Highly regarded as embodying love, mercy, and compassion, Guanyin or Kun Iam in Cantonese, usually represents solidarity and rapprochement between people.
Guanyin is the Chinese translation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who chose to stay on earth as accessible examples for the Buddhist faithful to follow.
Interestingly so, although she is usually referred to as a goddess in China, bodhisattvas are actually genderless or gender fluidity, since a Bodhisattva has the ability to manifest on earth in many different forms. It is unknown what pronouns she prefers to be referred to now.
According to legend, she vowed to never rest until she had freed all sentient beings from samsara or reincarnation.
Also very interesting, is the fact that the Macau government is pious enough to commission a new MOP45 million statue to Guanyin, despite there being already quite a considerably large one on the artificial island connected to Av. Dr. Sun Yat-sen in NAPE.
There is also the 30-meter statue of the sea-goddess A-ma or Mazu, which rises above the 170-meter high Coloane Alto hill and is visible from most of the island.
The new statue of Kun Iam was interestingly announced as an aside to a MOP1.6 billion project to build a youth activity centre by Hac Sa Beach announced last week, as a side bonus to this new public expenditure endeavor.
The ‘netizenry’ was quick to ridicule the “megalomaniac” project as a waste of public coin and criticized the lack of public consultation.
I for one believe the initiative does not go far enough. Currently, the largest Guanyin statue in the world is located on the south coast of China’s island province of Hainan near the Nanshan Temple of Sanya.
It is a full 108-meters of pure mercy and compassion but I think we can top that. By erecting at least 109-meter statue of Guanyin we would be stealing a record but also the thunder from Hainan, the new darling of all special economic zones and a competing Chinese tourist destination.
The Feng Shui levels of the south side of Coloane would be kicked up a notch and another milestone in the diversification of the SAR would be achieved while assuring a karmic upgrade to the citizens of the city.
After all, what is money really worth against the imperative need to help Macau residents break the wheel of reincarnation?
[MNA contributing editor]
