Goddesses have always represented the feminine aspect of God. The Buddhist goddess Kuan Yin is the goddess of compassion. Compassion is the ability to relate to  others emotions.  It is having the empathy to care about what is happening in the lives for other people. In the twenty first century, we have a very noticeable lack of compassion. Compassion is part of the path to peace. So while we are talking and advocating for peace, we must also all practice compassion.

” You sit down on a hill top, or anywhere high-enough for you

to see nothing, but the sky, in front of your eyes.

With your  mind you make everything empty.

There’s nothing there, you say.

And you see it like that—-nothing

Emptiness.

Then you say, AH,

But there is something.

Look, there’s the sea,

and the MOON has risen—

full, round, white.

And you see it like that—

Sea, silver in the moon light,

With little white, topped waves. And in the

Blue Black sky above

Hangs a great moon Bright,

But not dazzling,

A soft brightness you might say.

You stare at the moon a long,

Long time, feeling calm, happy.

Then the moon gets smaller,

But brighter and brighter and brighter till you see it as a

Pearl, or a seed, but so bright

You can only just bear to look at it. The Pearl

starts to grow. And before you know what’s happened it’s

Kuan Yin herself, standing up against the sky

All dressed in gleaming white

And with her feet resting on a lotus

That floats in the waves.

You see her

Once you know how to do it

As clearly as I see you,

Her Robes

Are shining

And there’s a halo

Round her head

She smiles at you

Such a lovely smile. She’s so glad

To see you that tears of happiness sparkle

In her eyes.

If you keep your mind calm,

By just whispering her name

and not trying too hard

She will stay a long

Long time

When she does go

It’s by getting smaller.

She doesn’t go back to being a pearl

But just gets so small

That at last you can’t see her. Then you notice

That the sky and sea

Have vanished too

Just Space is left.

Lovely, Lovely, Space. going on forever.

That Space stays long

If you can do without you. Not you and space, you see

Just Space.

No you.

—-by a Cantonese Woman