Guanshiyin Pusa

Guanshiyin Pusa — Guanyin for short — is a bodhisattva, a Buddhist luminary who has postponed their own final enlightenment and exit from the chain of dependent origination in order to help all other beings achieve Buddhahood. Their original Mantle was Avalokiteshvara, lord of compassion. They are also Cundi, the 18-armed lotus-throned monster, invoked with the popular Sanskrit mantra “om manipadme hum.” The Chinese so loved Guanyin that they deified them, which confused Guanyin a good deal: While Buddhism describes many Buddhist or Buddhist-adjacent figures as divine, they don’t occupy the same station relative to the Buddhist flock as, for example, a more traditional God like Huitzilopochtli of the Teōtl does relative to his. Divinity exists in Buddhism, it just isn’t that important.

Guanyin is the World’s most popular Buddhist, exceeding even the Tathagata. They struggle to pay their Scions adequate attention because of their packed schedule answering prayers and displaying compassion towards the entirety of Great Vehicle Buddhism. Guanyin nevertheless expects one thing above all from their children: compassion. They maintain that Scions come into being to spread the blessings of Godhood, which Guanyin regards as a weird kind of privilege, to mortals in need who lack those blessings through no fault of their own.

Ever the populist icon, Guanyin favors humble Incarnations such as fishermen, mendicant monks, and sex workers, though omens such as thousands of eyes, hands, or faces sometimes set them apart. They often travel with bodyguards (sometimes including General Guan Yu himself ) and her faithful white parrot. Likable and experienced in liaising between the Shén and the Buddhist community, Guanyin and her Scions often take point on delicate diplomatic proceedings between pantheons.