This is part of a Wednesday series on Goddess spirituality and political activism.
My favorite Goddess isn’t technically a Goddess at all. Rather, Kuan Yin is a Bodhisattva , an enlightened mortal who will become a Buddha when she has helped bring all other beings to enlightenment. However, she absorbed the qualities of folk Goddesses such as Songzi Niang-Niang , "She who brings children," and Mazu , Goddess of the Southern Sea.
Kuan Yin is said to be infinitely compassionate, and she is the one I turn to when contemplating the concept of sacrifice.
Kuan Yin is often compared with the Virgin Mary, but I think she has more in common with Jesus. In her best-known story, Kuan Yin began life as Miao Shan, the youngest daughter of a heartless king and queen. The king arranged advantageous but loveless marriages for the older sisters. Kuan Yin, however, insisted that she would not marry the man he had chosen, and would instead become a nun.
The king first tried manipulation to get his way. He sent Kuan Yin to a convent where the sisters had a reputation for vice, and he ordered the other nuns to work her hard and treat her cruelly. But Kuan Yin simply did her work, uncomplaining, and concentrated on her prayers. Any task she was given was completed as if by magic. Her tranquility only infuriated the king further, and he had the convent burned down. Kuan Yin stepped out unhurt, and smothered the fire with her bare hands.
The king, apparently unable to take a hint, ordered that his disobedient daughter be beheaded. The executioner feared committing such an evil act, but he feared the father as well. Kuan Yin reassured him that she would take on his karmic guilt. He brought the sword down – and it shattered. Finally he strangled her with his bare hands.
Kuan Yin descended into the underworld. Unafraid, she began to sing. The beauty of her voice was such that the cold, gloomy underworld began to bloom, and a light shone as bright as daylight. The undead spirits, who were supposed to be enduring punishment, began to dance with joy.
Lord Yama would not tolerate this disruption of his dark kingdom, and he sent Kuan Yin back to earth. There, she practiced acts of kindness and charity so that her reputation spread far and wide. This is when Miao Shan became known as Kuan Yin, "She Who Hears the Cries of the World."
Meanwhile, her parents had come down with a horrible wasting illness. (Some versions suggest that they were poisoned by the sons-in-law – another reason not to push one’s daughters into bad marriages.) The best doctors in the kingdom told them their case was nearly hopeless. The only possible cure was a medicine made with the hands and eyes of a person without anger. A servant said that he had heard of such a holy person.
You see where this is going. After the parents were healed, they went to thank their mysterious benefactor, and found themselves facing the daughter they had condemned. And since this is a story, the parents were filled with remorse. They received Kuan Yin's forgiveness: "In heaven I shall have golden arms and diamond eyes."
I’m not a fan of self-mutilation to help out a couple of ingrates. But Kuan Yin has a lot to say about sacrifice on a more mundane level.
I realize not everyone in this community is a believer in prayer. And too often prayer gets reduced to the notion of deity-as-vending-machine, also known as "Lord, help me win this football game." People prayed as Katrina came barreling down, and no magical hand turned back the waves. And still I pray, usually picturing the Divine in the form of Kuan Yin.
This last year I was engaged in a political battle that was tremendously important to me. I prayed for a horrible law to fail, and others prayed for it to pass. But every time I called on Kuan Yin, I was reminded that I also needed to "pray with my feet."
I hated the idea of phone banking, calling up strangers and maybe having them yell or hang up on me. Surely someone else could do it? But if was going to ask Kuan Yin for help, I had to remember that she’d been willing to give up her arms and her eyes. And I was whining about giving up a little time and effort? This helped motivate me to go back to the phone bank again and again, hand out fliers, and donate as much as I could afford. And it was really inspiring to see how many people here on dkos posted comments like, "I’m unemployed but I’m sending a few dollars anyway."
We lost that battle. I don’t think it was from failure to pray hard enough. But I’m geared up to rejoin the struggle for the long term, and to keep praying with my feet.
Kuan Yin’s story doesn’t end there. She encountered the Buddha, who led her to the entrance of Nirvana, where she could leave the suffering of material existence. But as she was about to step through, she heard a cry of anguish from below. And she resolved that she would remain on the material plane to help those in need, until all beings were free from suffering.
And because I love Kuan Yin so much, I’ll have more about her next week.