Kuan-yin, the Chinese name of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the compassionate savior, was originally worshipped in the guise of a handsome North Indian prince. Beginning in the Sung period (10th-13th century), however, the Chinese began transforming the bodhisattva into the much beloved Goddess of Mercy, so that by the sixteenth century, Kuan-yin nearly always appears in the guise of a beautiful Chinese woman who saved people from all forms of suffering.

More than eighty Buddhist scriptures are connected with Kuan-yin, including the Lotus Sutra (Fa-hua ching), the Heart Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra (Huayan Ching). The latter scripture associates the devout youth Sudhana with Kuan-yin. Sudhana visited 53 teachers including Kuan-yin when learning the Buddha Dharma. He is shown here as the small child in the lower right attending the Goddess at Mt. Potalaka (Pu-tuo Island) in the southern sea that was considered a spiritual abode of Kuan-yin. In the sixteenth century Putao Island emerged as a popular pilgrimage center, reflecting the popularity of Kuan-yin whose image was now probably being worshipped more than that of the Buddha.