash of red.
Her vase overflows with heavenly dew
from year to year
Holding sprigs of weeping willow
from age to age.
DR. YU:
I FEEL THE PRESENCE OF MY GRANDMOTHER AND KUAN YIN AROUND ME. AGAIN IT STARTED WITH MY CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH GRANMOTHER, EVEN THOUGH SHE DIED WHEN I WAS18, SHE DIED A LONG TIME AGO. I STILL FEEL CLOSE TO HER, AND SOMEHOW THROUGH HER, I'VE ALWAYS FELT CLOSE TO KUAN YIN.
DMAE:
The White-Robed Kuan Yin holds a vase and a willow branch. The vase holds her compassion as she pours it out to the world. The willow branch, a symbol of Buddhist virtues, bends in the most ferocious winds and storms and springs back into shape again.
The White-robed Kuan Yin is the most pure, most Madonna-like goddess image of Asia. She became widely popular around the same time as Madonna imagery in the Middle Ages. Kuan Yin has had 33 incarnations. Everyone's favorite story, says Dr. Yu, is about a princess.
DR. YU:
PRINCESS MIAOSHAN, OR PRINCESS WONDEROUS GOODNESS, MIAOSHAN, WONDEROUS GOODNESS, MAIO WONDERFUL, SHAN, GOODNESS OR VIRTUE.
ACTRESS:
Pure Kuan Yin of the Limitless Light
has come to this land especially to save
all sentient beings...
DMAE:
Dr. Yu says that in China Princess Miaoshan is believed to be the emodiment of Kuan Yin. A symbol of Gentleness and Compassion but also a woman who defies all in order to follow her own path.
DR. YU:
YOU KNOW THE PROSPECT OF GETTING MARRIED, LIVING WITH INLAWS AND VERY OFTEN SUFFER THE ILL HUMOR OF THE MOTHER IN LAWS, ALSO TO BEAR CHILDREN WHICH SOMETIMES COULD BE VERY PAINFUL, IF NOT FATAL.
I THINK A NUMBER OF WOMEN DIDN'T LOOK FORWARD TO GET MARRIED, AND SO WOMEN BECAME NUNS, OR NOT BECOMING NUNS THEY REMAINED YOU KNOW SINGLE.
I THINK THEY DRAW A LOT OF INSPIRATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT--WOMEN WHO DIDN'T WANT TO FOLLOW THE NORMAL, THE CONVENTIONAL ROUTE FOR WOMEN IN CHINA.
ACTRESS:
Princess Miaoshan
Kuan Yin of a thousand hands and a thousand eyes
Princess Miaoshan was born on the19th day of the second month and was the third daughter of the mythical King Miaozhuang. She practiced Buddhism and refused to marry.
This angered her father so that he imprisoned her in the imperial garden for many months. Then when she still refused to marry, the king sent her to do hard labor at a nunnery.
MUSIC: FADES IN SOFTLY
When Miaoshan still refused her father's demands, the king ordered the monastery be burnt to the ground, in an attempt to kill his daughter. But though fire killed the 500 nuns that lived there, Miaoshan was unharmed.
ACTRESS:
Then her father the king sentenced her to die by strangulation. But a mountain spirit carried her away to the Forest of Corpses. While her strangled body lay lifeless in this world of the living, a bodhisattva took Miaoshan on a tour of all the hells of the earth.
She spoke such beauty that all the beings imprisoned there were released and freed. The king of hells, fearing that there would be no more residents of his underworlds, took Miaoshan back to the world of the living.
Upon waking, once more alive, she found herself in a province far away from her father's kingdom. She lived by herself for nine years, perfecting herself, realizing her Bodisattva nature.
There she lived until she heard that the king her father had become sick. Cursed by the gods for his treatment of Miaoshan, his whole body broke into sores. He was unable to sleep or rest. All the doctors of the kingdom were summoned but none could find a cure for the disease.
Miaoshan disguised herself as a monk, and as the king lay at death's door, she appeared at the palace.
"I have a divine medicine that could cure your majesty," she told him.
"What medicine would that be?" asked the king.
"The only medicine that can cure you has to be made with the eyes and hands of one who is without hatred--one who is without anger."
Miaoshan then gouged out her eyes and cut off her arms to make the medicine that would cure her father. The king indeed recovered from his illness after taking the medicine. He went to thank the pure one who cured him and saw that the eyeless and armless young woman was his own daughter, Miaoshan.
"I am Miaoshan. Mindful of my father's love, I have repaid him with my eyes and arms," she said gently.
ACTRESS:
The king fell to his knees and begged his daughter's forgiveness. He was so moved that he converted to Buddhism. He prayed and wished for his daughter to be restored...
"I am so evil," cried the king "that I have caused my daughter terrible suffering!"
"Father, I have suffered no pain. Having given up these human eyes, I shall see with diamond eyes. Having yielded up these mortal arms, I shall receive golden arms. If my vow is true, all this will follow."
MUSIC: BECOMES MORE ETHEREAL
ACTRESS:
Miaoshan transformed right before him into Kuan Yin. Where there were no arms, there were a thousand arms. Where there were no eyes, there were a thousand.
Pure Kuan Yin of the Limitless Light
has come to this land especially to save
all sentient beings
The King watched as she ascended to heaven as the goddess Kuan Yin, radiating beauty like the harvest moon.
MUSIC: FADES OUT
DMAE:
Princess Miaoshan started out as a rebel, says Dr. Yu, a heroine counter to the Confucian perspective of honoring one's parents.
DR YU:
BUT FROM THE BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE, SHE IS REALLY A MODEL BUDDHIST--NAMELY IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO PRACTICE RELIGION, TO SEARCH FOR ENLIGHTENMENT RATHER THAN CONFORM TO ANY SECULAR STANDARD OF VIRTUE. YET THROUGH HER ENLIGHTMENT WITH THE HELP OF BUDDHISM, SHE ENDED UP MORE FILIAL--NAMELY THAT SHE'S WILLING TO SACRAFICE HER EYES AND HANDS OR EVEN HER LIFE FOR HER LOVE OF HER PARENT.
ACTRESS:
Where there were no arms, there were a thousand arms. Where there were no eyes, there were a thousand.
DMAE:
If Princess Miaoshan could defy everyone to follow her own religious path, why can't I?
My Southern Baptist grandmother used to close all her letters to me with--
"Remember Jesus Christ died for your sins so that you could have eternal life.... Love, your Grandmother."
One of the things I truly regret is that I didn't see my grandmother in her final years because I was tired of the pressure she imposed on me to become baptized. It pained her that I would not join her in heaven. But I couldn't be a Christian. And I'm not a Buddhist. Something in me makes me unable to join any religion. This pains my mother. Ma can't understand why I just can't give in to Kuan Yin and just make the big sacrifice to her...like Princess Miaoshan did by cutting off her own flesh.
And though I may not join Ma's religion, there's something in me that would do it if my mother's life really depended it on it. Dr. Yu has a name for it.
DR. YU:
KO-KU--(pronounced Go-Gu)--THAT IS A VERY UNIQUE CHINESE PRACTICE WHEN PARENTS ARE DEATHLY ILL, NO NORMAL MEDICAL RECOURSES ARE OF ANY HELP AS A LAST RESORT, THE SON, THE DAUGHTER, VERY OFTEN THE DAUGHTER IN-LAW WOULD SLICE OFF ONE PIECE OF FLESH FROM THE ARM OR THIGH SECRETLY AND MIX IT WITH OTHER INGREDIENTS AND COOK IT AS SOUP AND FEED IT TO DYING PARENT OR PARENT IN LAW, AND WHEN THE PATIENT EATS IT, COURSE WITHOUT KNOWING IT'S CONSTITUTED OF HUMAN FLESH,
THEN THE PATIENT IMMEDIATELY WOULD MIRACULOUSLY RECOVER--
VERY MUCH LIKE THE CASE OF THE KING.
NAR:
Fillial duty. Good thing for me Ma's life doesn't depend on Ko-Ku.
MUSIC: TEMPLE MUSIC FADES IN.
ACTRESSES:
#1: Bai-ye Kuan Yin
#2: White-robed Kuan Yin
#1: Nanhai Kuan Yin
#2: Kuan Yin of the South Sea
#1: Laomu Kuan Yin
#2: Kuan Yin as an Old Woman
#1: (in Chinese) Kuan Yin of a thousand hands and a thousand eyes...
#2: Kuan Yin of a thousand hands and a thousand eyes...
DR. YU:
IF WE WANT TO FIND A KIND OF CENTRAL THEME OF ALL THE STORIES, WOULD BE THAT KUAN YIN UH--IS -UH-ALWAYS NEAR US, AND KUAN YIN IS ALWAYS READY TO HELP US, AND IN ORDER TO HELP US, KUAN YIN WOULD TAKE ON ANY FORM-UH-IN ORDER TO BE OF ASSISTANCE TO US.
NAR:
All the stories about Kuan Yin have her ready to help us at any time. I love that. And she takes on any form to aid us. She could be a princess, an elder woman, or in this case a stranger in town who would end up Mr. Ma's Wife.
SOUND: GRUNTING AND FIGHTNG
ACTRESS:
During the Tang Dynasty (the year 800 in common era), there was a village that did not believe in Kuan Yin or any Buddhism. The people of the village would rather fight and hunt, than study the chapters of the Sutras.
Into this village one day came a beautiful young woman, and all the eligible men wanted to marry her, but she was a very choosy young woman.
One day, in order to put a stop to all the marriage proposals that came her way,
ACTRESS:
She told everyone that she would marry any man who could memorize a chapter of the Lotus Sutra in one night.
[ACTRESS VOICE SPEAKS THIS IN CHINESE]
The next morning, 20 men passed the test.
So she asked the men to memorize the Diamond Sutra that night.
[ACTRESS VOICE SPEAKS THIS IN CHINESE]
ACTRESS:
The next morning, she greeted ten men with even more eager smiles than the day before.
"Hmmmm. I'll have to come up with something even more challenging," she said.
So she told the men to memorize the entire book of the Lotus Sutra in three days.
[ACTRESS VOICE SPEAKS THIS IN CHINESE]
ACTRESS:
This time, only Mr. Ma succeeded.
SOUND: PEOPLE AT A WEDDING, LAUGHING AND CLINKING GLASSES.
ACTRESS:
Quickly, he made wedding plans and arranged a great feast for the entire village. They were married at Mr. Ma's house.
But just as the wedding guests departed, the woman fell ill. A few hours later, she died. Her body began to decompose very soon afterward, so she was buried in a hurry.
Several days later an old monk came to see Mr. Ma and asked to be shown to his wife's tomb.
The monk saw that the flesh had already disintegrated from Mr. Ma's wife. All that was left were her bones linked together by a gold chain.
MUSIC: ETHERAL MUSIC FADES UNDER.
ACTRESS:
That was the sign of a holy person. The monk told the onlookers that she was the goddess Kuan Yin who had come to save them from their karma.
[ACTRESS VOICE SPEAKS THIS IN CHINESE]
ACTRESS:
After washing her bones in holy water, the monk gently held them as he ascended into the sky.
MUSIC BREAK FADES OUT
DMAE:
Goddess of Mercy
Goddess of Compassion
These are not just simple fables.
The stories are mythology carried word of mouth from generation to generation. And the overlying message is that Kuan Yin is everywhere with you--when you least expect her--in any form. Compassion and Mercy. Appearing at any time. How can you argue with that?
DR: YU:
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHY KUAN YIN IN CHINA ASSUMED SO MANY DISGUISES, SO MANY INCARNATIONS, WE HAVE TO KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THE NATURE OF CHINESE RELIGION.
IN CHINESE RELIGION USUALLY UNLIKE WESTERN RELIGION THERE'S NO SHARP GAP BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANITY--
RATHER HUMAN BEINGS AND GODS FORM A CONTINUM NOT DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT IN QUALITY BUT RATHER IN KIND OF QUANTITY--NAMELY GODS ARE BETTER, MORE POWERFUL, MORE SPIRITUAL THAN HUMAN BEING, AND IF THEY'RE REALLY GOOD, THEY OFTEN CAN TURN HUMANS INTO GODS...
ACTRESS:
LAOMU: KUAN YIN AS AN OLD WOMAN
There is a story about an old woman who came to a village one day. It was a hot day...and the villagers were very crabby. She was carrying a fish basket, this old woman, and trying to sell fish to the crabby villagers. They would buy none.
"Go away, old woman," they yelled at her. "You and your fish stink!"
Very rude people. It was hot, but there's no excuse for rudeness. So the old woman was very disheartened.
"Will no one take pity on an old woman?" she cried.
And out of the crowd, one kind man came to her and took her hand.
"I will buy the entire basket, Lao-mu" he said.
That's a respectful Chinese term for revered elder woman.
Then the kind man gave her several coins, more than the basket of fish were worth. Smiling, the old woman said:
"You may keep your money."
Then in a radiant light, she became Kuan Yin. You see it was her all that time. Kuan Yin, white-robed and beautiful said to the kind man:
"Your compassion and generosity will be returned to you all the days of your life."
And with that she disappeared. The rest of the villagers just stood there with their mouths hanging open...
Flies could have buzzed in and out in the time it took for them realize what had happened. You can be sure they never treated an old woman with disrespect again. And each other, too. For who knows when there's a Kuan Yin just waiting to burst out of someone. It could be you. Or you... Or... me...
DR: YU:
THEY WERE ONCE UPON A TIME REAL HUMAN BEINGS, REAL MEN AND REAL WOMEN, BUT BECAUSE OF THIS EXTRAORDINARY GOODNESS THEY BECAME GODS.
NOW WHEN BUDDHISM WAS INTRODUCED INTO CHINA, KUAN YIN WAS ORIGINALLY THE BUDDHIST, NON-CHINESE INDIAN DEITY. KUAN YIN WAS AND IS NOT DEPICTED AS FEMININE AS A GODDESS AT ALL IN SOUTH ASIA, FOR INSTANCE OR IN SRI LANKA OR TIBET.
SOUND: TEMPLE SONG "AMITOFA"
DMAE:
Amitofa. Ma and I once climbed to the top of a White Temple in Taiwan. The rock steps seem to go up for a mile or so. We followed the sounds of a hundred voices singing.
Amitofa.
I didn't know then it was a salutation to "Amitabha Buddha." The father--or mother-- of Avalokitishvara who would travel to China to become Kuan Yin.
ACTRESS:
Kuan Yin, the bringer of children
--the embodiment of compassion in a harsh world...
A friend called upon during times of trouble.
A hand that guides.
Kuan Yin has many faces.
A thousand hands. A thousand eyes.
She began as a man, a great bodhisattva In India,
Avalokitesvara -
The Lord who Regards the Cries of the World.
DMAE:
Kuan Yin
Many faces.
And many stories...
ACTRESS:
Avalokiteshvara was dwelling in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha, where everything was peaceful.
One day he decided to descend to Tibet to help the land become civilized and non-violent.
He vowed to Amitabha Buddha, "If I should ever get discouraged down there, may my body be shattered into a thousand pieces."
Then he descended into the mountains and for several lifetimes, he meditated upon boundless compassion, continually emanating waves of love.
But during that time, the people of Tibet were powerful warriors who had conquered much of Central Asia. After many lifetimes, Avalokiteshvara still had not calmed their ways. Somehow violence still persisted.
He thought to himself, "These evil, violent Tibetans are insatiable. No matter how peaceful and loving I am, it has no effect."
And Avalokiteshvara became discouraged and wept two tears. One white. One green.
From the tears two goddesses were formed. The two goddesses said to him:
"Stop weeping. We'll help you."
And indeed they calmed him for a time. But he continued to be discouraged, and in that moment his body was instantly shattered into a thousand pieces.
Amitabha Buddha came to Avalokiteshvara where he was strewn in pieces about the mountain.
He said "that was a very ambitious vow you made. You must be careful what you wish for because--whatever it is, good or bad--sooner or later, you will get it."
So the Amitabha blessed Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, and the thousand pieces came together to form an imposing figure of eleven heads, a thousand arms, a thousand eyes...
MUSIC TRANSITION
DMAE:
This God became a Goddess. Evolution? Or just filling a need. Another voice. A female voice. I guess that's why I was drawn to her. A Goddess that's worshipped even today in modern society. Whoa...
Nobody knows exactly when this transformation occurred. There is evidence of Avalokitshvara's popularity in India in between the 2nd and 3rd century of the common era. By the 10th century, says Dr. Yu, Avalo became the White-Robed Kuan Yin. How? No one really knows...
DR. YU:
LOTUS SUTRA DOES SAY IN CHAPTER 25, CALLED THE UNIVERSAL GATEWAY WHICH IS DEVOTED TO KUAN YIN, IT SAYS BECAUSE KUAN YIN IS SO COMPASSIONATE, HE WILL TAKE ANY FORM. IN FACT THEY LIST 33 FORMS. SOME ARE MALE OR SOME ARE FEMALE. SOME FORMS ARE KINGS OR QUEENS OR COULD BE GOD OR COULD BE GHOST. SOME HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN.
SO USUALLY THE CHINESE INTERPRETATION IS WHY NOT A WOMAN? WHY KUAN YIN CANNOT APPEAR AS A WOMAN BECAUSE THE BODDHISATVA, THE ENLIGHTENED BEING, THE SAVIOR CAN'T BE LIMITED BY GENDER.
DMAE:
Dr. Yu says that still doesn't answer why Kuan Yin isn't female in India, Tibet or Sri Lanka and other areas outside of East Asia. She thinks that China just absorbed Buddhism into already existing Goddess mythology and the rest of the East Asian countries just adopted the female form as the main incarnation of Kuan Yin.
DR. YU:
PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM, WE HAVE VERY POWERFUL GODDESSES, LIKE QUEEN MOTHER OF THE WEST AND OTHER GODDESSES. BUT THEY BECAME OVERSHADOWED BY KUAN YIN. SO KUAN YIN ABSORBED THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME OF THE NATIVE GODDESSES.
DR. YU:
NOW ONCE KUAN YIN BECAME FEMININE IN CHINA, THESE NEW GODDESSES THAT APPEARED AFTER THE10TH CENTURY WERE USUALLY REFERRED TO OR SOMEHOW CONNECTED WITH KUAN YIN.
THEY WERE EITHER REGARDED AS INCARNATIONS OF KUAN YIN OR AS DAUGHTERS OF KUAN YIN OR MOTHERS OF KUAN YIN, DEPENDING ON WHO'S DOING THE TALKING.
SO CLEARLY KUAN YIN HAS A VERY INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP BOTH TO THE PRE-EXISTING CHINESE GODDESSES AND TO THE NEWER GODDESSES WHO APPEARED IN MEDIEVAL TIMES WHO ARE STILLWITH US TODAY.
DMAE:
There is a Kuan Yin mantra I like.
God in heaven, God on earth,
people depart from disasters,
disasters depart from the body,
all evils are reduced to dust...
In Chinese it sounds so strong and powerful.
ACTRESS: [in Chinese]
Tian luo shen,
Di luo shen,
Ren li nan,
Nan lie shen,
Yijie zaiyang hua wei zhen!
DMAE:
I guess what I like about Kuan Yin.
She's serene, compassionate and merciful. But she's very powerful. And seems to help everyone equally.
DR. YU:
BUDDHISM ALWAYS TEACHES UNIVERSAL SALVATION. ALL OF US CAN BE SAVED.
DR. YU:
ALL OF US CAN BECOME ENLIGHTENED, WHETHER WE'RE MEN OR WOMEN, WHETHER WE ARE MONKS, NUNS OR ORDINARY SECULAR PEOPLE, WHETHER WE ARE RICH OR POOR, OLD AND YOUNG, WHETHER WE CAN MEDITATE SUCCESSFULLY OR NOT, WHETHER WE COULD STUDY LOTUS SUTRA OR OTHER IMPORTANT BUDDHIST SCRIPTURE OR NOT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER. IT'S REALLY THE QUALITY OF OUR HEART, THE PURITY, AND SINCERITY OF OUR HEART WHICH IS MOST IMPORTANT.
ACTRESS:
True Regard, serene Regard,
Far-reaching, wise Regard,
Regard of pity, Regard of compassion,
Ever longed for, ever looked for,
In radiance ever pure and serene.
Wisdom's sun, destroying darkness,
subduer of woes, of storm, of fire,
Illuminator of the world!
Compassion wondrous as a great cloud,
Pouring spiritual rain like nectar,
Quenching all the flames of distress!
DR. YU:
KUAN YIN DOES NOT MAKE ANY PRE-CONDITIONS FOR HELPING US AS LONG AS WE ARE SINCERE IN CALLING HER NAME, IN PRAYING TO HER, SHE WILL HELP US, SO HER LOVE FOR US IS UNCONDITIONAL.
WE MAY BE SINNERS, WE MAY HAVE DONE A LOT OF BAD THINGS BUT AS LONG AS WE TURN TO HER, WE REPENT, WE CAN START OUR LIFE ANEW.
SO IN THAT REGARD, SHE IS OFTEN COMPARED TO IDEAL MOTHER, EVEN THOUGH IN ACTUAL SITUATIONS NOT ALL MOTHERS ARE LIKE THAT. BUT IDEALLY A MOTHER'S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL, AND KUAN YIN IS LIKE A MOTHER.
DMAE:
Unconditional love. My mother is angry that I'm even doing this piece about Kuan Yin.
DMAE:
Because I'm not a Buddhist I have no right to tell Gwan Yin Posa's story. Maybe she's right. I've asked other Buddhists though. They don't seem to agree.
Gwan Nim Posa may not have conditions to her love, but my mother seems to. She is hurt that I won't join her religion. She takes it personally. So she's not talking to me...again. Perhaps I too have conditions for my love to her. We've talked to each other. Not talked to each other. Divorced and reunited many times. I wish there was a way that we could both trust each other. But there's too much history of hurt and pain.
After decades of fighting, not talking to each other, and reuniting, we've reached an impasse.
ACTRESS:
If throughout the day, you do not get angry,
And throughout the day, you do not say evil words,
Then throughout the day the family will find peace
and quiet.
DMAE:
The only medicine that can cure you has to be made with the eyes and hands of one who is without hatred--one who is without anger. Princess Miaoshan.
ACTRESS:
Goddess of Mercy
Goddess of Compassion
Every living thing
Comes from the Mother of us all.
If we can understand the Mother
Then we can understand her children.
And if we know ourselves as children,
we can see the source is her.
DR. YU:
AS BUDDHISM SAYS, MALE AND FEMALE ARE HUMAN CONCEPTS, SO HOW DO WE KNOW GOD IS ONLY MALE?
--HOW DIVINITY CANNOT BE FEMALE?
DR. YU:
IF YOU ONLY HAVE THE IMAGE OF GOD FOR IMITATION, FOR EMULATION, I THINK YOU ARE DOING INJUSTICE BOTH TO THE IDEA OF DIVINITY, AND OF COURSE YOU ARE NEGLECTING THE REAL NEEDS OF WOMEN AND I THINK ALSO OF MEN FOR WHAT THE GODDESS--THE IMAGE, THE IDEAS, THE IDEALS OF THE GODDESS--CAN OFFER TO US.
DMAE:
What the Goddess of Compassion was offering quickly spread throughout China after the introduction of Avalokitshvera between the 2nd and 3rd century.
Word of mouth spread the miracles of Kuan Yin--how Kuan Yin saved people from disaster or floods or sickness or death. And this Goddess was and is still worshipped by both men and women.
DR. YU:
KUAN YIN HAS ALSO BEEN WORSHIPPED BY MONKS, AND BY LITERATI.
IN FACT IT WAS MONKS AND LITERATI IN TRADITIONAL CHINA WHO COULD READ AND WRITE--YOU KNOW MORE OF THEM COULD READ AND WRITE THAN WOMEN.
SEE THEY WERE THE ONES WHO COMPILED YOU KNOW RECORDS OF THE MIRACLE STORIES, AND WHO WROTE THE LITERATURE WHICH PROMOTED THE FAITH OF KUAN YIN. SO KUAN YIN DEFINITELY HAS BEEN WORSHIPPED BY MEN IN CHINA AS MUCH AS WOMEN.
KUAN YIN REALLY IS NOT SPECIAL PROPERTY FOR ANY SEGMENT OF SOCIETY.
DMAE:
The worship of Kuan Yin was not limited by gender, social classes or roles. And it was the miracle stories that spread the faith throughout Asia. Mostly the stories traveled by word of mouth. For how many people, asks Dr. Yu, even today read Buddhist scriptures though they can be found in temples for free? No, the most common way of hearing these stories was and is by oral history.
DMAE:
Probably the most popular Kuan Yin miracle story of all time is about a man who is faced with certain death.
THE STORY OF SUN JINGDE
ACTRESS:
In the 6th century China, Sun Jingde, a faithful devotee to Kuan Yin, was wrongly imprisoned and sentenced to death. He prayed to her and a monk came to him in a dream.
Sun was told to chant a thousand recitations of the sutra. If this were done, he would be saved from death.
But Sun had only chanted 900 times when the guards came for him to take him to the execution grounds. He chanted and chanted faster and faster as he neared the executioner's blade. As he finished the last chant, the executioner swung the sword aiming for Sun's neck.
When the blade struck, it broke into three pieces.
The executioner called for another ax. And he tried again to kill Sun. He swung the blade high into the air, then struck Sun on the neck.
Again, the blade broke into three pieces, and Sun was unharmed.
Once more, the executioner called for another ax, and he swung it with all his might, aiming for Sun.
But once again, the blade broke into three pieces.
The King upon hearing of this miracle, pardoned a very grateful Sun.
Later that day, Sun traveled to the statue of Kuan Yin to give thanks for the miracle. When he looked up at the kind face of the Mother of Compassion, he saw that she had three marks on her neck...
...as if made by a blade.
DMAE:
White-robed Kuan Yin,
Gwa Nim Posa, Gua Nam, Kannon
Avolokitshvera
Princess Miaoshan,
mindful of my mother's love...
ACTRESS:
Having given up these human eyes,
I shall see with diamond eyes.
Having yielded up these mortal arms,
I shall receive golden arms.
If my vow is true, all this will follow.
DMAE:
A giver of children
A mother
so mothers can pray for their children...
My mother prayed to Kuan Yin before I was born. She called me a miracle. Three days in labor. She almost died. I remember her telling me this since I was born--to insure my guilt or to capture my admiration. I don't know which... But I believed she prayed. I believe, even when she is angry, Ma still prays for me...
ACTRESS:
I pray to Kuan Yin for a son.
I pray so my family will not be ashamed of me.
I pray so I may honor my husband and his family.
I pray that this son will grow up to take care of me always, so that I may live in comfort and peace in my old age. I hope and I pray.
DR. YU:
I THINK KUAN YIN IS THIS UNIQUE DEITY WHO NOT ONLY SAVES US, NOT ONLY OFFERS HOPE FOR US IN THE FUTURE--NAMELY WHEN WE DIE, WE CAN GO TO HER. SHE OFFERS HOPE FOR AFTERLIFE BUT SHE CAN ALSO--I THINK THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT--SHE OFFERS HELP IN OUR PRESENT DIFFICULTIES.
NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF DIFFICULTIES WE HAVE, WE CAN TURN TO HER FOR HELP.
SOUND: A BELL RINGS THREE TIMES
ACTRESS:
Holy Kuan Yin.
My story is not too different from other stories. When I was a young girl, I was set to marry a local boy. Then he got himself killed in a stupid fight, so I had to make a living as a servant for most of my life. Then my mistress blamed me for stealing a jade bracelet. She had me beaten and thrown out of t
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