India, China
This entry was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Emily Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Guanyin was the goddess of mercy and compassion who became the patron of sailors and fishermen. She was originally a deity in India known as Tara who was born of the tears of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (whose name means “One Who Gazes Down Upon the World and Hears the Cries of the People”) and was seen as his female counterpart and a goddess of compassion, wisdom, and liberation. She came to China from India through trade via the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty. She was so compassionate that she incarnated as the maiden Miaoshan in order to experience life as a human being and offer service to others. Miaoshan’s father wanted her to marry a wealthy priest. Miaoshan refused to marry unless the marriage could end the sufferings caused by illness, aging, and death. When her father told her no marriage could end such things, she replied that a doctor could, but her father did not want her marrying someone of such a lowly occupation.
She was allowed to enter a temple instead of marrying, but her father made sure that she was given all of the worst work, which she accomplished with the help of the nearby animals who responded to her goodness. Her father then tried to burn the temple down but Miaoshan put the fire out with her bare hands. He then had her executed, but when she went to hell, she released all of the goodness she held inside and turned it into paradise. The king of the dead, Lord Yama, sent her back to earth before she ruined his realm, and she lived afterwards on Fragrant Mountain where she watched over human beings. From her mountain home, she would often notice people in trouble on their boats at sea and rescued them, which is how she became patron goddess of sailors and fishermen. She was one of the most popular deities in all of China, and both men and women adored her.