Kwan-Shai-Yin

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.”‡ The latter is the patron deity of Thibet and of the island of Puto in China, where both deities have a number of monasteries.§ (See Part II. Kwan-Shai-Yin and Kwan-yin.)