Femininity In Guanyin During The Ming Dynasty

In ancient times, lay buddhist women engaged in religious poractices and a cult called Guabyin during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Guanyin was the most popular Chinese goddess of their age, and reproducing her image was a way to salvation. However, other cultures that practiced Buddism like Indian culture represented the deity as a male, but this was later changed during the Ming Dynasty. The above image, banner of Guanyin demonstrates some of the features of the deity that both the chinese and Asian cultures ascribed to the gioddess of compassion and care. In the above image, a conflict emerges in telling the masculinity or feminiity of the god. From her physical characteristics, the artists stresses on the facial expressions to bring out her femininity and demonstrate the transition witnessed between Chinese and Indian buddhists. Looking at the facial characteristics, it is easy to concur the banner of guanyin is a goddess. However, other body characteristics contradict its femininity portrayed by her facial characteristics. A closer observation of the image reveals the image of the goddess has masculine characteristics. The muscular arms and the protruding chest support this proposition. Moreover, the masculine nature of her legs also put her femininity into question, and it is not surprising it

Originally, the ealiest Buddhist adherents were the Indians. However, buddhism declined in India and many countries in East Asia adopted its practices, but with multiple changes. This was an attempt to nurture their unique cultural identity different from Indian culture. For instance, changing the masculine Indian god to a feminine goddess was a significant change that chracterized buddhism in China and India demonstrated by the image above. Moreover, the conflict in determining the gender of the god demonstrates a struggle between buddhist adherents in China and