Kwan Yin is the Buddhist goddess of compassion, and this book talks about her history and gives examples of how people relate to her.

One of the odd things is that this particular goddess started out as a male god and, over time, underwent a cultural shift to becoming a goddess. Her name means 'She who hearkens to the cries of the world.' She represents compassion, love, hope, transformation and service.

The book also does not present an always positive view of Kwan Yin, as it notes that Asian-American women in today's world may turn away from Kwan Yin since she is associated with 'self-sacrifice,' in the general tradition of the role of women in older Chinese culture. This can be a turn-off to many of today's women.

There's also one belief I find rather yucky. You take a statue of Kwan Yin with a removable hand. You petition the goddess for something, take one of her hands off and hide it somewhere. Kwan Yin will be upset about losing her hand and will grant the request, after which you return the hand.

Basically, the person is blackmailing a goddess into doing their bidding and that is not something I think is respectful at all.

If a person were looking for a goddess they would want to work with, this is not the type of book that would attract people to Kwan Yin, in my opinion.

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