goddess of mercy aka guan yin niang niang

monoslayer SG

those who pray to guan yin niang niang is considered a buddhist or taoist?? Rolling Eyes

An Eternal Now SG

Its origin is from Buddhism, but was later adopted by the religious Taoists into their pantheon. But we may have different understandings from them. Guan Yin to us is not a deity or a goddess, but a Bodhisattva (Pu2 Sa4), someone embarking on the path to Enlightenment, while having great compassion to liberate and lead sentient beings to Enlightenment.

Guan Yin Bodhisattva is also setting a great example for all Bodhisattva practitioners of Mahayana Buddhism. There are many different Bodhisattvas (Pu2 Sa4) in Buddhism, each of them representing a quality that we need to cultivate to attain Buddhahood. Guan Yin represents Great Compassion. Smile

mhcampboy SG

Guan Yin is so serene. Very Happy

An Eternal Now SG

Originally posted by monoslayer:
those who pray to guan yin niang niang is considered a buddhist or taoist?? Rolling Eyes

Sorry I misread your message. I thought you were asking whether Guan Yin is from Buddhism or Taoist.

In this case, I must say, it depends. In Buddhism we don't 'pray', we 'pay reverence', 'pay respect', 'pay homage', but we dont 'pray pray' or 'worship'. Neutral Onliner maybe can post on this.

Many elderly people who pray to Guan Yin also have superstitious set of thinking, and are completely ignorant of Buddhism. What they practise is a form of folkds tradition, but not Buddhism. In fact to become a Buddhist one must first take refuge in the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha)..

An Eternal Now SG

Indeed.. Smile

shade343 SG

Who here goes to si ma lu guan yin temple?? Fro those who go there, can anyone explain to me the statue to the right of guan yin?

neutral_onliner SG

ok... Pls read here...

Respecting NOT Worshipping

http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=188976

bohiruci SG

Right of Guanyin is Huatuo the Father of Chinese medicine

hmm, can someone show me the tourist guide to si ma lu ,I havent been there for a long long time

Cool Cool

earthling82 SG

Ermm what has HuaTuo got to be beside Guan Yin. Is it a statue? Usually chinese make statues of Sheng Nong instead of hua tuo. Anyway Si Ma Lu is not a place where u can find dhamma.

blowfish SG

guan yin is a he or she?

paperflower SG

i have never come across in any buddhist sutras mentioning the way to address as guan yin "niang niang", they mention "avalokiteshvara bodhisattva" or "guan yin pusa" or guan shi yin pusa".

"niang niang" is not another word for "pusa" bah.....
or is it a chinese folk's culture & tradition?

i know someone reading this will think, whether niang niang or pusa or bodhisattva, they are all the same. good if the person takes all equally with no discrimination but however it is essential to understand well what is a pusa & bodhisattva & thus people will not anyhow call a pusa niang niang when they have fully undestood the true buddhist teachings & dharma is.

yamizi SG

Did you give Huatuo that title yourself?

To my understanding Huatuo is known as Shen Yi (loosely translated as God of Physician).

Father of Chinse Medicine should be Shen Nong if I'm not wrong.

bohiruci SG

wat do u mean myself ?

please go to the landmark marking outside

it said hua tuo ..
if you can ,take picture to prove i am wrong

thats all Wink

bohiruci SG

it is at si ma lu ..

I think u never been there rite ?

i am stating wat is there ( a fact ) nothing to do with whether it is buddhism

dun lump 2 things together ( fact and understanding )

Wink Wink

monoslayer SG

so many posts but none ans my qus... Confused

bohiruci SG

niang niang means ladyship

In Chinese society , the idea of male saviour ,with the embodiment of compassion seems rather unacceptable

so Avaolokiteshvara means guayin is often potrayed as a lady

note in folklore taoism belief ,guanyin is from the south sea (hainan) area

She appear as a lady carrying fish basket in southern china
thus the name as (yu lan) fish basket guanyin

Bodhisattva transcend all male or female orientation in the path of Bodhi

Cool Cool

monoslayer SG

so those worship him/her is considered a buddhist or taoist?? Rolling Eyes

paperflower SG

you have already know the answer or really haven't found the answer?

check out what is a pusa & you'll find understand.

if you are buddhist you know where is your direction to the answer.
if you are a taoist, you have another set of different answers.
if you are a free thinker you'll think its both taoist & buddhism or rojak, no clear definition.

there are many legends and if you take them seriously & literally then your doubts will continue to grow, don't get confused. which door you go to stick to it and find till you get it.

sometimes without asking you get what you wanted to know, sometimes when you ask, you won't get any satisfactory answer.

as bohiruci mentioned, a pusa transcends female & male genda. if you ask in a buddhist forum, what will you expect? guan yin is guan yin pusa not a goddess not niang niang in buddhism.

dear so and so, please have a search and read up on guan yin pusa from a reliable buddhist source. people can be kind to let you but don't expect to be spoon fed. if anyone thinks buddhist are not helpful to spread the real dharma to the world then these people are not ready to learn anything.

is this really important? anyone can be the bodhisattva of great compassion. think about it.

wahh so many lines for your one sentence yeah. well you must know 1st exactly what you really want to know instead of giving vague questions.

there are topics in this forum talking about avalokiteshvara or even in websites there are many. do go and read up. it is infinity, it is not an answer of yes or no that simple.

good luck!
Very Happy

yamizi SG

What I meant is the title that you mentioned "Father of Chinese Medicine". Is it from the board as well?

bohiruci SG

i not very sure ... becos it have been a long time i havent passed by si ma lu

but i still remember hua tuo was offered as a deity in the si ma lu

Laughing