If one were to ask which of all the myriad bodhisattvas attracted the most believers and which was most devoutly venerated, without doubt the Buddhisattva Avalokitesvara or Kuan-yin, the "savior of all in distress," would top the list by a wide margin.

As soon as they try to "place" Kuanyin, the image that would come immediately to most believers' minds would be that of Amitabha, Lord of the Pure Land of Joy or Western Paradise, flanked on one side by Kuan-yin and on the other by the Bodhisattva Mahasthama.

According to Pure Land doctrine, these two great bodhisattvas are at once Amitabha Buddha's disciples and his inseparable attendants. After the extinction of Amitabha Buddha, the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin will assume his state of Buddhahood. Following Kuan-yin's extinction, the Bodhisattva Mahasthama will assume the state of Buddhahood in turn. In this way the three Lords of the Pure Land will succeed one another in perpetuity.

Many Buddhist sutras state that the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin attained the state of Buddhahood long ago. Kuan-yin is referred to as the Tathagata who clearly understands the True Law. Even Sakyamuni himself, the founder of Buddhism, acknowledges Kuan-yin's supremacy.

Some people might wonder, if the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin really did attain Buddhahood after so many aeons, why doesn't she reside in the Pure Land, the home of the Buddhas, where she could enjoy fresh flowers and sweet dew, and taste all the joys of paradise? Why did she transform herself into a bodhisattva and choose to inhabit this sinful world, saving sentient beings from distress?

In fact, the bodhisattva spirit of sharing in the sufferings of others is the essence of the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Rather like the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, who vowed not to become a Buddha until hell was emptied of suffering beings, Kuan-yin has dispensed with the merits of her supreme majesty and transformed herself into a bodhisattva to save living souls in the mortal world. This spirit of self-sacrifice is truly worthy of veneration.

Since Kuan-yin dwells in the mortal world to save suffering beings through her compassion, she is often the first deity Buddhist believers turn to when they fall prey to troubles or anxieties.

In the "Chapter on the Universal Gate," the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Sakyamuni praises Kuan-yin's miraculous powers. For example, if a person is pushed into a fiery pit, he need only recite the name of the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin in all sincerity and the fiery pit will be turned into a pool of water. In the same way, anyone who is cornered by evil-doers, trapped by wild beasts, or struck by lighning and thunder-bolts need only call upon the sacred name of Kuan-yin. She will hear his voice and answer his call of distress.

However genuinely powerful Kuan-yin may be, it should not be forgotten that a prerequisite condition is attached to what Buddhism calls efficacious spirit-response to prayer. The supplicant's thoughts and vows must be consonant with those of the bodhisattva, for only then will the sublimely efficacious response to prayer be realized. So those who have never heard Buddhist doctrine and in whose heart there is no concept of the bodhisattva, but who simply turn to the Buddha in a moment of distress, are probably unlikely to receive much appreciable benefit.

In its popular interpretation the cult of the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin is widespread among ordinary men and women, but it also has deeper layers of meaning. The concept of Kuan-yin in the vulgar mind tends to be on a completely different level from that nurtured in the mind of a trained Buddhist monk or nun. Thus in the "Chapter on the Universal Gate," Sakyamuni extols the Bodhisattva Kuanyin's faculty for transforming herself into different types of people and manifesting herself in different forms to save all the various kinds of sentient beings. She can manifest herself in the form of a Buddha, a woman, or even a dragon, as a yaksa demon, or as any of a variety of animals. All of these are the bodhisattva's methods of exercising her compassion for sentient begins.

Kuan-yin's transformations in themselves make a complex and interesting branch of Buddhist studies. There are, for example, the "six transformations," the "seven transformations," and the "33 corresponding bodies," whereby the body of the bodhisattva is manifested in such a way as to correspond to the different needs and capacities of human beings.

There are many legends concerning Kuan-yin's 33 manifestations, one of the most famous being that of the "Kuan-yin and Mr. Ma." This story originated in the Shensi area during the Yuan-ho period (A.D.806-820), in the reign of Emperor Hsien-tsung of the T'ang dyansty. At that time Buddhism had not yet penetrated the Shensi region. One day a gorgeous young woman suddenly appeared out of the desert, and all the young men flocked round eager to take her as a wife. The young woman set a condition that whoever memorized the "Chapter on the Universal Gate" overnight could marry her.

Next morning there proved to be more than twenty eligible suitors all capable of reciting the scripture by heart. To decide between them the young woman set a further condition, that only a man able to memorize the Diamond Sutra overnight could marry her.

By the next morning, ten suitors presented themselves with the scripture off pat. So the young woman set a third condition, that she would only marry a man who had memorized the entire Lotus Sutra in the course of three days.

When the three days were up, sure enough only one young man had succeeded in committing the entire Lotus Sutra to memory, and his name was Ma. The marriage was agreed, but before the ceremony could take place the young woman died of a fever and her body instantly decayed. Amid the confusion a Buddhist monk who was passing by urged them to open up the coffin, whereupon they found a heap of golden bones. The monk told them, "This woman was no mortal being, she was the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin who had come to show you the way of salvation." At these words the monk flew away into the sky. Ever since then the people of Shensi have been devout believers in the Kuan-yin cult.

Although apocryphal, this legend aptly reflects human nature and highlights the lively, accessible approach of Buddhism to spiritual salvation. Without the prospect of a beautiful young bride as bait, how could even this ingenious bodhisattva have persuaded a faithless people to devote their minds to abstruse religious texts!

But this legend also brings up another bone of contention, the dispute over whether Kuan-yin is truly male or female. To the Chinese mind, Kuan-yin is undoubtedly female. But in the original Sanskrit, the name Avalokitesvara is clearly male. Many sutras also record Sakyamuni praising Kuan-yin as a "fine fellow." Buddhism attributes greater karma-hindrance to the female sex, which is considered unclean. Women must first transform themselves into men in order to enter the Pure Land. Thus Kuan-yin was certainly considered to be male originally. Perhaps Kuan-yin's many manifestations in female form are due to women being more vulnerable to suffering and needing the ministrations of a savior who is gentle, compassionate, sympathetic and understanding.

The Kuan-yin cult is widespread throughout China, but its most famous center is Pootoo Island off Ningpo, Chekiang province. The founding of the first Kuan-yin temple there goes back to a Japanese monk who tried to carry a sacred image of Kuan-yin back to Japan in the early tenth century. According to legend iron lotuses sprang up in the sea and prevented the monk's ship from passing the island, so he followed a fisherman's suggestion that he should found a temple to Kuan-yin on the spot.

Pootoo is a corruption of the Sanskrit term Potaraka, meaning roughly "tree of light" or "hill planted with the tree of light." Interestingly enough the Potala Palace in Tibet also derives its name from this term.

The Bodhisattva Kuan-yin is also the focus of Tibetan Buddhism, which holds that all famous rulers and eminent monks in Tibetan history have been manifestations of Kuan-yin. If the world is thought of as a lotus flower, the Tibetan capital Lhasa is the center of the flower, Kuan-yin's Pure Land. So the seat of the Tibetan Dalai Lamas is known as the Potala Palace, and the Dalai Lama is at the same time the supreme temporary manifestation of Kuan-yin in the world.

[Picture Caption]

Venerated as the "white-robed deity", the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin bears the hopes of the people for salvation from distress. Shown here is a Kuan-yin statue in the Ta Hsien Temple at Jih-ho, Tainan county.

Here Kuan-yin's right hand makes a mudra symbolizing "blessing", while her left hand sprinkles a phial of sweet dew. This Kuan-yin statue is at Fokuangshan, Kaohsiung. (photo by Vincent Chang)

Taiwan folk religion encompasses a multitude of deities, among which Kuan-yin with nearly 600 temples dedicated to her ranks second only to Wang Yeh (a plague god ) in popular veneration.

Here Kuan-yin's right hand makes a mudra symbolizing "blessing", while her left hand sprinkles a phial of sweet dew. This Kuan-yin statue is at Fokuangshan, Kaohsiung. （photo by Vincent Chang）

Taiwan folk religion encompasses a multitude of deities, among which Kuan-yin with nearly 600 temples dedicated to her ranks second only to Wang Yeh （a plague god ） in popular veneration.