Adventures in Church: Lent Ashes

The priest recommended a sexy movie, The Substance, for its lesson on beauty, ashes, and dust.

Improving Catholic Jesus, nicer and whiter

Vibhuti is valuable. It must be. People will go to great lengths to get it, even if it's just a smudge or cross over the third eye. How does one turn common ash into a sacred object of veneration? Bless it.

It was a rainy Ash Wednesday in the City of Lost Angels. But we went on an adventure anyway. (No one walks in LA, and during the rain, no one remembers how to drive). The rain ruined it the big open house event at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center (MD, "Mother of Suffering" Catholic monastery situated next to burnt out Altadena high atop the idyllic town of Sierra Madre, Los Angeles).

The male gaze and absurd beauty standards

MD changed its whole schedule: No mass at 8:00 am or 6:00 pm as promised, and the "open house" (the first time the popular retreat center nestled in the green foothills after the Eaton Fire, which is right next door and partly burned the place, making it susceptible to mudslides and flooding. The volunteers did not have much information, even on the current condition of the pope. One would think they would be on top of it, but the pope seems not nearly as important as when the pope was John Paul.

I'm so pretty, and I'm getting ready for church.

The day was nothing, no tour, but one could walk down a hall to visit the "Stations of the Cross" by looking at very dark pictures of the great Roman Crucifixion of a troublemaker called "Christ."

He suffered for his sins against the state, but having no sins his suffering has been transferred to cover the Passionists who populate the place, Catholics in specific, and everyone in general. That means us, confirmed "sinners." And you better feel bad about it or else.

The glories of the Holy Roman Empire today

Joe Rogan and British comedian Jimmy Carr

Abstain from MEAT EATING for Lent or life or at least on Fridays, like Jesus wants (Christspiracy)

LA is a paradise from the air (Echo Park Lake)

The center has such a nice main building full of meditation rooms with their own showers. It's almost haunted in its kind of sterile monasticism with lots of Carmelite brown and old-style hotel. One is reminded of Self Realization Fellowship's Mother Center on top of Mt. Washington in neighboring Mt. Washington, overlooking the LA skyline. Now that's a place to visit, all syncretic Hindu-Christian, where Paramhansa Yogananda slept. One can visit his room with its tiny bed once a year on his birthday.

But this place, a kind multiroom mansion is dreary with devotion, austere penitence (tapas), and a priest from India who knows nothing about Jesus' time in India or all of the scholarship behind that century-old discovery.

• See Nicolas Notovitch, Holger Kersten, Swami Abedananda, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, the BBC, and others: Unknown years of Jesus

There's a written record of where Jesus was?

Holy cow. It has a nice gift shop and lots of things to sell. There were ashes for the asking, but very little else. It used to be that to get a communion wafer and wine (gluten cracker and grape juice) from a communal cup with saliva wiped off by a handkerchief, one had to have gone to confession or gotten right with the Priest/Lord/Church Official, or Holy Ghosts.

But not for this token? Anyone could go up and be smudged (not in the good way using Indigenous sage or Salvia apiana, but rather here using the burnt offerings of palms that were prayed over).

Two priests, one from India the other from the Philippines, did not inspire us -- noncommittal, inoffensive, diffident, and reticent with little to no knowledge of anything about Jesus in India or anything else that is not Chruch-approved and Vatican-sanctioned. That's the way to stay out of trouble, one could suppose. But how is it that a priest of this religion, so emphasizing the Stations of the Cross, doesn't seem to know about the face of the lord (God's son or devaputra) appearing on a cloth used to wipe his bleeding facade during his ordeal or "passion"? That cloth should be at least as famous as the Shroud of Turin and Jesus' tunic. There's a whole station about it, and in the middle of this month the holy relic goes on tour through Southern California from wherever it's kept the rest of the time (under lock and key in a temperature-controlled vault somewhere in Europe.

Jesus Christ lived in India?

Who had ever heard of such a thing? Jesus' face on another cloth and no one has anything to say? If it's coming on tour in the neighboring cities, but the Indian priest didn't know? He did know of a mysterious relic in his hometown in India. There a wax figure of Jesus under glass grows a beard not made of hair but of some fibrous substance. Another miracle yet this very same priest had never heard of the Christian saint's blood in a vile that has remained liquid for centuries. It was almost a shame to tell him about it, or anything else, because he didn't believe it. Did the Church say so? seemed to be his whole position on everything. What kind of kissing up is that, following a religion and never questioning it? The smart kind, the kind that keeps one in good graces with the higher ups, the "let's not upset things and get me in any kind of trouble or scandal"? What is he up to that he would so fear any potentially unflattering attention or appearance of impropriety in believing or admitting to knowing about anything unorthodox?

Let's get out of this place, exquisite grounds without a sense of holiness

The Church knew where I had been and deleted it.

From there we left, driving in the rain to find a better mass, something of a more popular nature. Every Catholic church in the country celebrates it. They are standardized and not allowed to deviate.

We found a giant ash mass at St. Andrew's Catholic Church (Pasadena, California), the one with the clock tower visible from the 134 Freeway, where it splits from the 210. It has some of the most beautiful Roman Italian (and life-like brown skinned mural art) and alabaster white statuary with giant imported marble columns and a big picture of the "God" right up front looking down, with impossibly high ceilings, which may be 100 or more feet up.

St. Andrew's Church campanile

There was a big crowd of penitents, half of them Anglos, half of them Latinos, with a sprinkling of Asians, gathering even as it drizzled and threatened to rain. There was a Spanish service going on in the St. Andrew Catholic School hall with a purple draped cross, the cloth representing the figure usually found on it. The Spanish version seemed more spirited, as accords with Chicano gatherings, full of heart and warmth.

• The priest said an amazing thing we'd never heard before. If it were a trope, they'd all be saying it and wed've heard it a million times. The sign of the cross has two motions. The first spells "I" top to bottom, and the second, which sweeps from side to side, cancels it out. It's self-abnegation for God (a tip of the hat to Buddhism's selflessness).

Sign of the cross in six steps: I and Not I.

It was odd sitting there watching the giant church fill up. Most Catholics only go to church or "mass" three times a year -- Easter, Ash Wednesday, and Xmas. It seems like enough. The words of the priest were odd to hear: words full of guilt, sin, pleading for forgiveness, as if it were a given that everyone had and was going to sin.

Apparently, we are all sinners, and we have to sin, and there's no way not to sin, so be sure to feel guilty about it, and come to church for indulgences to stay on His good side in case you die midweek. Just keep coming, and that'll keep you in His good graces? (Who thoughtlessly accepts such empty promises, or is it that having nothing else, because they were never allowed to investigate anything, there is no choice? Just accept it all or reject it all, and since we can't reject it all, we have no choice but to accept it all?)

The Substance

You are not your body. - What?! But I...

The multilingual priest conducting the mass gave a good sermon when he deviated from the standard text and told a story about watching the Oscars and being surprised to see The Substance getting attention. To hear this Father tell it, he saw the film or at least part of it. In one scene a woman (Demi Moore), fearing she's getting to look too old and is losing the interest of her husband, goes in for a beauty treatment. It will make her look 20 years younger with porcelain skin (think filter but in real life). She does, but it has a side effect of inflammation and looking worse before it gets better. So she takes a walk and dives into a Catholic church to sit in the back and just reflect as she waits for her new face. It happens to be Ash Wednesday, and the preacher is yelling, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," not singing a song by Bowie but quoting the Bible. She's shocked to realize that after all her efforts to beautify her body, it remains ashes and dust (though better preserved looking now and less rotty).

THE SUBSTANCE | official trailer | in theaters & on MUBI now

This religion seems to have been better in the past. Or was it always like this? How is the spell not broken, the stench of hypocrisy of child molesting priests not enough to wake people up that the Vatican runs too tight a ship, here to take in taxes (rebranding them as tithes) for this arm of the Holy Roman Empire?

The rules for Lent

LENTEN REGULATIONS: The Holy Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. This year it falls on March 5th. During Lent, all Catholics engage in various penitential practices. Of those, the most important and obligatory are the regulations on fasting and penitence.

Do it for me, Virgin Mary, Mother of God (Veiled)

Abstinence from meat is to be observed by all Catholics 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent. Abstinence means refraining from eating all meats including beef, poultry, pork, etc. [slaughtered cows, birds, pigs, and so on]. Seafood [dead fish] is permitted.

Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 60. Those who are bound by this may take only one full meal. [That's quite a fast.] Two smaller meals (that do not equal one full meal) are permitted. [Will it be enough, will people starve?]

The special Paschal fast and abstinence are obligatory [mandatory] for Good Friday and encouraged for Holy Saturday. By the threefold discipline of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer the Church keeps Lent from Ash Wednesday until the evening of Holy Thursday.

All the faithful and the catechumens should undertake serious practice of these three traditions. Failure to observe any penitential days at all or a substantial number of such days must be considered serious.

Abortion? What's so special about a tiny egg?

• Taken verbatim from the St. Andrew Church Bulletin, Old Pasadena, March 2, 2025

Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center is excited to announce that it is fully reopening and invites the public to a special homecoming event on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, from 2:00–5:00 PM. No reservations needed. Come get ashes, pray the Stations of the Cross, and take a guided tour of the grounds [cancelled due to rain but moved indoors for a self-guided review of some pictures]. Development Director Melanie Goodyear at MGoodyear@MaterDolorosa.org and (626) 355-7188 x 103.

• Team Recovering Catholics (accompanied by a real diehard old timey Catholic to ask questions), Wisdom Quarterly, March 5, 2025

Oldest living American is 110-y.o. Buddhist

We ain't your father's father, Boy. We're keeping fit, going vegan, sun, exercise, and vitamnis.

What is the secret of Asian longevity? Buddhist attitude and Asia diet habits like rice.

5 Longevity Tips From The Oldest Living Japanese American Person (today.com)

Oldest living Japanese American, 110, shares her longevity tips and the 1 food she eats daily

Great waves, great floods (ogha, asava) are coming. Don't resist. Surf to the further shore.

.

Supercentenarian Yoshiko Miwa, 110

With 110 years of life behind her, Buddhist American YOSHIKO MIWA, who was born in California, isn’t going to wallow in the negative, and she doesn’t want you to either.

The oldest living person of Japanese descent in the United States, according to the Gerontology Research Group, Miwa prefers to focus on the times when she was happiest.

She’s lived through the Spanish flu [an epidemic everyone tried to keep secret except those in Spain], alcohol prohibition, Black Tuesday, World War II, and the losses of her parents, siblings, and friends, and still the supercentenarian’s go-to piece of longevity advice is: Don’t dwell.

• 5 longevity tips from the Oldest living Japanese American person Yoshiko Miwa (today.com)
• Yoshiko Miwa at 109 — What a blessing | (Gardena Valley News, 2023)

California Buddhist roots

Yoshiko Miwa at her 110th birthday celebration at Gardena Buddhist Church (Alan Y. Miwa)

• 

  A Japanese mindful Zen Buddhist attitude is key

  [What's a more positive way of stating this? In Buddhist terms, the expression means "Be mindful." Mindfulness of the present -- with a radical awareness and acceptance of what is -- is the secret to good mental health. Rather than dwelling on the past or projecting into the future, it is possible to be safe right here right now. This is what Byron Katie teaches, it is what Eckhart Tolle has been trying to say in lecture after lecture, and it is what the Buddha taught. American academic turned spiritual guru Ram Dass (aka Harvard's Dr. Richard Alpert) famously said the exact same thing: "Be here now." Be where? Here, in the present moment. When? Now.]

109 years old in 2023 — what a blessing

Miwa is part of the Nisei — the second-generation Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World War II [so she has something to dwell on if she let herself mope and be miserable] — who often say “gaman,” which translates to “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity,” her son, Alan Miwa, tells TODAY.com.

Buddhist Virgin Mary: Kwan Yin

It’s often loosely translated as “perseverance,” “patience,” “tolerance” [or the Buddhist term khanti, which can be translated as either “forbearance” or “forgiveness,” which is key to karuna or “compassion.”]

These feelings, Alan Miwa suspects, are born from the resilience of many from his mother’s generation — who had much to endure. Shikata ga nai (仕方がない) -- a Japanese phrase meaning, “It cannot be helped” or “Nothing can be done about it” -- is a common saying among them, too, he adds.

Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe

Yoshiko Miwa was born Yoshiko Tanaka in the U.S. on Feb. 28, 1914, to Japanese immigrants in Guadalupe, California. She was the fifth of seven children.

When her mother and infant brother died in 1919, her father struggled to care for his family and tend to the farm he owned.

So Yoshiko Miwa and her siblings were sent to live at the children’s home founded by their parish, Guadalupe Buddhist Church (buddhistchurchesofamerica.org).

• 

  Massive Japanese Buddha, Bodh Gaya, India

  Who is Guadalupe? She is the Mexican apparition of the Virgin Mary, a goddess of compassion like Asia's Kwan Yin (Avalokiteshvara, Guanyin, Kwannon), beloved my Mexican Americans in California and throughout the Americas.
• Her Buddhist faith energizes her: Yoshiko Miwa was 4 years old when her father turned to the Japanese Buddhist church for help. “The church then started a children’s home and taught us Buddhism, Japanese language, Japanese culture, and responsibility,” she recalls. “I’ve always been indebted to Reverend and Mrs. Matsuura.” She is grateful to them (leaders of the city of Guadalupe Buddhist Church), who took her in when her mother passed away.
• She loves to eat rice noodles: Yoshiko Miwa’s a fan of all kinds of [rice, yam, potato] noodles, eating them every day. “When I was in the children’s home, the cook used to make noodles, and I used to love them,” she says. “Today, I like...udon, ramen, soba, and any other kind of noodles.”

Buddhist longevity: World's oldest person, Ms. Kane Tanaka, finally passed at 119 (CNN)

.

UC Berkeley is the greatest public univerity

She went on to graduate from Santa Maria High School in 1932, and she studied business at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1936.

She married Henry Miwa in 1939. During the Second World War, the pair and their families were sent to Poston Internment Camp in Arizona before relocating to Hawthorne, Southern California, after the war.

When they, along with many other Japanese people, had difficulty finding work upon their release in 1945, her husband founded a plant nursery business, and in 1963, Yoshiko Miwa got her nursing license.

World's oldest: Maria Branyas, 117 (Californian)

Yoshiko Miwa has three sons, 10 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

These days, Alan Miwa says she’s in good health and lives in a care facility, where she gets her hair done weekly and attends church services on Sundays.

Magic on the Island of California, home of the world's oldest trees: bristlecone pines

.

Seniors today: Wally Funk goes to space w/Bezos

In addition to a positive spirit, keeping your mind and body active is the key to a long life, Yoshiko Miwa has said in the past. Ahead she shares a few other aspects of her life that she believes have led to her longevity.

More: Oldest living Japanese American, 110, shares her longevity tips and the 1 food she eats every day (yahoo.com)

• Aryelle Siclait, Today.com via Yahoo.com, May 7, 2024 at 8:40 am PDT; edited and expanded by CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

Learn and practice hands on healing w/ Reiki

Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly; Huntington Beach Reiki

The world needs healers, and our meditators need all the support they can get.

Why? Learning to relax body and mind to be able to cultivate mindfulness and insight is simple, but it's not easy.

Calling all natural sensitives and those wishing to learn to soothe the pain of suffering beings.

We'll be like the deva Avalokitesvara ("The One Who Hears the Cries of the World") raised to the status of Buddhist Goddess of Compassion: Kwan Yin (Kwannon, Guanyin, the Virg Yin Mother).

• For CARPOOLING from LA area, please contact Seven.

EVENT

There are seven main chakras along the spine

Enjoy an evening of meditation, Reiki (reiju = "attunement"), and healing. Get attuned then get right to sharing healing energy with one another.

This is a great way to meet others and practice developing healing skills. For anyone new to it, come enjoy a night of being healed. Everyone will receive an attunement (to be able to do Reiki) during this session. Everyone welcome.

• Donation: $5-20
• Huntington Beach Reiki
• 2730 S Harbor Blvd Suite H
• Santa Ana, CA
• (Unit H is inside "Harbor Business Park," in Building 2730, on Harbor Blvd. between Warner and Segerstrom)
• Disclosure Project: Learn and practice hands on healing, Wed, April 5, 2023, 7:00 PM | Meetup
• Nature Center: Learn and practice hands on healing, Wed, April 5, 2023, 7:00 PM | Meetup
• PasaDharma: Learn healing with Reiki attunement, Wed, April 5, 2023, 7:00 PM | Meetup

The real meaning of yin and yang (video)

ReligionForBreakfast, Feb. 10, 2023; Pat Macpherson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The real meaning of yin and yang

(ReligionForBreakfast) Let's explore the concept of yin and yang, the ancient Chinese philosophy that highlights the balance of opposing [complementary] forces in the universe.

Delve into the meaning of yin and yang, how they are represented in the famous Taijitu symbol, and their impact on health, relationships, and the natural world.

From the yin yang balance of light and dark, to hot and cold, and masculine and feminine, this is a comprehensive look at one of the most fundamental beliefs in Chinese philosophy -- that made it into Buddhism from Taoism.

Thanks to Wondrium for sponsoring today’s video. Signup for FREE trial. Patreon community: patreon.com/religionforbreakfast... One-time donations: paypal.me... Favorite religious studies books Amazon page: amazon.com/shop/religionfor...

Alan Watts on Taoism: "not forcing" (audio)

Alan Watts: principle of "not forcing" (wu wei)

(Motiv Mate) British Eastern Philosopher/Spiritual Entertainer Alan Watts expounds on the topic of Wu Wei or "the principle of not forcing anything in life."

COMMENT: (Alyria Tutoring) "Words my martial arts master told me I will always live by: 'When you’re feeling you cannot force; when you’re forcing you cannot feel.'”

Who is the "Goddess of Mercy" Kwan Yin?

Buddhanet.net; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Avalokiteshvara as Kwan Yin the Bodhisattva of Compassion (vaniaragageles/flickr.com)

Kwan Yin (nee Avalokiteshvara), the Buddhist Goddess of Compassion (Vinayakh/flickr.com)

.

The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion

Buddhanet.net edited and expanded by Wisdom Quarterly

Kwan Yin overtakes the Buddha in popularity from time to time, like the cult of the Virgin Mary eclipsing Jesus. Wat Huai Pla Kung Temple, Thailand (Apisak Kanjanapusit/flickr.com).

.

Avalokiteshvara, Deva of Compassion (Adrian Evans)

The Sanskrit word Avalokiteshvara means "the lord who looks down upon the world with compassion [to hear the cries of the world]." It originally referred to a deva or god inherited from pre-Buddhist sources.

Translated into Chinese, the name is "Kwan Shih Yin," "Guanyin Goddess of Mercy," or "Quan Yin," which breaks down to these three elements:

• Kwan: observe.
• Shih: the world/realm of sufferers.
• Yin: all the sounds of the world, in particular, the crying sounds of beings, verbal or mental, seeking help and succor.

The Goddess (devi) Kwan Yin Bodhisattva (a being who vows then strives to attain supreme enlightenment to help all other beings) is the evolution of the deva Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of great compassion. She has vowed to free all sentient beings from suffering.

The 31 (not 6) Planes of Existence in 3 spheres

Kwan Yin/Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva has great powers to help all sentient beings. With limitless skillful means (upaya) this goddess/deva can appear in any form on all six planes of the Sensual Sphere (Kama Loka) of existence to relieve the suffering of the sentient beings living here.

This sphere includes the lower sensual "heavens" (kama-deva-lokas) in space, the human world (manusya loka) on this and other planets, and the subhuman worlds of the Downward Path such as that of animals (tiracchana), avians (garudas), ogres (yakkhas) and titans (asuras) sometimes regarded as "demons," reptilians/dragons (nagas), woodland-fairies (bhumi-devas), ghosts (petas), gnomes (kumbandhas), and hellions (narakas) in various miserable hells/purgatories. (See Buddhist cosmology).

Former Pope John Paul II greets Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India as they meet in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Corporation. She will be made a "saint" on Sept. 4, 2016. Current Pope Francis set the canonization date on March 15, 2016, paving the way for the nun who cared for the poorest of the poor in India to become the centerpiece of his yearlong focus on the Catholic Church's "merciful" PR image (L'Osservatore Romano/file/pool photo via AP).

 

Good Mother Mary, Divine Feminine (ZF)

Avalokiteshvara once vowed to rescue all who call on him when they are suffering as, for example, when caught in fire, shipwrecked, or facing attack. Kwan Yin does the same and in Mahayana Buddhism holds a place akin to the Virgin Mary, a merciful mother-figure, Goddess of Compassion.

• Mahayana Buddhism is a kind of "universalism" or catholicism in Asia. It takes much from popular-Hinduism because early Chinese Buddhists who wished to find out more about the Buddhism that arrived in China sent missionaries to India, which by then had been retaken over by Brahmanism and the old Vedic religion that preceded the Buddha. This is in spite of the fact that the Buddha rejected or corrected many Vedic beliefs and doctrines that later became the basis of Hinduism, which only came into existence much later when Sri Sankhara created it by systematizing disparate views and schools influenced by the Vedas and Buddhism. But Sri Sankhara ejected Buddhism as a foreign influence, who was not from India or South Asia but from the frontier dividing East and West, Scythia (Afghanistan) in Central Asia. Hindus then placed the Buddha in the Indian Pantheon ignoring more of what he taught.

Kwan Yin is much more comely and pleasing than beautiful Avalokiteshvara.

.

The deva Avalokiteśvara (wiki)

In the apocryphal Mahayana "Lotus Sutra," the historical Shakyamuni Buddha is said to say that if a suffering being hears the name of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva and earnestly calls out to the bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara will hear the call and relieve that being's suffering.

 

[This is not at all likely the kind of thing the historical Buddha would have ever said, but it is a message that uses the Buddha to support a popular universalist message rather than the one he actually taught.]
 

According to the "Huayen Sutra," Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva transforms himself into a she or various forms to suit the nature of those to be helped. His manifestations or transformation bodies are limitless.
 

For example, if a boy or girl is about to gain some measure of enlightenment, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva transforms into a boy or girl to teach the child. This ability to shapeshift, that is, adopt a desired appearance, is a common ability of devas and humans who have developed the psychic powers (abhinnas).
 

Bigger than life devotion: Devi Kwan Yin/Guanyin/Avalokiteshvara/Virg Yin Mary, Mother Goddess, Bodhisattva ("Buddha-to-be") of Compassion (billcoo/flickr.com)

.

Goddesses: Taras, Dharanis, Devis

 For example, if a monastic is about to attain some measure of enlightenment, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva transforms into a monk or nun to help.
 

In short, Kwan Yin/Avalokiteshvara can appear as a child, boy, girl, monastic, monk, nun, or ordinary person like you or me. The purpose of such transformations is to establish rapport and put people at ease to make them feel secure and willing to listen.
 

Whereas Japan sees him as male, in China, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is represented as female, a beautiful form known as Kwan Yin or Guanyin.

Likely because of Kwan Yin's great compassion, a quality which is traditionally labelled feminine, most of the bodhisattva's statues in China since the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) have appeared as female figures. In India and elsewhere, however, the bodhisattva is generally represented as a male figure.

In her hands, Kwan Yin may hold a willow branch, a vase with water or, occasionally, a lotus flower.

Om mani padme hum (Tashi Mannox/tibetanlife)

The willow branch is used to heal people's illnesses, allay their pain (willow as analgesic and main ingredient of natural aspirin), or bring fulfillment to their requests.

The water -- the dew of compassion -- has the quality of removing suffering, purifying the defilements from our hearts, mind, and bodies, our speech and thoughts, and lengthening life.

Kwan Yin, Theravada Buddhist Thailand, Wat Plai Laem, Ko Samui (sandrobisaro.com)

.

Hindu deity or Kwan Yin?

In Buddhist art, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is sometimes shown with 11 heads, 1000 hands with eyes on the palms of each hand (as is common in Hindu art for the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara).
 
The 1,000 eyes allow the deva/bodhisattva to see the suffering of sentient beings, and the 1000 hands that allow her to reach out to help them.

Sacred Mt. Putuo, China

Sometimes represented with one head and four arms, the Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara is worshiped by Tibetans as Chenrezig, the "Holder of the White Lotus."
 
The male form holds two hands in the anjali mudra, or praying gesture, while the other two hands hold two symbols, the crystal rosary and the lotus flower (which symbolizes wisdom and insight).
 

There is a sacred place for the honoring of Kwan Yin in China: Mount Putuo. It is actually an island located near the city of Ningpo, in Zhejiang Province. There are many stories of Kwan Yin's miraculous appearances on Mt. Putuo.

The real Goddess of Mercy

Me, too? Could I be Kwan Yin?

Anyone can be like Kwan Yin -- a living being spreading compassion, mercy, and succor.
 
We may say that we lack 1,000 eyes or arms or skillful means. But it is our compassion (karuna) that can transforms us into an Avalokita, Avalokiteshvara, or Kwan Yin.

With our very own eyes and hands, which are much more precious than we usually imagine, we can help others. With our compassion, we have the power to bring peace and tranquility to this and other worlds. More

• AUDIO: Giants (biblical nephilim) in Afghanistan (Steve Quayle of Genesis6Giants.com on Coast to Coast)