Unusual Christian Places: The Statue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin in Macau

This statue in Macau is of the Buddhist “Mercy Goddess,” Guanyin.   Not actually a goddess, she is a bodhisattva, one who has attained enlightenment but has vowed to seek the enlightenment of all sentient beings.  Many also associate this bodhisattva with the Virgin Mary. ???  The answer lies in the history of Macau and the resultant mixing of cultures and religions.

Jorge Alvares landed in China in 1513, and by 1535 trade between Portugal and China was established.   The site of Macau eventually became a Portuguese colony, administered to various degrees by Portugal from 1557 to 1999, when the rental agreement with China expired.  During this period, Roman Catholicism became a strong presence in the area, which also includes followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and smaller native faiths.

http://www.placesandfoods.com/2013/05/guan-yin-statue-of-macau.html

http://www.tripomatic.com/China/Macau-Special-Administrative-Region/Macau/Guan-Yin-Statue/

http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/art-architecture/kuan-yin-of-macau-city.html

Guanyin (short for Guanshiyin, “Observing the Cries of the World”) is an immortal bodhisattva, She is rarely represented as male.  She has vowed to never rest until she has freed all sentient beings from the cycle of reincarnation.  Because of her infinite compassion, she is sometimes depicted as holding a child.

There are several streams of Buddhism, some being very strict, austere, and individually oriented.  The less strict version, Mahayana (”Greater Vehicle”) encourages everyone to become a bodhisattva (“enlightenment being”) and to work for the eventual enlightenment of every sentient being in the universe by the idea of “merit transference.”  The idea is that “merit” earned by the enlightened bodhisattva can be transferred to less advanced beings to aid in their advancement.  This Mahayana Buddhist doctrine may possibly have developed in response to  contact with Christianity.

During the Edo (Tokugawa Shogunate) Period (1603-1867) in Japan, Christianity was totally banned and was declared to be punishable by death. Christians were forced to go “underground.”  Many venerated Jesus and the Virgin Mary by disguising them as statues of Kannon (another name for Guanyin) holding a child.  Statues such as this are known as Maria Kannon.  There was often a cross hidden in an inconspicuous location on the statue. Note the similarities of the face in the image in the following link with the face of Guanyin on the statue in Macau.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/audio-east-meets-west-virgin-and-child-ivory-carving/

An image of a Maria Kannon from Wikipedia used under the GNU Free Documentation License.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maria_Kannon.jpg