Discovering Kwan Yin, Buddhist Goddess of Compassion: A Path Toward Clarity and Peace - Softcover

Boucher, Sandy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807013412 ISBN 13: 9780807013410

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1999

Synopsis

Sandy Boucher, celebrated author of Opening the Lotus and Turning the Wheel, now offers North American readers their first opportunity to share in Kwan Yin's illuminating wisdom. Along with providing meditations, chants, and prayers this lovely, illustrated volume recounts the stories of this bodhisattva (one who delays her own full enlightenment to work for the liberation of all beings) and explains Kwan Yin's role in Buddhism. Discovering Kwan Yin is sure to become an important spiritual touchstone for those who seek to celebrate the goddess in their lives, to give and receive the loving power of her presence.

About this title

Review:

On one end of the spectrum of Western Buddhism, we have the likes of Stephen Batchelor and his Buddhism Without Beliefs. On the other end, some people choose to preserve the gods of the East. Sandy Boucher, author of Opening the Lotus and Turning the Wheel, turns her attention to the phenomenon of Kwan Yin (also known as: Guanyin, Kannon, Kwan Um, Chenrezig, Avalokitesvara), bodhisattva of compassion. Kwan Yin as comforter, healer, and female exemplar has been adopted as a personal deity by a growing number of Western women, whether Buddhists or not. In Discovering Kwan Yin, Boucher meets up with many of them, evoking stories of profound encounters, life-saving rescues, and long-term guidance. The wide-open spiritualism of Boucher's search leads her to a diversity of images, places, people, and experiences: Asian-American immigrants, a Chinese island, an extravagant tattoo, a Fulbright poet, a pagan goddess mass. For those seeking a divine presence in their lives, and a female one at that, Discovering Kwan Yin is a powerful initiation into a centuries-old tradition of soulful devotion. --Brian Bruya

About the Author:

Sandy Boucher, a leading spokesperson on women and Buddhism, is the author of several books including She Appears! Encounters with Kwan Yin Goddess of Compassion; Discovering Kwan Yin; Opening the Lotus; and Turning the Wheel. In 1979, Boucher was granted the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature for her extensive work. Born and raised in Ohio, she now resides in Oakland, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0807013412
• ISBN 13: 9780807013410
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 132