The goddess of mercy shown sitting, her left knee raised and holding a lotus. She is wearing long robes, her high topknot under a scarf.
The goddess of mercy shown sitting, her left knee raised and holding a lotus. She is wearing long robes, her high topknot under a scarf.
In the context of East Asian Buddhism, Guanyin is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. The Chinese characters that make up “Guanyin” specifically means “observer of sounds” (guan = observe; yin = sounds), conveying the belief that Guanyin is a listener of suffering sounds, and thus a tenderer of the world’s troubles. For this reason, most depictions of Guanyin in Chinese art feature the Bodhisattva looking downward, as if to watch over the mortal realms.
