Kim, Kali, Kwan-yin, Kumari, Mary K (video)

Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Sonia Narang ("The World," PRI.org, 6-18-14); KFIam640.com; Christian Today; New York Daily News

The new Madonna and Child, Kim Kardashian and North West, June '14 (hiphollywood.com)

Holy cow! Kim Yin Kardashian is now a goddess deified by American artist Hannah Kunkle

Kim, Kwan Yin, the Virg Yin as manifestations of the Goddess (Hannah Kunkle/Splash/KFI)

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Kim as black as Kali, bad tan (guyism.com)

US artist Hannah Kunkle's digital paintings feature reality TV star Kim Kardashian (Mrs. Kanye West) as various religious icons.

They were featured in an exhibition entitled "The Passion of Kim Kardashian" that opened in Brooklyn. Kunkle, 23, admits she is "strangely fascinated" by Kardashian.

Kanye and Kim, the FUTURE couple

"It's art. It's supposed to be wild and, not offensive, but prying," she told a US newspaper after various religious leaders slammed her work.
 

Father Michael Perry of Our Lady of Refuge Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn told the New York Daily News the show was "dumb and stupid." Kardashian is also portrayed as the Hindu goddess Kali, Jesus the Christ, Catholic nuns, Joan of Arc, and a Satanic priestess [like Mary Kay but selling Khroma]. More

We've just about had it with Kardashian-West, just about, but the West needs goddesses, too

Kim Kardashian Satanic high priestess with her own altar (animalnewyork.com)

Satanic priestess: Kim drops in on Kanye at Bonnaroo 2014 in seductive top (Daily Mail)

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I'm still a young hybrid (M-C)

The artist explains why she did it: "I think she is almost a patron saint of pop culture," Kunkle told the Daily News.

"She's everywhere." And in an April 2014 interview, she went beyond statements of admiration: "Kim Kardashian is God," she told VICE.

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The Living Goddesses of Nepal

Sonia Narang (The World, PRI, 6-18-14); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Along a busy thoroughfare near Kathmandu, Nepal, a passageway leads into a large, open-air courtyard. In the back corner, there’s a modest home with a red sign outside that simply reads, “Living Goddess.”

 

Kumari blessing at festival (Sonia Narang)

A narrow wooden staircase leads up to the second floor, where the goddess spends much of her childhood. She’s called a Kumari (Ku Mary), and she’s [adored] by Nepali Hindus and Buddhists, who believe she's the [embodiment] of the Hindu goddess Durga [with the power to kills one's demons].
 
In Nepal, this centuries-old tradition of choosing a young girl as a goddess continues to this day. Now, people from around the world flock here to get a glimpse of her.


 

Are there Himalayan pools in Nepal?

I got to know the mother of this Kumari after several visits to her house.
 
Her name is Shobha Bhajracharya. She has a full, round face with a sweet smile.
 
I ask her how she felt when her daughter Samita was chosen to be a Kumari a few years ago. She laughs shyly.
 

Kumari is so cool! Choose me! I can morph.

“I felt both happy and sad,” she says.

“On one hand, I felt happy because when your daughter becomes god, having a god in the home is a delightful thing.

But [on the other hand] I also got scared because I wasn’t sure if we would be able to follow all the rules.” More

Who is the Buddhist Goddess Kwan Yin?
ReligionFacts.com; edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Goddess Kwan Yin buddha-to-be with a  thousand arms (chinatourguide.com)

 
Kwan Yin (also Kuan and Guan Yin) is the bodhisattva of compassion. [A bodhisattva is a person who has vowed to develop the perfections to become a buddha].

I wear white! Goddess power!

She venerated by East Asian Buddhists [particularly in the very Hindu-influenced Mahayana school, having morphed from the Hindu god Avalokitesvara].

Commonly known as the "Goddess of Mercy," Kwan Yin is also revered by Chinese Taoists as an Immortal. The name Kwan Yin is short for Kuan Shih Yin (Guan Shi Yin), which means "Observing the Sounds of the World [One Who Hears the Cries of the World]."

Braless in Paris, France (M-C)

In Japanese, she is called Kannon, or more formally Kanzeon; the spelling Kwannon, resulting from an obsolete system of romanization, is sometimes also seen. In Korea, she is called Kwan-um or Kwan-se-um. In Vietnamese, she is called Quan Âm or Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát [Kwan Yin Bodhisattva].

Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. However, folk traditions in China and other East Asian countries have added many distinctive characteristics and legends [to the original Brahminical/Hindu legend]. Most notably, while Avalokitesvara can be depicted as either male or female, Kuan Yin is usually depicted as a young woman, whereas Avalokitesvara in other countries is usually depicted as a man.

My make up is optional! No, Kim!

Along with Buddhism, Kwan Yin's veneration was introduced into China as early as the 1st century CE, and reached Japan by way of Korea soon after Buddhism was first introduced into the country from the mid-7th century.
 
Representations of the bodhisattva in China prior to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) were masculine in appearance. Images which later displayed attributes of both genders are believed to be in accordance with the Lotus Sutra, where Avalokitesvara has the supernatural power of assuming any form required to relieve suffering and also has the power to grant children.
 

I don't git it! - I'm "Kim Yin" now. (PH)

Because this bodhisattva is considered the personification of compassion and kindness [more like Princess Diana of Wales or the original Goddess DIANA, who now appears in the form of the Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence], a mother-goddess and patron of mothers and seamen, the representation in China was further interpreted in an all female form around the 12th century. In the modern period, Kuan Yin is most often represented as a beautiful, white-robed woman... More

 

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

But I want to be the All-American Goddess! Notice me! I'm Lindsay "The Luóhàn" Lohan!

  
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