Strange Change

"...Mahayana Buddhism has something in common with the Hindu path of bhakti yoga or even with the Christian idea of salvation through faith. At the risk of putting a Hindu spin on Buddhist doctrine, I’ll say that one way to understand their relationship is to think of the bodhisattva as the sakti, the manifest power, of the Buddha...Immediately upon materializing, this celestial being intoned the mantra Om mani padme hum, and it is by this same mantra that any soul in distress can call upon him for help and be assured of rescue.

Because in Indian tradition name and form go hand in hand, Avalokitesvara has his own iconography...But in China, around the tenth century, something strange happened... Avalokitesvara changed his sex. In China, the male bodhisattva of compassion became a woman, known as Guanyin. The name means “hearer of cries.” From China by way of Korea, Guanyin traveled to Japan and became known there as Kannon...

He (Blofield) proposes that the White Tara, the Tibetan deity of salvation, is the missing link. In Tibet Avalokitesvara retained his male identity, although he was renamed Chenrezi, and Tara sprang from his tears as the embodiment of compassion. In Tibet, and farther north in Mongolia, where she is also widely venerated, Tara has two functions. She rescues from present woes those who call upon her, and more profoundly she helps us to rid ourselves of the delusions that bind us to samsara. Thus, the bodhisattva of compassion is at work on two levels—as a savior in popular religion and as a guiding principle and power in a deeper, more psychologically penetrating spiritual practice...

Compassion itself is transformational, and the transformation takes place at both the giving and the receiving ends. On the receiving end, for those in need, compassion reduces the sense of isolation or alienation. A single act of kindness can help to open a heart long closed by bitterness, resentment, or despair. Maybe it brings only a brief moment of relief, but sometimes it can mean the first step to a new life. On the giving end, when all our attention is focused on the needs of others, where is the ego? Momentarily forgotten! Practiced with diligence, selfless action continues to erode that troublesome wall of separation that has for so long kept us captive in the smallness and imperfection of “I, me, and mine..."

- Devadatta Kali Jaya (David Nelson), Vedanta Society

"...Recall a memory that evokes the experience of care and compassion.

Then, picture someone dear to you and breathe this person’s distress and suffering into your heart.

Then, as you exhale, breathe out the essence of freedom from suffering, and direct it towards this person.

Continue to breathe. Each time you breathe in, take in the suffering and distress of more and more people. Each time you breathe out, breathe out the essence of release and freedom from suffering and direct it towards this larger group of people.

After several breaths, expand your view to include all beings. Take in their suffering and distress.

Breathe out the essence of release and freedom from suffering, and direct it out towards all beings.

Then focus on one being among all beings: you. Take in your own suffering and distress, and breathe out the essence of freedom of suffering, directing it towards yourself. From this free perspective you naturally embrace and affirm your vitality and humanity.

As the final step in the practice of Compassionate Exchange, notice that you and all the people you have pictured and all the suffering and freedom from suffering are arising in the awareness that is witnessing all of this, and this is who you truly are.

Notice that this Witness is present not just in you but also in all others. Their Witness is exactly the same as the Witness you are. There is only One Witness. Rest in that natural, open, effortless expanse of Awareness."
- Compassion Exchange, Integral Life