Guan Yin facts for kids

Guan Yin (also spelled Kwan Yin) is the Chinese name of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. Her full name is Guanshiyin which means "Observing the sounds (or cries) of the world." She represents mercy and compassion and is popular in the East and the West.

She takes various forms all over the world, in different eras and various forms. She can appear in the world as either male or female.

Names in Asian langauges

• In Macau, Hong Kong, and southern China she is called Kwun Yum or Kun Yum.
• In Japanese she is called Kannon(観音) , Kan'on, or Kanzeon(観世音) .
• In Korean she is called Gwan-eum (관음) or Gwanse-eum (관세음).
• In Thai she is called Kuan Im (กวนอิม), Phra Mae Kuan Im (พระแม่กวนอิม), or Chao Mae Kuan Im (เจ้าแม่กวนอิม).
• In Indonesian she is called Kwan Im or Dewi Kwan Im. The word Dewi in the name is referring as Devi or Goddess. Sometimes she is called Mak Kwam which means Mother Kwan Yin.
• In Vietnamese she is called Quan Âm, Quán Thế Âm or Quán Thế Âm Bồ Tát.
• In Khmer, he is called "Preah Mae Kun Ci Iem".
• In Tibet (Vajrayana Buddhism), she is called Chenrezig and the Dalai Lama is often regarded as a present reincarnation.

Iconography

Depiction of Guan Yin in Vietnam.

The Threefold Lotus Sutra describes Guan Yin as a Bodhisattva who can take any form. She can transform into a male, female, adult, child, elder, human, or non-human, in order to teach the Dharma. The ''Threefold Lotus Sutra'' states that Guan Yin has 33 different manifestations. Seven of these are female.

Representations of Guan Yin in the Song Dynasty were masculine in appearance. Images and statues of Guan Yin during this time later became both genders because of the Lotus Sutra. Because Guan Yin is considered to be the personification of compassion and kindness, and a mother-goddess as well as a patroness of mothers and sailor, the representation of the Bodhisattva became mostly female around the 12th century. In the modern period, Guan Yin is often depicted as a beautiful, young white-robed woman, a depiction which derives from the earlier Pandaravasini form.

In China, she is often depicted as young and beautiful, wearing white robes and a necklace of Indian/Chinese royalty. In the left hand she holds a vase that contains the elixir of immortality and in the right hand, she holds a willow branch. Guan Yin wears a crown with an image of Amitabha Buddha.

Guan Yin is a prominent figure in Journey to the West. One of the four classics of Chinese literature, it tells the tale of Tang Dynasty monk Chen Hui's epic pilgrimage with three other traveling companions. Guan Yin enlists Monkey King (Sun Wukong), previously imprisoned by the Buddha, to aid Chen Hui in his pilgrimage to India for Sutra and Reliquary. She later recruits Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) after his defeat at the staff of Monkey King, and Sha Wujing (Sandy) as a body guard for Chen Hui.

Related pages

• Bodhisattva

Images for kids

• 

  Shrine to a Tang dynasty (896) carved stone statue of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin (Chinese: Qianshou Guanyin) in Shengshui Temple (內江聖水寺) in Neijiang, Sichuan, China

• 

  Amoghapāśa Lokesvara (Japanese: Fukūkenjaku Kannon) with devas Brahma and Indra on either side dated to late 8th century) located at Tōdai-ji, Nara, Japan.

• 

  Chapter 25: The Universal Gateway of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Published in Edo period)

• 

  Guanyin as a male bodhisattva. Eleven faced Ekādaśamukha form. Japan, 12th century

• 

  Shrine to a statue of Ekādaśamukha, or the Eleven-Headed Guanyin (Shíyīmiàn Guānyīn) in the Drum Tower of Qita Temple (七塔寺) in Yinzhou, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

• 

  This wooden statue of Quan Âm Nghìn Mắt Nghìn Tay (Quan Am Bodhisattva with 1000 eyes and 1000 hands) was fashioned in 1656 in Bắc Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. It is now located in the History Museum in Hanoi.

• 

  Statue of Cundī Guanyin (Zhǔntí Guānyīn) with 18-arms from the Mahavira Hall of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

• 

  Shrine to Cintāmaṇicakra Guanyin (Rúyìlún Guānyīn) in the Hall of Great Compassion in Jade Buddha Temple; Shanghai, China

• 

  Chinese porcelain statue depicting Guanyin, Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368 AD)

• 

  Statue of Ekādaśamukha or the Eleven-Headed Guanyin (Shíyīmiàn Guānyīn) in Bukenqu Guanyin Yard ^[zh] (不肯去觀音院) in Putuoshan, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China

• 

  An Altar of Guanyin Worship

• 

  Guanyin Shan (Guanyin Mountain) temple in Dongguan, China.

• 

  A Chinese Ming dynasty porcelain figure of Guanyin.

• 

  Shrine to a statue of Ekādaśamukha, or the Eleven-Headed Guanyin (Shíyīmiàn Guānyīn) in Huayan Temple (華嚴寺); Datong, Shanxi Province, China

• 

  A Chinese folk religion temple devoted primarily to the goddess Guanyin, in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia.

• 

  Blessed Virgin Mary, disguised as Kannon, Kakure Kirishitan, 17th century. Salle des Martyrs, Paris Foreign Missions Society.

• 

  Chinese Madonna. St. Francis' Church, Macao

See also

In Spanish: Guan Yin para niños