Kuan Yin’s association with the Virgin Mary may be attributed to some images of Her holding a child in Her role of patron of mothers. Possibly the distinctiveness of Kuan Yin as ‘goddess’ emerged from Jesuits seeing a similarity to the Madonna and providing the name ‘Goddess of Mercy’.
When Christianity was banned in Japan during the Edo period Mary and Jesus could be worshipped secretly by disguising them as Kannon with a child, such statues being known as Maria Kannon. With Spain’s colonization of the Philippines in the 16th century engravings of Mary were influenced by Asian art.
It is appropriate to invoke Kuan Yin wherever Mary might be worshipped, as aspects of the same sphere of activity, the same ultimate intention.
The symbol known as the Tree of Life in the Hebrew mystical tradition, the Qabalah, has acted as a bridge in transporting spiritual learning from East to West. It diagrammatically outlines Sephiroth or phases of evolution, spheres of experience. The third Sephira on the Tree, Binah, is titled Understanding, and represents the female pole and potency in the universe. It is therefore known as the Great Mother or Marah, the Great Sea, the root of Mary. The Virgin Mary is known as Stella Maris, Star of the Sea. Marah also translates as ‘bitter’, and the experience attributed to Binah is the Vision of Sorrow. This is because it represents the provision of Form to Force; Form however limits and binds life, and is naturally subject to death. And thus is there sorrow involved in manifestation.
But we must remind ourselves of Binah’s title, Understanding, and also that it is called the Sanctifying Intelligence, hence the provider of faith. Understanding is importantly distinct from Wisdom. It implies a perception into the depth of things not conveyed by mere accumulated knowledge. The ‘false’ sphere of Daath that is below Binah, the Abyss of what we have intellectually compiled, our Knowing Identity, has to be transcended if we are to reach Binah. And that is another reason for the vision of Sorrow, as we let go all we believe we are, willingly or not. Kuan Yin translates to the West naturally because she is a Marian representation. Incidentally, in the guise of Miaoshan she demonstrates a Christ-like redemptive quality, taking on the karma of her executioner and absolving him of guilt. She is a Sea Deity, for her manifestation upon Earth was on the mountain island of Mt. Putuo. She is a protector of children, a Divine Mother figure and she is called upon when in need, when sorrow must be faced.
In the Tarot we find that the Threes of the Minor Arcana are attributed to Binah, as Third Sephirah. To observe the Thoth deck attributions:
The 3 of Disks is titled Works, and portrays the ‘Triangle of Art’ used for evoking to physical appearance. 3 of Cups is Abundance, the signification of fullness of feeling. The 3 of Wands, Virtue, is equivalent to that particularly Taoist quality, ‘Te’. Finally, the 3 of Swords is Sorrow, this last card especially portraying that difficult element in human experience of incisive loss and separation leading to new light. Kuan Yin’s container full of tears. As to significators that can represent Kuan Yin in the Major Arcana:The third Major card is The Empress, supreme nurturing Mother figure both giving and receiving love. There are two further Major Arcana that can be employed as tokens of invocation, again in the Thoth deck these are Art, representative of alchemy, the Chemical Marriage or Mercurial Fountain, Mercury being the medium that integrates opposites, and Adjustment, which stands for Measured Compassion.
Which brings us to the next section.