Certainly in Asia and amongst the Buddhist, Quan Yin is the most famous female Goddess.
One of the several stories surrounding Quan Yin is that she was a Buddhist. Who through great love, sacrifice during life, had earned the right to enter Nirvana after death.
However, like Avalokiteshvara (is a bodhisattva who embodies compassion of all Buddhas) while standing before the gates of Paradise she heard a cry of anguish from the earth below.
Turning back to earth, she renounced her reward of bliss eternal. But in its place found immortality in the hearts of the suffering.
In China she has many names and is also known as “great mercy, great pity; salvation from misery, salvation from woe; self-existent; thousand arms and thousand eyes,” etc.
In addition, she is often referred to as the Goddess of the Southern Sea — or Indian Archipelago — and has been compared to the Virgin Mary.
These are just some of the Mothers that can or have influenced us in some way or another.
Namaste,
Michael
