Guan Yin - Goddess of Mercy - 观 丗音
Patriach's Dream
The patriach related his dream to us when he was still around in the mortal world. One night he dreamed of a lady dressed in white. Initially he thought that it was the Virgin Mary who appeared in his dream because the back was facing him. Later he realized that she was carrying a whip like structure with strand of strings. As the patriach was working in a timber company he was adept in carpentry work. He was requested by the lady in white to help make a bench for worshippers in a temple housing the goddess. The temple was located along Upper Dickson Road in one of the pre-war houses. The bench was to help worshippers to put joss-stick on an urn hung from the ceiling. The patriach fullfilled the bidding and his life according to him was better of than before.

Tragic End
Believe or not? This episode is real. The caretaker cum medium of the Southern Sea Goddess of Mercy temple in Upper Dickson Road was a distance relative of the patriach. I surmised the relationship was one of migrants coming from the same village in China. The lady caretaker adopted a daughter with the hope that the Goddess would guide and lead her to be the medium of the temple and eventually to take care of the temple. After the passing of the caretaker cum medium the adopted daughter took over the care of the temple without any sign of being bestowed as a medium. The temple was now without any medium who would go into a trance as the Goddess of Mercy. The patriach was a faithful follower of the temple. On every festivities, example the goddess enlightenments he would offer the Goddess a big tray of fruits. The adopted daughter got married to a lorry driver. The latter was a gambler and drinker, with the wife's consent, sold the pre-war house in Upper Dickson Road (see picture on left) to an Indian textile businessman. The Goddess of Mercy appeared in the dream of the businessman to return the temple. The businessman approached the temple caretaker to sell back the temple at half the value originally bargained for. The caretaker’s husband refused, as he had squandered the money. The temple then moved to a flat in Aljunied. The patriach being loyal and faithful to the Goddess still worshipped in the temple despite his disappointment. According to the patriach the new location did not have the ambience of a temple. One day the lorry driver went fishing and was drowned. Ever since then the patriach stopped going to the temple. The existence of the temple till this day is unknown.

Let thousands of people
Receive the light of mercy
Let thousands of people
Bathe in the great grace of heaven
Let thousands of people
Transcend from the sea of sufferings
Do not compare with others
Do not compete with others
Establish a right objective
Do not hesitate and do not hinder yourself
Accept the sufferings and live with the sufferings

Give joyousness whenever required
Show mercy, in return you shall receive mercy.
Quan Yin is depicted in most cases as a gentle female. Kwan Yin is sometimes depicted as a male. He was an Indian Prince and was one of the ten Bodhisattvas, taking the name of Avalokitesvara, Lord of Compassion. Quan Yin is one of the most universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition. Known as Kuan Yin, Quan’Am (Vietnam), Kannon (Japan), and Kanin(Bali). As the Bodhisattva of Compassion, She hears the cries of all beings.
Quan Yin was seen in China as appearing as a gentle lady in white during Her enlightenments on the 19th day of the 2nd Lunar Month, 19th day of the 6th Lunar Month and the 19th day of the 9th Lunar Month. On these days faithful worshippers would throng the Goddess temples to make offerings and prayed for their well being. On these Chinese Lunar Days the temple in Waterloo Street in Singapore is always crowded with worshippers to request the Goddess for blessing. In most home the Goddess is revered with statue taking a strategic place on the altar table in the ancestral hall.
Quan Yin is depicted in many images, carrying the pearls of illumination. She is often shown pouring a stream of healing water, the “Water of Life,” from a small vase. With this water devotees and all living things are blessed with physical and spiritual peace. She holds a sheaf of ripe rice or a bowl of rice seed as a metaphor for fertility and sustenance. The dragon, an ancient symbol for high spirituality, wisdom, strength, and divine powers of transformation, is a common motif found in combination with the Goddess of Mercy.
The Goddess is sometimes represented as a many armed figure, with each hand either containing a different cosmic symbol or expressing a specific ritual position. This characterizes the Goddess as the source of sustenance of all living things. Her cupped hands, symbolizes the door for entry to this world.
Quan Yin, as a Bodhisattva, vowed to remain in the earthly realms and not enter the heavenly worlds until all other living things have completed their enlightenment and thus become liberated from the pain-filled cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. There are numerous legends that recount the miracles which Quan Yin performs to help those who call on Her.
She is a virgin Goddess who protects women, offers them a religious life as an alternative to marriage, and grants children to those who desire them.The Goddess of Mercy is unique among the heavenly hierarchy in that She is so utterly free from pride or vengefulness that She remains reluctant to punish even those to whom a severe lesson might be appropriate. Individuals who could be sentenced to dreadful penance in other systems can attain rebirth and renewal by simply calling upon Her graces with utter and absolute sincerity. It is said that, even for one kneeling beneath the executioner's sword already raised to strike, a single heartfelt cry to Bodhisattva Quan Yin will cause the blade to fall shattered to the ground.The many stories and anecdotes featuring this Goddess serve to convey the idea of an enlightened being who embodies the attributes of an all pervasive, all consuming, unwavering loving compassion and who is accessible to everyone.
Quan Yin counsels us by Her actions to cultivate within ourselves those particular refined qualities that all beings are said to naturally possess in some vestigial form. Contemplating the Goddess of Mercy involves little dogma or ritual. The simplicity of this gentle being and Her standards tends to lead Her devotees towards becoming more compassionate and loving themselves. A deep sense of service to all fellow beings naturally follows any devotion to the Goddess.