
I have a special interest in
Kwan Yin, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy.
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Goddess of Mercy at a temple in Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City |
Ever since I first travelled to Vietnam I have been fascinated by her form and her legends.
Though she is the pre-eminent figure of popular devotion in
East Asian Buddhism, very little has been written about her in the West, and I think I have probably read every single word ever printed in English about the
Goddess of Mercy.
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Kwan in tiles at a temple in Kuala Lumpur |
By far my favourite book on the subject is John Blofeld's exqisitely old-fashioned
Bodhisattva of Compassion. It is the kind of book that probably wouldn't be published now, so peculiar is its construction and content. It is equal parrts spiritual memoir, travelogue, manual of religious practice and collection of folklore.
Blofeld was perhaps the greatest of the sinophile writers, and was particularly interested in the
religions of China. Toward the end of his life he began to affect the appearance and lifestyle of an old-style religious hermit, and a friend of mine who met him just before his death said that this
old Englishman looked exactly like a Chinese person. He had for so long been immersed in the culture he loved and wrote about that he had morphed his own face and body into its physical forms.
Bodhisattva of Compassion is a charming book, a belletristic collection of anecdote and personal reflection that would be of great interest to anyone who wanted to know more about Buddhism, especially in its
Chinese forms. And for anyone interested in learning more about the
idea of "The Goddess,"
Bodhisattva of Compassion represents one of the earliest, and most poetic, explorations of that subject.
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Bodhisattva of Compassion at a Buddhist temple in Canberra |
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Blofeld's voice is wonderfully Edwardian, and many of his stories read like they came from the pages of Wodehouse or one of the
Bensons. And indeed, this propensity toward
sinophilia was a great trend in the Edwardian age, and later. One of my favourite authors, Harold Acton, was another great
sinophile in the tradition of the gentleman scholar.
In spite of this ease of reading, and the author's seemingly light touch, the book contains a great deal of really fascinating information that is of great value to the Buddhist scholar. He thoroughly explores the different traditions and forms of
Avalokitesvara. We mustn't forget that Blofeld was extremely fluent in
Chinese, and had spent a lifetime collecting stories and miracle tales grounded in the
Chinese Buddhist tradition.
They have recently produced a
new edition of
Bodhisattva of Compassion, and I am delighted that such a book still strikes a chord with modern audiences. After just a few pages you too will be drawn into
Blofeld's gentle stories of
Kwan Yin, the beloved
Goddess of Mercy.