I've been resistant to Guan Yin, AKA Kwan Yin, ever since I found out who she was. Reason? I don't know any Chinese women like her. All the Chinese women in my life are strong, fierce, scary, sometimes cruel, woman-warrior-types. Guan Yin, in my mind, was too nice, too soft, too stereotypically feminine, and....downright WIMPY! What could she do for me? I'm not asking her for anything! My life has been rough, how would she know what I'm going through? And why didn't she help me way back when?
Then, a couple of months ago, I saw a book called the Kwan Yin Oracle. I dismissed it as some made-up new age crap, without even looking beyond the cover. The next day I was tending the fire in my fireplace, and as I was coming back up I banged my head really hard on my altar. I have many things on my altar, but the only thing that moved was a Guan Yin statue that my teacher had given me. I watched as it slowly wobbled and then crashed in a bunch of pieces on the floor. Oh sh*t, what have I done now, I thought. What do I do with the pieces? Did Guan Yin feel she had to sacrifice herself to get my attention?
The day after that, I was cleaning my office and found a box from a Chinatown jewelry store. I opened it and inside it was a Guan Yin medallion! I had no recollection of buying it or stashing it away, or who I'd bought it for. I knew I hadn't bought it for *me*. Now, this is a solid gold bit of metal, and must have cost at least $100! How could I forget buying something like that?
OK, I start wearing the medallion more often, and then I go back to the bookstore and, this time, I pick up the Kwan Yin Oracle book and realize it's written by a man who has written some really great I Ching books, that I own! The last kicker: The Kwan Yin Oracle is the fortune telling sticks used in temples. Shake a tube of numbered sticks until one falls out and that's your fortune. Guess what? I have a set of these sticks, given to me by my teacher! I never used them because the booklet that came with it is so crappy.
OK, I get it, I get it. I'm still skeptical, but I'm wearing the medallion, and I'm open to a more compassionate, gentle Chinese feminine bhodisattva (hi Jenny!) spirit to come into my life. The picture is from Dazu, near my ancestral home. She literally has over 1,000 arms, and is tucked into a beautiful grotto.
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