The Goddess of Mercy

[Kristopher]

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The Goddess of Mercy, Senju Kannon, is a symbol of immovable wisdom.

Senju Kannon has 1,000 arms, each holding a different implement such as a bow, sword, etc. If her mind were to stop on the arm holding the bow, the remaining 999 arms would not be able to move freely. But she is filled with enough ki to use all her arms actively, without her mind stopping on any one. She demonstrates that she is ready to use all of her 1,000 arms freely. How can she do this? The answer is that the goddess has attained the state of immovable wisdom.

It is a typical quirk of human beings that when we focus our eyes on one thing, we cannot see anything else. For example, if there is a person whom one loves among a group of people, the eyes will follow only her (or him), and everyone else will be out of sight. Although our eyes can in fact see these others, we cannot see anything other than our lover’s every action.

Another example can be found in looking at a tree. If we concentrate only on a single red leaf, we cannot see the rest of the leaves. But if we look at the whole tree with any empty mind, without stopping the mind on a single leaf, we can perceive all of the multitude of leaves on the tree. One who can see all of the leaves is called Senju-Sengan Kannon (the Kannon of 1,000 arms and 1,000 eyes).

Because Senju-Sengan Kannon has attained a state of immovable wisdom, she can use all of her 1,000 arms to their maximum efficiency. In the same way, when we acquire immovable wisdom, we will be able to hold our can of bud and drink freely and without hesitation.