Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00793)

Kwan Yin (sometimes spelled Guan Yin) is the female bodhisattva of
compassion.  In China, compassion is associated with women and is considered
a female perfection.

Nonetheless, the figure of Kwain Yin (Kannon in Japanese) did not originate
in East Asia, but is simply the transplanted figure of the MALE Indian figure
Avalokiteshvara ("he who looks down" upon the world with compassion) which is
also male in Tibet, as the figure Chen-re-zigs, thought to be incarnate in
the Dalai Lama.

It is important to recognize that
Kwan-Yin/Kannon/Avalokiteshvara/Chen-re-zigs was never a historical figure,
but is considered a "celestial bodhisattva" or being of compassion beyond
time and space.  This figure may be said to "incarnate" in human personages
but is essentially a non-historical icon and cosmic energy which charges
Buddhist thought and practice.