Guan Yin

Guan Yin is the bodhisattva of compassion and wisdom in Chinese Buddhism. She is highly revered. Her name means 'She Who Hears the Cries of the Whole World'.

According to one belief, she was born as Princess Miao Shan to a childless king and queen. Upon expressing her wish to become a Buddhist nun to her father, he disowned her. Without her father's blessing, Miao Shan proceeded to become a nun in a Buddhist monastery. Her father had paid the nuns at the monastery to abuse Miao Shan severely so that she would leave and come back home. The nuns accepted the money and proceeded to treat Miao Shan terribly. They forced her to sleep on the floor and do all the chores around the monastery by herself. However, upon realizing her intense devotion to the Buddha's teachings, they relented and stopped abusing her. From then on, they treated her as a sister and friend. When her father realized that the nuns were not abusing Guan Yin any more, he became absolutely furious and set the monastery on fire. Guan Yin put out the fire by pricking her the roof of her mouth with a long pin, which let out a stream of blood that proceeded to spray on the monastery, saving all the nuns inside. Her father was enraged upon seeing the miracle of Guan Yin and strangled her with a silken cord. As Guan Yin died, she took all of her father's sins on her, and proceeded to go to the hell realms. However, wherever she went in hell, demons fled and cool streams and beautiful flowers sprouted. Effectively, she was turning hell into a paradise by her very presence! This terrified the king of hell, Yama, who felt as if he was losing his kingdom. He sent Guan Yin back to earth, where she went to live on Mount Pu'to Shan in China.