d in uncertainty, but which, closely connected with the
doctrine of the Western Paradise, seems to have arisen some three
centuries after the commencement of our era. At the present day, it is
spread extensively over Thibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan; but it is
unknown to the countries of Southern Buddhism. With regard to the meaning
of this great image before us, Kwannon is commonly explained to be the
reflex or spiritual son of Amitabha Buddha, sent by him to earth to
preside on earth over the Buddhist faith, and appearing, at first in male
and subsequently in female shape. But the probability is that the various
personages, with whom Kwannon is supposed to be identified, had merely a
fictitious existence; and that in her statues, we see simply an apotheosis
of Mercy, an allegorical _Mater Misericordiae_, whose many eyes and hands
are intended to signify the unremitting vigilance and the untiring energy
with which she ministers to all sorrow and distress.(20)

The island of Pootau, off Ning-po, in the Chusan Archipelago, is the great
centre of Kwannon worship; the most popular of the many legends concerning
her associating her with this locality, and offering an explanation of her
thousand heads and hands more clumsy even than is the manner of such
myths. The island belongs to the Buddhist priesthood, and is a great
resort of pilgrims. In Japan, the shrines and statues of Kwannon are to be
met with everywhere: many of her images being of enormous size, richly
gilt and beautifully wrought. Sometimes the statues are kept concealed
from view, either on account of alleged miraculous properties, or for some
other reason of special sanctity. The highly-venerated image, for
instance, at the Asakusa temple, Tokio, is never shown; it is only two
inches high, and is accredited with supernatural qualities. But of all the
shrines of Kwannon, it may be doubted whether the impression created by
any is greater than by her temple of San-ju-san-gen-do at Kyoto, where no
less than 33,333 images of the goddess may be seen. Of these a thousand
are gilded statues, five feet in height, and ranged in tiers along a vast
gallery. The remaining effigies are depicted on the foreheads, hands and
nimbi of the larger ones. The temple and its contents originated in the
votive offering of a Mikado of the twelfth century for recovery from
sickness.

[Illustration.]

The Altar of San-Ju-San-Gen-Do.