An interview with Loni Lorraine Baur Formerly Bhikshuni Heng Yin

Indian Buddhism went from India to China during the Han Dynasty in the first century AD, but it wasn't until the T'ang dynasty that it actually blossomed there. In China, different practices formed. Not all were focused on meditative discipline and study. Mahayana Buddhism, known as "The Great Vehicle," is for everyone; it has five schools or approaches to enlightenment or salvation. There is a meditation school called Ch'an (Zen), the Precepts or Vinaya school of moral conduct, the Teaching School that studies the Sutras, the Secret School that teaches mantras and rituals, and the Pure Land School that focuses on the devotional recitation of the name of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas.  
  
9The Pure Land School is heart-focused and includes recitation of the name of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, Namo Kuan Shih Yin Pu Sa. Namo is a Sanskrit word that means to return (or give) one's life. Kuan Yin in India is called Avalokitesvara, a Sanskrit word which means to gaze or regard something. When its meaning was translated into Chinese it became Kuan Shih Yin-Kuan meaning to regard, Shih meaning the world, and Yin meaning the sounds. Pu Sa is Chinese for Bodhisattva. This mantra means, "to take refuge in the Bodhisattva who listens to the sounds of the world".  
  
In Sanskrit, Bodhi means enlightenment and Sattva is being, so a Bodhisattva is a being who, before taking final enlightenment and reaching Buddahood, turns back and looks at the world. He then makes a vow not to take that final step until he has rescued all sentient beings. Someone might ask, "If you could go to Buddhahood-just walk through the door and achieve absolute perfection, why would you turn back to help all beings?" When Kuan Yin looked back and saw them suffering, she understood she wasn't any different than they were. They were of the same substance. As long as there was a single living creature that wasn't enlightened, it was the same as if she weren't. When you're helping other people, you're also helping yourself.  
 
My teacher, Hsuan Hua, lectured on The Dharani Sutra, which contains The Great Compassion Mantra of Kuan Yin. He comments, "When living beings are in difficulty and distress, they think of their compassionate father; they think of their compassionate mother. Who is their compassionate father? The Bodhisattva Who Regards the World's Sounds. Who is their compassionate mother? The Bodhisattva Who Regards the World's Sounds."  

 
Kuan Yin has transcended duality, but can be referred to as "he" or "she" according to the context and qualities being described. Amitabha Buddha is usually pictured with two Bodhisattvas who are personified as women. One is Great Strength Bodhisattva (Ta Shih Chih) who represents wisdom, knowledge and strength, and the other is Kuan Yin Bodhisattva who represents kindness, compassion and forgiveness. They are complementary.  

Kuan Yin is represented in the iconography as having forty-two hands; as part of the teaching of the Secret School, each hand has a special power for protection. The following prayer metaphorically describes what happens when you recite Kuan Yin's name and the Great Compassion Mantra, her personal mantra:  
   

When I face the  mountain of knives,  the mountain of knives of itself breaks up. When I face the  boiling oil,  the boiling oil  of itself dries up. When I face the hells,  the hells of themselves disappear. When I face the  hungry ghosts,  the hungry ghosts of themselves are full. When I face the asuras,  their evil thoughts of themselves are tamed.  When I face the animals, they themselves attain great wisdom.   
 

 
One day at Land's End in San Francisco, I climbed down to a big rock with another nun to enjoy the ocean. Three or four pelicans came down and were swirling around us. Do you know how big pelicans are? They are huge. I looked up in the eyes of one of them, and saw that I was lunch. It was the weirdest, scariest feeling. I felt like a sandwich sitting on the rock.  

I had been initiated into the forty-two hands-a secret teaching of mudras (sacred hand gestures) and mantras (sacred words of power). I used the Shield Hand and Eye "for warding off tigers, wolves and wildcats, and all evil beasts." Part of the verse says, "When the shield is held up high, all of them take flight; and though walking a dangerous road, one remains at ease." I made the mudra, said each of the two parts of this mantra five times-and the pelicans immediately flew off.  

Kuan Yin is also characterized as having one thousand hands and one thousand eyes. Each hand has an eye. With her eyes she sees the countless living beings, and with her hands she reaches out to help them:  

A thousand eyes observe;  
A thousand ears hear all;  
A thousand hands help and support  
Living beings everywhere.  

Kuan Yin Bodhisattva is very interesting. According to a chapter called the Universal Door in the Lotus Sutra, if you recite her name she can save you from difficulties by transforming herself into any kind of creature. The literature is full of stories of her appearances-as a high official of government, a washer-woman, or a tart. When you're cultivating the Buddha Dharma and going about your daily business, you have to be really careful. You never know whom you're dealing with. Even if it is someone you don't like, that person might be here to teach you a lesson for your spiritual growth--and it could be Kuan Yin Bodhisattva.  

Conceivably, you can find Kuan Yin anywhere. Anytime in your life, when you find yourself in an extremely precarious position and something good happens or someone helps you out, it might have been the hand of Kuan Yin. When I was with the Master, the absolute fallback position when anybody had any serious problem was to recite Kuan Yin's name. If you're frightened, you'll calm down. If you're sick, you can be healed.  

  
After the early period of the sacred feminine-when the men took over and the gods became male-there was a strict "left-brain, follow the rules" attitude. There are rules to maintain in Buddhism. Unless you follow these minimal rules, you aren't able to follow a spiritual path. We need to avoid the ten evils which are classified according to deed, thought and word as follows: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct; greed, hatred, stupidity; irresponsible speech, false speech, abusive speech, and duplicitous speech. Eventually, the more comfortable you are with those rules, the smoother your relationships with people will be, and the more you can focus on your cultivation. The more cultivation you do, the clearer you become, and the easier it is to follow the rules.  

Yet rules are not enough. The other side is compassion and love-a softer, more feminine energy. Almost all the religions have a female deity hiding in the shadows. When you do something really bad, you go to your mom. In Catholicism, you petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God . . ." and hope she can catch God when he's in a good mood. Similarly, people may not have very personal relationships with the Buddha, but they do with the female Bodhisattva Kuan Yin.  

Christianity and Buddhism share the idea that it is important not only to love God but to love others as you love yourself. It's not an order; it's an understanding that by loving others as you love yourself, you realize you are not separate. This is different from getting what you want at the expense of other people.  

Our culture rewards people for isolating themselves from each other: "Hey, I work hard, I got my stuff, I'm okay. If you don't have the stuff, I'm not responsible." In the long-term, this is self-defeating. In a recent speech Mario Cuomo pointed out that when poor people are in need, we say we're not going to throw money at them because it's their fault. We punish them, and take away their welfare. But we help rich people by giving them money in the form of incentives and tax breaks.  

  
A person's actual growth and maturing is due to spiritual cultivation. As your wisdom gets deeper, you begin to realize that the things around you have no real substance and are empty. In Buddhism we say all dharmas are empty in their essential nature.They are not pure or impure, they don't increase or decrease. Nothing is created; nothing is destroyed.  

The Pure Land School describes nirvana as the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Because we're stuck here in our limited point of view, we can't really think beyond happiness or sadness to ultimate liberation. Nirvana or pure enlightenment is the point reached by a being who transcends self and ego. Every sentient being has the potential to realize enlightenment, just as a flower seed has the potential to grow into a flower.