Remember Bruce Almighty? It's a great early-2000s comedy where Jim Carrey plays Bruce, an average guy who gets to do God's job for a while and gets all the power he needs to do it. At first Bruce is thrilled about his omnipotence, but with great power comes great responsibility....soon he starts hearing the prayers of everyone in the world, and spends the rest of the movie trying - and failing- to fill God's shoes.
Kanzeon (more commonly Kannon), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is the most-represented Buddha on the Henro, enshrined as the main deity at 29 of the pilgrimage's 88 main temples (over a third!). The Bodhisattva's name as rendered into Sino-Japanese means "The Perceiver of the World's Sounds," referring to the way the Bodhisattva lends a compassionate ear to us suffering in samsara. Whenever I hear this, I think of Bruce being bombarded with all the world's cries.
For much of Japan's history, Kannon has been the go-to deity for people in trouble because of his/her/their (more on pronouns later) reputation as the quintessential "good listener." As I talked about in a previous post, the Kannon-kyō, much-beloved and often recited, details a slew of sticky situations from which the deity will save someone if they only "Recall Kannon's Power," including:
Drowning
Being cursed or poisoned
Being thrown into a pit of fire
Having your head on a chopping block
And more
With such big promises written on the tin, so to speak, it's no wonder faith in Kannon had the quick spread and staying power it has in Japan. Aside from his presence on the Henro, Kannon is the subject of a nationwide 100-temple pilgrimage (split into the Saigoku, Bando, and Chichibu routes) which likely predates the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
But what is Kannon's power? Obviously it's more than just the power to hear the world's sounds, or else Bruce would have a pilgrimage in Japan, too.
I mentioned that Kannon is enshrined in a third of the Shikoku Pilgrimage sites, but this isn't the full story; in fact the "standard" form of Kannon (Shō-Kanzeon Bosatsu), is enshrined in only 4 of the 88. The rest are dedicated to Kannon's multiplicity of forms, which she changes at will in order to adapt herself to the needs of beings suffering in the world.
One of these forms, "Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyed Kannon" (Senju-Sengen Kanzeon Bosatsu) gives us a perfect illustration of what makes Kannon worthy of our veneration. Her arms form a nimbus around her body, and in the palm of each hand sits an open, unblinking eye. In other words, Kannon's ability to perceive is exactly the same as their ability to act; noticing suffering, understanding suffering, and alleviating suffering all happen as one seamless act, with nothing obstructing it.
One koan from the Zen tradition puts it like this: "Kannon is like someone who reaches behind him in the night, groping for his pillow." Kannon is free of the obstructions that cause most of us to think of self and other as separate; compassionate, for her, is as obvious as adjusting a pillow when you've got a crick in your neck. In his Secret Key to the Heart Sutra, Kūkai calls Kannon's mind one which "returns to unity," overcoming distinctions between subject and object.
The lotus held by the most human-looking of Kannon's forms represents this common element that permeates the universe, called Buddha Nature; though it grows in the muck of ignorance, it remains unstained by it. This standard form, called Shō-Kanzeon is the form the bodhisattva takes to save beings in Hell, reminding us that even beings who have hit rock bottom still possess this precious capacity to attain awakening and act on behalf of others.
So the real difference between Bruce and the Bodhisattva is that Bruce sees himself as a dude separate from a world that bombards him with requests, while Kannon is free from this inhibiting ignorance that separates self from other. This gap may seem unbridgeable, but Kūkai taught that esoteric Buddhism provides a route to Buddhahood attainable in this very lifetime. This is because its practice is based on the "Three Powers," (Sanriki), expressed in a prayer often recited often in Shingon rituals:
By the power of my own merits, by the grace of the Buddhas, and by the power of the entire universe, I make this offering.
My teacher often expresses this as, "When you act on behalf of others, all the Buddhas act with you." The many forms of Kannon, and all the Buddhas, are the power of wisdom inherent in the universe and in our own minds, reaching out to us and through us to save all beings.
Shingon Buddhism often talks about six forms of Kannon, each adapted to suit beings in a different form of suffering. (Of these, the Henro temples enshrine 4 as their main images; you'll see the others around if you look):
Shō Kanzeon Bosatsu (聖観世音菩薩: Holy Kanzeon Bodhisattva), responsible for beings in Hell, beings stuck in the most unpleasant possible state of existence
Senju Kanzeon Bosatsu (千手観世音菩薩: Kanzeon Bodhisattva with a Thousand Hands), responsible for Hungry Ghosts, beings who wander the world in a constant state of craving
Batō Kanzeon Bosatsu (馬頭観世音菩薩 Kanzeon Bodhisattva with a Horse's Head), a fearsome form of Kannon responsible for animals
Jūichimen Kanzeon Bosatsu (十一面観世音菩薩 Kanzeon Bodhisattva with Eleven Faces), responsible for Asuras, destructive demonic spirits
Juntei Kanzeon Bosatsu (准胝観世音菩薩, Kanzeon Bodhisattva the Pure), an 18-armed female form responsible for human beings. This form is, ironically, somewhat rare compared to the other 5.
Nyoi-rin Kanzeon Bosatsu (如意輪観世音菩薩: Kanzeon with a Wish-fulfilling Gem and Wheel), responsible for deities. This form of Kannon rests their head on one of her arms.
While Avalokitesvara, the Indian origin of Kannon, was universally portrayed as male, as the bodhisattva traveled East to China and Japan he began to be portrayed in both male and female forms. Most Japanese portrayals of Kannon are decidedly non-binary, representing Kannon's capacity to take any form necessary to save sentient beings. In China, Kannon (Ch. Guan-yin) is more often portrayed as female than male.
Kannon is traditionally held to live in a mountaintop Pure Land in the southern direction called Potalaka (Japanese Fudaraku), which is surrounded by the ocean. In Shikoku and Japan in general, this means mountains with a view of the ocean are particularly associated with Potalaka. Mt. Tairyū, for example, a practice site of Kūkai and home to Temple 21, was also known as Mt. Fudaraku in the past. A grim medieval practice on Shikoku's southern coast involved religious zealots locking themselves in boats and being shoved off for a final journey south, which they believed would guarantee their rebirth in Kannon's Pure Land.
While several Goeika pilgrim songs refer to this practice and faithful pining for Potalaka, my favorite of the temple songs that refer to Kannon is Temple 80's (where Senju Kannon is the main deity):
Land split by mountains
I scramble along cliffside roads
Temple to temple
A thousand hands reaching out
To those who make the journey
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