Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, also known as Guan Shih Yin or Guan Yin, is the one with the highest kindness and compassion amongst the Bodhisattvas. In the three periods of time (i.e. past, future, and present), Guan Yin can perfectly penetrate in all ten directions to observe and contemplate the reality and origin of all phenomena. He can search for and contemplate all the sounds of sufferings and happiness, goodness and evil etc. and rescue the sufferring ones.
If a person, desparate in fear, danger and depression, calls upon the name of Guan Yin Bodhisattva whole-heartedly and sincerely, Guan Yin is capable of saving and relieving the person from the adverse situation. Many devoted people have wonderful and unconceivable responses from Guan Yin.
Thus, Guan Yin is one of the most popular and respected Bodhisattvas in our world.
In the Shurangama Sutra, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva described her causes and conditions in becoming a Bodhisattva, and explained her method of cultivation and perfect penetration through ear organ.
"World Honored One, I remember when, as many kalpas ago as there are sands in the Ganges, there was a Buddha in the World named Contemplating the World's Sounds. It was under that Buddha that I brought forth the Bodhi-resolve. That Buddha taught me to enter Samadhi through a process of hearing and thinking, and by reflecting and cultivating."
"Initially, I entered the flow through hearing and forgot the objective states. Since the sense-objects and sense-organs were quiet, the two characteristics of movement and stillness crystallized and did not arise. After that, gradually advancing, the hearing and what was heard both disappeared. Once the hearing ended, there was nothing to rely on, and awareness and the objects of awareness became empty. When the emptiness of awareness reached an ultimate perfection, emptiness and what was being emptied also ceased to exist. Since production and extinction were gone, the still extinction was revealed."
Long long ago, there was a Buddha called Tathagata of Understanding Right Dharma, who is now Guan Yin. As Guan Yin can accomplish in thirty-two response bodies, and enter all the lands, from the Buddha Realm to the Hell Realm, to rescue all living beings, there are many names, forms, legends about Guan Yin as reflected by her holy statuts.
One of the most interesting dispute is the gender of Guan Yin. Is Guan Yin a man or a woman? According to the sutras, Shakyamuin used to call Guan Yin as a man. In history, Guan Yin was regarded as male before Tang Dynasty. In Tang Dynasty, it was said that Guan Yin was a princess called Myau Shan. As Guan Yin in feminine gender is more intimate, more and more people affirm that this Bodhisattva to be female. Moreover, in our world, women are always suppressed or even tortured. There is a strong desire to have a female Bodhisattva who is compassionate and able to salvage them from suffering.
Guan Yin is now dwelling in the Pureland of Ultimate Bliss in the West. Guan Yin Bodhisattva and Great Strength Bodhisattva, are the assistants of Amitabha Buddha in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. The three are called Three Sages in the West. In the past, Guan Yin was the Tathagata of Understanding Right Dharma. In future, she will take over the place of Amitabha Buddha, and become the Buddha in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, called the Tathagata of the Mountain Merits and Virtues with Universal Illimination.
In China, there are four famous hills or monasteries:
