[Buddha-l] Is Guanyin Catholic?

[Vicente Gonzalez]

Piya Tan wrote:

PT> Is Arnold saying that Guanyin is a copy of Virgin Mary, or is it the
PT> other way around, or perhaps they arose independently?
PT> Some local Guanyin Buddhists are somewhat confounded when they read
PT> this article.
PT> Any expert or helpful comments on this?

I'm far to be an expert but I think it doesn't sounds well.
I have received this week the book "The Myth of the Goddess: the
evolution of an image", Anne Baring & Jules Cashford.
It is a book quite recommendable about this subject of goddesses in
Religion. It explain the evolution of the female idea in goddess
images across the History. From the Paleolithic until Virgin Mary.
Unfortunately, there is not mention of the evolution of this idea
in China, Japan and rest of East Asia. Therefore, Prajnaparamita,
Tara, Guanyin, taoist goddesses and many more, they are not inside
the scope of this book. However, authors have a psychoanalyst
background so it is quite useful to know the common trends remaining
in the goddesses cult in any Religion. Similarities of GuanYin and
Virgin Mary are quite evident. According the line of this book, both
would be expressions to reflect a common religious feeling. And I
think it sounds quite well.

In another thread I wrote about some Conze notes in this topic, where
he mentions the connection of Mithraism in the apparition of gnostic
Sophia and the Buddhist Prajnaparamita. Buddhism was very present in
Iran before and in the arising of Mahayana, so it is a very
interesting subject. Although it seems there is not scholar work 
around that. Or at least I cannot find it.

I think that one cannot be in the a trap to think that one goddess
it's the copy of the other. Instead that, I support the line that
there is a common religious trend in the human being to project the
same qualities or "messages" in these female figures across the
History of Religions. In this way, those similarities arising from the
Paleolithic times becomes a natural pattern of adoptions without
implying an unique truth travelling among different religions.
In fact we know the first Buddha images were similar to Apollo (if I'm
remember well) and obviously the religious goals are specific and
different. 
So a first common feeling of love-care-wisdom becomes more explicit
for people when seeing a goddess-woman with a maternal appearance. Or
even with her child. From here, there is not need of an special
popular effort to convert Avalokiteshvara in a woman.

An interesting point of view about the relation of this cult with the
women situation: this female cult maybe doesn't imply a better
consideration of women in the History but the contrary one.
I was sawing a related stuff about the image inheritance of Egyptian
goddess Isis in catholic Virgin Mary, and here another psychoanalyst
explain a different thing. This female idea of divinity was "adored"
by men across History, although at the same time, women had suffered
inequality. In this way, he explained how today we are in a point in
where women want to be in the world to share it with men and to leave
those "highnesses". So new problems appears, and if we can expect
people missing the past role of women, then maybe also people will ask
again about the importance of the goddess. I think it is a very
interesting point of view. Because in this way, the appearance of the
devotion for goddesses in the History also it would be associated with
an unconscious attempt to subdue the appearance of a threading role of
women inside Religion.
So it would be the opposite way of considering this devotion to
goddesses as a symptom of an improvement in that role.

Well, I don't know.
It happens after some psychoanalyst visits, I think.


best regards,