kwan yin in thereavada pratice

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jcsuperstar
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kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by jcsuperstar »

we have statues of her and some fortune telling stuff at my temple (though ive never seen anyone touch the stuff) and ive seen many statues of her in temples in thailand

is this just a thai thing (chinese imigrants?)?

i'd like to know more about her in relation to theravada....
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by mountain »

Kuan Shih Yin Pusa is the female form of Avalokithesvara. I used to live in Miami,Fl and many chinese as well as vietnamese there were devotees. Also in Sri Lanka I met some Theravadans who also were devotees. I think its cross cultural. To give some balance I did meet one Theravada monk who called my practice debased.
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by mountain »

One final thought. Have you read "Bodhisattva of Compassion" by John Blofeld? It is an excellent place to start. Do you feel an attraction to her? There should be some material more pertinent to your question in The Journal of East Asian Buddhism.
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by jcsuperstar »

yes ive read it, i practiced with a japanese zen monk for 1/2 a decade too, im quite aware of her from a mahayana perspective... its her in a theravada contxt that interests me
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by Cittasanto »

I don't think she is, but I know the Kuan Yin statue in the British Museum is from Sri Lanka this is from the time Mahayana was more dominant there.
I think it will mainly be for inclusion of Mahayana followers where their isn't enough room for both sects to have seperate temples. this is only a guess and I could be wrong but it makes sense to me at least.
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by jcsuperstar »

im thinking she might be there the same was ganesha is in thai buddhism, or 4 faced brahma
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings JC,

There is no mention of Kwan Yin in the tipitaka or the commentaries, though I suppose people can (and will) do what they like.

Metta,
Retro. :)
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by jcsuperstar »

i was talking to my girlfriend about how thai people see her, and it is similar to how they see ganesha (they call him pra picanet) or 4 faced brahma, shes not a buddha to them like in mahayana...
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by piotr »

Hi,

In Burma he/she is called Lokanat. Worship of this bodhisatva/deity is a residue of Northern Buddhism, which was present in the Burma prior to the domination of the Theravāda school.
  • The Myanmar historical record shows that the King Anawratha was known to embrace the worship if Avalokitesvara, Loka Nat. Even after the introduction of Theravada in Bagan ( 849-850 ce ) the northern region of Myanmar followed the Mahayana Buddhism. It is believed then and continues unit today, even after the acceptance of Theravada Buddhism from the south, King Abawaratha continued to worship the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara / Lokanatha .
    To the people of Mynamar Lokanat represent peace and prosperity.

    In Pali, Loka means people in general, and Nahta means heavenly being, so it translated as the deity who is believed to keep eternal watch over the world, with his benevolence and wisdom to protect the people in the kingdom and bestowed good fortune.


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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by thornbush »

Agreed totally that Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (known to Mahayanists also as Samyak Vidya Dharma Tathagata) or 'Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa' is not mentioned in the Pali Canon. But may I submit a personal story here that in my years of entrenched Christianity, if I had not had those recurring dreams or fixated mind images of Him (which i tried so hard using various Christian methods to get rid of but failed), I would not have gone on to investigate the Dhamma via accesstoinsight.org back in 1997 or known the Dhamma in my first encounter with the Pali Canon then. So my personal credit to Him for being a Dhamma raft then.

Yes, I noticed that in some Thai Theravada temples, generous allocations were made to house Guan Yin (alongside with some other popular figurines, perhaps out of cultural diversity and religious openness of the Thais to such?

I know of one Thai temple which has the Royal Thai Embassy's patronage in my country whose Chief Abbot consented to having a beautiful side shrine to house a beautiful statue of Guan Yin and the story which I heard was, as a result of a dream to the Abbot, he decided to include Guan Yin in the temple compound.

:focus:

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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by DNS »

Kwan Yin is a Mahayana figure, but still part of Buddhism so I always have images and statues of her in my altar, meditation rooms. I like how she provides a 'feminine' component to the devotional figures and for me can represent not only compassion, but that women are our equals in the Dhamma, capacity for enlightenment, and for the great female disciples we have had in the past and through today.
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by Bankei »

There is a mini Kuan Yin boom in Thailand at the moment. Many temples have small Kuan yin shrines. One example is the temple at Huay Kwang in Bangkok. They actually have a large shrine on the temple grounds.

many people include kwanyin statues on their shrines and some refuse to eat beef.

I also have seen evidence of Taiwanese groups who hold meetings and ceremonies regarding kwanyin. maybe one of the new relgious sects of Taiwan?

Bankei
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by Mexicali »

Kuan Yin actually predates the arrival of Buddhism in China and was later retroactively identified with Avolekitsvara. She has a very cross-cultural appeal; when I first discovered her, I just thought of her as an Asian Virgen De Guadalupe, another feminine figure of mercy.

It's my understanding that in some temples shared by Mahayana and Theravada adherents, there are Bodhisattva statues but that devotion/worship to a Bodhisattva is, in the Theravada viewpoint, useless at best. In my personal experience, there is something comforting about Kuan Yin, as an idea, but realistically it's just goddess worship by another name.
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

Post by mikenz66 »

Bankei wrote:There is a mini Kuan Yin boom in Thailand at the moment. Many temples have small Kuan yin shrines. One example is the temple at Huay Kwang in Bangkok. They actually have a large shrine on the temple grounds.
We have a couple of Kuan Yin statues in the garden of our local Wat...
Bankei wrote: many people include kwanyin statues on their shrines and some refuse to eat beef.
Perhaps I'm dense, but what is the connection with Kuan Yin and beef? Most of the Thai people I know don't like red meat. I'm not sure why --- when I have enquired they just say they don't like the taste and I don't recall seeing a Thai person bring red meat to the Wat (plenty of pork, chicken, fish, etc...).

Mike
Last edited by mikenz66 on Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: kwan yin in thereavada pratice

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