Some descriptions of Quan Yin refer to her as a goddess, but this misses the mark. “Boddhisattva” means “enlightened being.” These are beings who achieved enlightenment during a lifetime but chose not to enter Nirvana, staying rather within the cycles of the world to assist other beings in their struggle for enlightenment. There are said to be 33 boddhisattvas; and the sutras claim that Quan Yin has been reincarnated 357 times.
The boddhisattva path is described in this verse by Santideva, an 8th century devotee:
“For as long as space endures
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world.”
Quan Yin in particular is said to have taken a vow to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings; and her devotees take a similar vow not to leave the confines of the world for Nirvana until all sentient beings are able to achieve Nirvana themselves.
The mantra of Quan Yin is “Om Mani Padme Hum” - “hail to the jewel in the lotus” - believed by Tibetan Buddhist to have been spoken by Avalokitesvara (Quan Yin) at the moment of his (her) birth and to be the most perfect of all sound combinations.
Each boddhisattva is associated with a characteristic virtue. The virtue associated with Quan Yin is “listening.” Her full name (in Chinese), Quan Shih Yin, means “the one who pays attention to the sounds of the world.”
In the depiction that I chose for my avatar, she holds in her right hand a small vase from which she pours a stream of healing water on to the earth. With her left hand she makes the “yoni mudra” symbolizing the womb through which we enter the material world. She stands upon a dragon (or sea serpent), which is how she appears to sailors in distress. It is hard to see in the picture, but the small figure at the center of her crown is an image of the Buddha.
In other pictures she may be shown holding pearls to represent enlightenment, a sheaf of rice or a rice bowl to represent fertility, or having many arms with an eye in the palm of each hand to represent a mother’s awareness of the sufferings endured by her children.
She is the special protectress of sailors and merchants, those awaiting prosecution, and those hoping to bear children.
It was during the T’ang Dynasty (7th ce) that she achieved her current position of prominence in Chinese Buddhism as one of the two most important boddhisattvas.
_________
I have an odd little story to tell about Quan Yin. I only became aware of her existence perhaps four years ago, but the moment I read of her vow and the vow taken by her devotees I had a flash of something like ‘genetic memory’ and began to wonder seriously about reincarnation.
From the time I was very young ... like six years old ... I have had a recurring dream in which I am bidding goodbye to a group of family members or close friends who are leaving Earth forever.
The dream always begins with my searching for these people, and as I find each of them, bringing them to one place to make sure they won’t get lost. It is only when all are gathered in that one place that I realize I have gathered them so that they can depart together, and that this departure will be a permanent separation from me.
Departure from Earth is something very desirable in the dream and they beg me to come with them. I want to depart with them. I do not want to be separated from them and I too wish to leave the Earth. But I also understand that it is not permissible for me to leave.
The dream always ends the same way. In the place where we are gathered there is always a window or a door. As the realization comes to me that I alone am not permitted to leave, I look out to the outside and there appears a profusion of all the animals and plants on Earth. And when I see all this profusion of creatures I realize that it is because of them that I am not permitted to leave.
That is the point at which the dream ends and I always awake at the end of it so it is very fresh in my mind.
This dream disturbed me for decades because I could not make sense of it's meaning. It obviously expresses separation anxiety (!), and I have had many dreams where, for example, I’m looking for my children and can’t find them or I misplaced my mother (or my homework! or my lecture notes!). But this particular dream has a different quality to it, and it always contains those elements which do not, I think, belong to typical anxiety dreams - that the people are not just leaving but leaving earth, and all the plants and animals who remain on earth are the reason that I too must stay. The life that remains on earth is always exquisitely vivid in the dream.
By now you can probably see the parallel. This dream makes perfect sense as the expression of a boddhisattva vow. Because I started having this dream at such an early age and long, long before I knew anything about Buddhism or the boddhisattva path or Quan Yin as the epitome of that path ... I am wondering now if it is not the memory of a vow taken in a previous lifetime.
I can assure you that I have not achieved enlightenment in this life or any other - all I might hope to have done is to have aspired to such a thing as a Buddhist devotee and, perhaps, to have taken the vow that is taken by those who aspire to the path of Quan Yin.
More than that I really can’t say, except that when I read about the boddhisattvas for the first time, these dreams came back to me immediately and with a tremendous sense of relief. I felt them to be ‘explained’ even though I have no specific belief in reincarnation.
So ... there's a little oddity for your consideration.
Jn
