White Porcelain Many-Armed Kuan Yin

White Porcelain Many-Armed Kuan Yin

Goddesses

Kaun Yin or Guanyin is known to Mahayana Buddhistds as the goddess of compassion and mercy. Buddhists consider Kuanyin a bodhisattva and is also known as Avalokitasvara in Sanskrit. Mahayana Buddhists believe that when a loved one departs from this world, they land in the hands of Kaunyin, who then sends them to the "Pure Land" of Sukhavati. Kuanyin is often referred to as the most "widely beloved Buddhist Divinity" since her powers assist all those who pray to her. The thousand arms of Kuanyin represents the deity's many abilities to render assistance. 

Check out the High Library for more information. 

Check out sacred texts that relate to the artifact. 

Sources: 
Reginald Fleming Johnston, Buddhist China (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015).

Elizabethtown College (Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, USA)

Dr. Puffenberger

Elizabethtown College retains all intellectual property rights to this image including, but not limited to, digital rights and any derivative works. For permission for reproduction, please contact the College’s Administrative Assistant for Humanities.

A colorfully painted and decorated porcelain figurine of the many-armed Kuanyin with various objects in all of her hands.

11.5 in X 6.5 in (29.2 cm X 16.5 cm)

Physical Object

Puffenberger #130

China