Kannon

The Japanese form of the name of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Within Japanese Buddhism (see Japan), the historical Prince Shōtoku (572-621) has often been regarded as a manifestation of Kannon, and a vision of the Bodhisattva also figured prominently in the biography of Shinran (1173-1262), founder of the Jōdo Shinshū. See also Kuan-yin; Kwannon.

Kannon or Kanzeon-bosatsu, the Japanese version of the Bodhisattva (see Bodhisattva) Avalokiteśvara (see Avalokiteśvara), is perhaps the most admired of the Japanese Mahāyāna Buddhist (see Mahāyāna Buddhism) bodhisattvas. Like the Chinese counterpart Guanyin (see Guanyin), Kannon, who is sometimes male, sometimes female, is compassionate. People of many sects of Buddhism (see Japanese Buddhism) in Japan make special offerings and prayers to Kannon for help with their everyday lives. One tradition holds that Kannon can take thirty-three forms. Thus for some thousand years people have been making pilgrimages to the thirty-three Kannon shrines in Kyoto and Nara.