are angry or are in despair, comforting those who are sorrow-
ful, and bringing forth feelings of love, devotion and content-
ment to her faithful. How does one become her faithful? Not
by blind faith or through worship which is tinged with selfish
intentions but through the practice of such virtues as kindliness,
gentleness, love, mercy, compassion, charity, morality, patience,
perseverance, contemplation or acts that will bring benefits to
others, one becomes a true disciple of Kuan Shih Yin. Another
feature that should be noted is the eyes which are always depict-
ed as ‘half-opened and half-closed’ which indicates a perfect
harmony of outer and inner life as half of the vision is concern-
ing the outer world, while the other half is directed internally
for proper self-reflection. us it can be said that Kuan Yin is
ever mindful of the external world and all our internal thoughts
and inclinations.As mentioned earlier, Kuan Yin forms are many, in fact they
are said to be countless, and each of these forms has its own
significant and symbolic meaning. ose who are new to
Mahayana Buddhism should not be startled by the various forms
of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, especially by the number of
arms that they are often depicted with. One of Kuan Yin’s
most famous and compassionate forms is that of the ‘thousand-
arm-thousand eyes’ which is known in Chinese as ‘Chien-shou-
chien-yen Kuan Shih Yin P’usa. In this form, Kuan Yin has
eleven heads and a thousand hands, with extra eyes on the
palms of each hand. Legend has it that he was contemplating
the task of working for the safety and happiness of all sentient
beings when his head split into a thousand pieces upon realising