Kuan Yin

[fylgjafox]

I was just wondering if anyone out there feels a connection with Kuan Yin. I am not even sure if she would fall into the Mahayana Buddhism but i would be interested to know if there are others on the this board familiar with her and the Bodhisatvas Way.

Fox

[kwanseum]

I was just wondering if anyone out there feels a connection with Kuan Yin. I am not even sure if she would fall into the Mahayana Buddhism but i would be interested to know if there are others on the this board familiar with her and the Bodhisatvas Way.

KwanYin, or in Korean Kwan Seum Bosal is my life.  I chant her name all day everyday.  My name, my avatar, my Hwandu, my thoughts, my website (click here) are all KwanSeum.

Kwanseum,
At one with Buddha,
Caused by Buddha,
Close to Buddha,
And to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha,
Eternal, joyous, existing, pure.
Morning thoughs are Kwanseum;
Evening thoughts are Kwanseum;
This very mind is Kwanseum;
There is nothing more than this one mind.

KwanSeum

[LastLegend]

Yes, she is there.

[t]

Many pious legends abound about this androgynous figure, so much known about Him/Her yet so little of that are 'Buddhist' in perspective. Here's some Tripitaka canonical references on Him, known to Mahayanist/Vajrayanist Buddhists also as "Samyak Vidya Dharma Tathagata" (Right(True/Proper) Brightness/Knowledge of Dharma Thus Come One) who has now manifested as the 'Observer of the World's Sounds Bodhisattva' or Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

Also known as Chenrezig to the Tibetans, Guan Yin to the Chinese, Kannon to the Japanese, Chao Mae Kuan Im to the Thais, Kwanseum to the Koreans, Quan The Am to the Vietnamese, Natha Deva to the Sri Lankans, Lokanat to the Burmese, He manifests various forms in all of the six realms as a bridge and for their benefit towards the Buddha Dharma.

From the Lotus Sutra:
http://cttbusa.org/lotus/lotus25.asp

His Causes and Conditions
http://www.fodian.net/world/dabei_sutra.htm

The Six Syllable Great Bright Mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum)
http://www2.fodian.net/old/English/1050.html

His causes, conditions and as successive future Sukhavati's Teaching Host:
http://www.sutrasmantras.info/sutra07.html

His Method in the Shurangama Sutra:
http://www.e-sangha.com/alphone/shurangama.html#Avalokitesvara

Visualizing Him: (10 contemplation of Avalokiteshvara)
http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/purelandscriptures/id5.html

Maha Cundi: (one of His many Esoteric teaching forms)
http://www.e-sangha.com/alphone/cundi.html

The Heart Sutra
Full Text: http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/shtk.php
Shorter Text: http://cttbusa.org/heartsutra/heartsutra.htm

[santamonicacj]

There's a book about her called "Bodhisattva of Compassion" by John Blofeld. It is not academic at all and a delightful read. Blofeld starts out with the question "Is she a goddess, a mythical figure, a Jungian archetype, or what?" He then proceeds to give a lifetime's worth of stories, teachings and anecdotes from his time in China (pre-Communism) about her. Very charming.

I just Wiki'ed Blofeld's bio. Evidently he is buried at a Kwan Yin temple in Thailand he helped build in the '50s. He was into it. I would have liked to have met him.

t,
I don't think she is androgynous. The "Yin" in her name, I believe, is the same yin as in "Yin and Yang", female and male.

[t]

Hi santa,

Firstly, That term is used because in some places, the attribute of compassion in Guan Yin is impossible in a man according to the Chinese mind then but in India, it's acceptable. Besides, Avalokitesvara can use any form to manifest....
Secondly, the 'yin' is not in the context of 'ying and yang' but refers to the word 'sound' in Chinese hence 'Guan Yin' is 'contemplation/contemplator of 'sound'

[heybai]

Quote from: fylgjafox on Today at 03:15:01
I was just wondering if anyone out there feels a connection with Kuan Yin.

Yes, I do.  I started a thread with images of her (I believe she is ultimately without gender, but I do imagine "Guanyin" as she).  Have a look and add any images you find, if you wish:

http://www.freesangha.com/forums/index.php?topic=1662.0

I am not even sure if she would fall into the Mahayana Buddhism [...]

Surely, she does. 

Best wishes.

[heybai]

This link doesn't seem to be working --

The Six Syllable Great Bright Mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum)
http://www2.fodian.net/old/English/1050.html

Is there a better source?  Or is this only a glitch in my connections here?

[t]

This link doesn't seem to be working --

The Six Syllable Great Bright Mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum)
http://www2.fodian.net/old/English/1050.html

Is there a better source?  Or is this only a glitch in my connections here?

Could be glitch at times...
Try here: http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/resources/downloads/sutras/05bodhisattvaYana/Gunakarandavyuha.doc.pdf

[nirmal]

I was just wondering if anyone out there feels a connection with Kuan Yin. I am not even sure if she would fall into the Mahayana Buddhism but i would be interested to know if there are others on the this board familiar with her and the Bodhisatvas Way.

Fox

Kuan Yin is my Yidam. She has appeared in the holy light of my meditation several times.Once she was standing on a lotus in the middle of a lake floating towards me.On another occasion I saw her standing on a dragon.I have obtained help from her on several occasions just by calling out her name.

To have contact with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as well as wisdom-protectors,we should lose our self-nature completely and immerse ourselves in voidness-Samadhi until we get the realization of the Yidam and that of the Dharmakaya in which those par excellence wisdom-beings are visible. We cannot really contact them by offering prayers,worshipping,praising and repeating stanzas.This is the very discernment between a believer of Buddhism and those of other non-Buddhist religions

[santamonicacj]

We cannot really contact them by offering prayers, worshipping, praising and repeating stanzas. This is the very discernment between a believer of Buddhism and those of other non-Buddhist religions

Don't be so sure. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and many ways to realization. What may not work for you may work for another. Try to keep an open mind.

[nirmal]

We cannot really contact them by offering prayers, worshipping, praising and repeating stanzas. This is the very discernment between a believer of Buddhism and those of other non-Buddhist religions

Don't be so sure. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and many ways to realization. What may not work for you may work for another. Try to keep an open mind.

I was not talking of attaining realization at all, just the realization of the Yidam and the source of holy appearances.

[santamonicacj]

We cannot really contact them by offering prayers, worshipping, praising and repeating stanzas. This is the very discernment between a believer of Buddhism and those of other non-Buddhist religions

Don't be so sure. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and many ways to realization. What may not work for you may work for another. Try to keep an open mind.

I was not talking of attaining realization at all, just the realization of the Yidam and the source of holy appearances.

So was I. A huge amount of Tibetan style practice is exactly this kind of activity.

[nirmal]

[/quote]
So was I. A huge amount of Tibetan style practice is exactly this kind of activity.
[/quote]

Yes, it is but basically meditation is the answer to it.

[Lazy_eye]

Kwanseum and others,

I'm interested in Kuan Yin as a focal point for practice. Could you say a little more about how it is done? (from a Chan/Seon/Pure Land perspective).
Is it mostly a matter of chanting and prayers? Are there visualizations involved? What are the specific practices? What is the goal?

Thanks,

LE