Vintage wall scroll "Guanyin". It is made of paper. The scroll holders are decorated with brass linings. Japan, XX century.

Guanyin is the deity of infinite mercy and compassion. It occupies a key place in the eastern pantheon.

The deity Guanyin himself came to China from India along the Great Silk Road. Initially, the goddess of mercy Guanyin was depicted as a man; in Indian Buddhism, the image of Avalokiteshvara, a masculine version of god, is still popular. However, starting from the Song Dynasty, Avalokiteshvara turns into a sexless Guanyin creature, and later begins to resemble a female image more and more. It is believed that this sex change occurred due to the fact that in Chinese culture the image of a male deity was traditionally depicted as more severe, and the concept of mercy was more suitable for the female image. Despite such a widespread image throughout Asia, Guanyin appears in female form only in China, Korea and Japan, and in her small homeland — in India and Tibet — the deity is endowed with