Rosewood Kuan Yin Meditating

In China, Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion and is also the Protectress of Children. In India, she is represented as a male deity known as Avalokitesvara, “The One Who Hears the Cries of the World."

In these figures the is seated on a double lotus pedestal. The lotus represents purity and divine birth.

In the figure on the left, she is in the Lotus posture, which is best for deep meditation. She holds in her left hand a vase filled with the nectar of her compassion. Her right hand is held in the mudra of protection.

In the figure on the right she is in the half Lotus (seat of good fortune), half Royal Relaxation posture (enchanter’s pose). Her hands are held in the mudra of “touching earth”, with the left hand holding a vase which contains the nectar of her compassion, and the right holding a 21 bead mala, with which she assumes the passions of the world in order to liberate her worshippers from them. She is wearing a rosary with 3 end beads, symbolizing the Buddhist Trinity (Buddha, The Word, and The Priesthood).