Kwan Yin, Goddess of Mercy.

The more I discover about China's Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin, the more impressed I am. You will probably recall, from my post "Buddha Works in Mysterious Ways", how quickly Kwan Yin answered Halley's prayers. Three hours! Now that's some going for miracles.

And I have another story too, equally impressive, that I should tell you, about another miracle she wrought that I witnessed with my own eyes and was even caught up in. But later!

In the meantime, however, let me tell you what I know about this Goddess:

Nothing! Although her name literally translates to "She Who Sees the Tears of the World", I can't even find out what religion she belongs to. Like, here she is in a Hindu temple in Saigon:

Keith and Kwan Yin.

And here she is in a Buddhist temple in Guangzhou:

Halley and Kwan Yin.

And she's known as Ah Ma (Beloved Mother) in Macau and is considered their very own Guardian Deity since, thousands of years ago, villagers' prayed to Kwan Yin and she saved everyone, although I haven't discovered from what. But it must have been something very big because even the name Ma-cau has some connection with her, although again I don't know what.

Ah-Ma, Saviour of Macau,

on the waterfront
watching over her city.

We also saw her in a Taoist temple in Singapore where she's known as Kwan Yip, however I don't have a photo.

So it's like she's this free-floating Deity figure everyone simply prays to, no matter what religion they belong to.

Since the world is usually so desperate and grasping about their deities - ours and only ours! - don't you find this rather odd?

I wonder if it's something like in that fabulous film "Elizabeth"; the bit where Mary Tudor is dying and she frantically grabs at Elizabeth and rasps "Please do not deprive the people of the Consolations of The Virgin.", meaning, I thought, 'Don't make England Protestant', and then, right at the end, Elizabeth shaves off her hair and paints herself white and says "I am become a virgin." which I took to mean that she would indeed turn England Protestant but was remaking herself so she would take the place of Catholicism's Virgin Mary therein sacrificing herself for her subjects' Consolation.

Because we all need a Goddess of Mercy, right? And that, for we Christians, the semiological space is held by Mary? And for those religions that don't have one ... well, they simply adopt Kwan Yin?

And let me tell you the strange story about the first time Kwan Yin crossed my path:

In 2000, I was on holiday in Sydney, Australia. Night, and I'm walking back to the hotel on the harbour-front. Keith was busy so I was on my own, and it was roughly 10pm when, on the main drag in Darlinghurst, I passed a bakery full of the most amazing cakes, wafting these amazing smells. It was very tempting but I resisted and walked on but not before noticing the young girl behind the counter and my mind, without conscious thought, went "Fiji Chinese!"

Several steps and I stopped and "Why did I think that? Is it possible that, in the 150 years Chinese have been in Fiji, they've developed their own distinct face?" and that was a mystery I couldn't resist so walked back into the cake shop.

"You look familiar." I said to the young shopgirl. "Where are you from?"

"Fiji."

Turns out that she was a student at Fiji's University of the South Pacific, currently on a working holiday, and because it turned out that I knew her family, we chatted for nearly an hour, with her filling me in on who was doing what and where - but then she noticed the time: "I have to close up now." she said.

And then she fumed: "Can you imagine it?, I now have to take all these amazing cakes and throw them in the dumpster out the back. It's disgusting the amount of waste in this country!" I too found it outrageous, and we both built up a huge head of steam, fulminating and ranting, both deciding that, coming from a third world country, where no one really has anything, the only thing we hated more than seeing waste was seeing beautiful things casually and cavalierly tossed away. "Don't toss them." I ranted, furious and determined. "Give them to me and I'll do something with them."

I had no idea what, but she shut the shop as I waited and then she met me outside and piled me high with boxes. Lots of boxes. Boxes piled so high I could only balance them with my nose. Certainly couldn't see much over the top and only a little bit to the side and definitely nothing below. She suggested she take a couple away but, no, I was determined nothing would be tossed and all these cakes would find a home.

However, it wasn't easy walking in high heels carrying the load, not being able to see properly, and when I came to the zebra crossing I realised another problem: I couldn't press the button.

I was trying to push it with my elbow when an elderly Chinese gentleman raced up and pushed it for me. And then he stood there until the lights changed and then he said "Small shuffle. Stop. Step down." and he walked with me across the road then said "Stop. Step up." and he'd got me safely across.

I then realised that I wasn't going to make it back to the hotel unaided without ditching the top box so "I want to thank you. Please take a box." I said, and he did. But when he opened it and saw the exquisite cake, all chocolate and covered with decorative marzipan bits, he unexpectedly burst into tears. Like, serious serious tears!

Consternation! "What's the matter?" I asked.

"Today's my birthday." he spluttered.

"Happy Birthday." I said.

"Thank you. Thank you." he wept. And then he told me the story:

"For forty years I've lived in this country. I'm alone. My family is all back in China. And for forty years, no one has said "Happy Birthday" to me. In the past, I didn't mind, but today I turned 75, and today it mattered. All day I've been praying to Kwan Yin, asking her "Please let someone know it's my birthday. Please let someone acknowledge me. Please let someone say "Happy Birthday" to me. But no one did. All day I waited, but no one even looked at me. And then I couldn't sleep and was asking Kwan Yin why she had not heard my prayers, and then, ten minutes ago, I thought "I will give Kwan Yin another chance. I will get dressed and go out and maybe then someone will say "Happy Birthday."

By that time I was crying myself. "I am proud that your Goddess Kwan Yin chose me to answer your prayers." I told him and I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

He invited me to return to his place to have a slice of his birthday cake, but I had to move on, and by then, inspired, I knew what to do with the rest of the cakes. There were backpacker hostels I'd noticed on my journey out, so I stopped off at each of them, dropped by the communal areas and shouted "Who's the person having the birthday?" and at each place someone said "That's me!" so I gave him/her a box saying "Someone back home's gone to a lot of trouble to get this to you. You are very loved." and they always cried.

Back at my hotel, I only had one box left and when I looked inside it was the most amazing cheesecake and I decided that, since cheesecake is my other vice of choice, I'd earned it!

So that's how I first met Kwan Yin. And, yes, I was so impressed with how she moved in mysterious and miraculous ways, and although kinda it's against everything I more normally believe, I always see that entire episode above as Kwan Yin's machinations; her way of getting a birthday cake to a very sweet old man who just wanted to finally be acknowledged.

So, yes, she's indeed a wonderful Deity and more and more I'm thinking I need to buy a statue of her, maybe in white marble, and with a soft and beautiful face, because I'm increasingly concerned that I don't have enough "God" in my life; an increasingly powerful spiritual vacuum that I need to fill some way that is unconnected with any organised religion.

And Kwan Yin could indeed be the answer. Yes? All God and No Guff!