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'''Kwan-Shi-Yin''' (Chinese 觀世音, Guānshìyīn) (also spelled as '''Kwan-Shai-Yin''') literally means "he who perceives the world's lamentations" -- wherein ''lok'' was read as simultaneously meaning both "to look" and "world" (Skt. loka; Ch. 世, shì). The name seems to derive from from ''Guanzizai'' (觀自在), a direct translation of the Sanskrit name [[Avalokiteśvara]].

Traditionally, Chinese [[Buddhism]] regards Kwan-Shi-Yin as a synonymous of [[Kwan-Yin]]. However, Mme. Blavatsky and the [[Mahatmas]] maintained that these two terms refer to two different entities:<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 471.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin are the two aspects (male and female) of the same principle in Kosmos, Nature and Man, of divine wisdom and intelligence. They are the “Christos-Sophia” of the mystic Gnostics—the Logos and its Sakti.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 473.</ref></blockquote>

== In Theosophy ==

At a universal level, Kwan-Shi-Yin is the [[Logos#Third Logos|manifested Logos]]:

<blockquote>Hence the “Kwan-shi-yin”—“the golden Dragon in whom are the seven,” of Stanza III.—is the primordial Logos, or Brahmâ, the first manifested creative Power.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 452.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>Kwan-Shai-Yin is identical with, and an equivalent of the Sanskrit Avalokitêshvara, and as such he is an androgynous deity, like the Tetragrammaton and all the Logoi of antiquity.  It is only by some sects in China that he is anthropomorphized and represented with female attributes, when, under his female aspect, he becomes Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, called the “Divine Voice.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 72.</ref></blockquote>

At the level of human beings it is the [[ātman|seventh principle]], while Kwan-Yin is the [[buddhi|sixth]]:

<blockquote>In symbology the central point is Jivātma (the 7th principle), and hence Avalokitesvara, the Kwan-Shai-yin, the manifested “Voice” (or Logos), the germ point of manifested activity.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), ???.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>Kwan-Shai-yin — or the the universally manifested voice is active — male; and must not be confounded with Kwan-yin, or Buddhi the Spiritual Soul (the sixth Pr.) and the vehicle of its “Lord.” It is Kwan-yin that is the female principle or the manifested passive, manifesting itself “to every creature in the universe, in order to deliver all men from the consequences of sin” — as rendered by Beal, this once quite correctly (383), while Kwan-shai-yin, “the Son identical with his Father” is the absolute activity, hence — having no direct relation to objects of sense — is Passivity.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), ???.</ref></blockquote>


== Notes ==

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==Further reading==



[[Category:Chinese terms]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine]]
[[Category:Buddhist concepts]]