Kwan Win: Buddhist Bodhisattva Essay -- social issues

Kwan Win: Buddhist Bodhisattva Compassion and Peace as a Spiritual Guide The path to spiritual freedom is sought by many people in this world. Relief from suffering is sought by many more. In these times, in all times past, and probably in times to come, the need for a spiritual guide is apparent. Kwan Yin (Guan Shih Yin in China, Kannon in Japan) is a Buddhist goddess of compassion who provides this guidance and direction for countless people. Kwan Yin reflects the Mahayana Buddhist concept of bodhisattva, a being of pure compassion. â€Å"A ‘bodhisattva’ is a person who delays his or her full enlightenment in order to aid in the liberation of all beings.† Bodhisattva literally translates to â€Å"Buddha to be†, and it is only when all beings have been relieved from suffering that a bodhisattva will allow themselves to reach parinirvana. Kwan Yin illustrates the concept of a bodhisattva very well. In one story about the Thousand-Armed Guan Shih Yin (one of her better known manifestations), a Princess named Miao Shan was disowned by her father and sent to a nunnery. At the nunnery, she was forced to do the dirtiest jobs, but this did not break her spirit. Her father, the king, then sent soldiers to the nunnery to set it on fire. After performing a miraculous deed that extinguished the fire, Miao Shan’s father was even more incensed. He sent an executioner to kill her, and she was strangled to death. After his awful actions, Miao Shan’s father became very ill with a sickn...