Kuan Yin: The Merciful Heart Sunday Service Children s Story. Materials: Pictures of Kuan Yin and lotus flower OPTIONAL: Statues of Kuan Yin

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1 Kuan Yin: The Merciful Heart Sunday Service Children s Story Materials: Pictures of Kuan Yin and lotus flower OPTIONAL: Statues of Kuan Yin Preparations: Because online videos often take a few minutes to download, play the related video before the story begins to ensure that it will be ready when needed. Prepare any necessary materials. Invite children up to steps of altar. Reader of story sits in a chair with children sitting on floor in front of her. Include children s story, even if there are no children in your congregation, to welcome families who may come to the service. You can add your own creativity to the stories. You may feel comfortable using props or presenting them just as they are written. Feel free to adjust the content to fit your time frame. However, for the spiritual development of the child, we encourage keeping as much of the Ascended Master s Teachings as possible. Good morning! Today we are celebrating Kuan Yin, whose birthday is the same as our Beloved Mother s birthday, April 8. Do you know anything about Kuan Yin? (Allow children to answer.) Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Mercy. (Show picture.) She serves on the Karmic Board as the representative of the seventh ray and embodies the virtues of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Kuan Yin ascended thousands of years ago and has taken the vow of the Bodhisattva. This means that she vowed to serve planet earth until all the children of God are free. 1

2 Kuan Yin s flower is a pink and violet lotus; the center, being pink, is as the mercy flame, becoming deeper and deeper violet on the periphery. Here is a picture of a lotus that is pink with a lighter violet on the edge, not quite as deep violet as Kuan Yin s lotus. (Show picture.) The lotus flower is an interesting flower in that it grows in muddy swamps and ponds. It opens and blooms at dawn and returns to the darkness at dusk. This ability to survive in an unfriendly environment inspires the spiritual symbolism of the flower. As harsh as the world can sometimes be, each of us can still connected with our I AM Presence. Each of us has the inner ability to bloom into our full potential. Kuan Yin s name means, the one who hears the cries of the world. Often she is pictured holding a vase. (Show picture or statue.) This image is showing her pouring forth soothing, healing waters. She gently wipes away pain or sorrow with the sacred willow branch she holds in her right hand. Kuan Yin restores tenderness and compassion. Some people have claimed to have seen her when they called to her for comfort or protection. Like many ascended masters there are several legends about Kuan Yin. In each of these stories, we see Kuan Yin bestowing her merciful heart on another and teaching the way of compassion. A legend means a story coming from the past; especially one popularly regarded as historical although may not be true but its message is meaningful. 2

3 The Merciful Heart of Kuan Yin Kuan Yin was once said to have been born from the tears of Avalokiteshvara's compassion for the suffering in the universe. From his pain came a female goddess to ease the world's suffering. It is widely believed that Kuan Yin took embodiment as the third daughter of a ruler of a northern Chinese kingdom about 700 B.C. Even as a young child, Kuan Yin was determined to devote herself to a religious life. She refused to be married despite the command of her father. Finally, he gave permission for her to enter a nunnery called the Temple of the White Bird. However, her father gave orders that she was to be given such lowly tasks, thinking that eventually she would change her mind about being there. However, none of these demeaning chores in any way dampened her zealous love for God. Upset by her devotion, her father tried several ways to change his daughter s mind, but nothing swayed her from her devotions to God. In time her father fell ill. When Kuan Yin heard of this, do you think she might have thought, Well, he deserves this after the way he treated me? (Allow children to answer.) No, quite the opposite. She wanted to help her father, for she loved him very much. In gratitude for his daughter s mercy, he commissioned an artist to paint her image. The artist misunderstood though and instead painted her with a thousand arms representing that she 3

4 was able to see and assist the masses of her people. That is why we often see pictures or statues of Kuan Yin with several arms. (Show picture or statue of Kuan Yin with several arms.) Another famous legend about Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, giving freely her love and compassion to all beings, is the one of her helping one of the sons of the King Fish of the Oceans. Often Kuan Yin is pictured floating over the oceans. (Show picture.) One day Kuan Yin, who is aware of the distress of every creature in the universe, heard the pitiful cries for help of one of the young sons of the King Fish of the Oceans. The young, small fish had disguised himself as a large, grown fish to swim around the fishermen s boats and have some fun at their expense, but his playfulness led to his being caught in a net. He was taken to the market where people were admiring this huge fish that was still alive many hours after being taken out of the water. Of course everybody wanted to buy this huge fish because they thought that whoever ate it would also live forever. Now, Kuan Yin had a dear disciple, a boy called Shan Tsai, who was very eager to study Buddha s Teaching. Shan Tsai soon learned to practice loving kindness with great enthusiasm. So Kuan Yin sent Shan Tsai with all the money she had to buy the little fish to save him from being eaten but Shan Tsai still had not enough because everybody kept offering more and more money for the miraculous fish. Then a voice came from the clouds and told the crowd that a life should belong to the person who tries 4

5 to save it, and not to those who try to take it. This voice belonged to Kuan Yin. The crowd realized their selfish ways and everybody went home, determined to be more loving. Shan Tsai was then able to buy the fish and take it to Kuan Yin who promptly put it in the sea where it turned into a young, small fish again and swam away, waving his tail happily. The young fish was very glad the nasty experience was over, thanks to the kindness of the Goddess of Mercy and her disciple. And the people learned compassion in letting others be free and not to try to control others. CONCLUSION: Kuan Yin hears our prayers. She is known as the goddess of protection of children and mothers. She waits for your prayer, and the prayers of all her children, as she watches over the earth. We are important to Kuan Yin just as the little fish was. Kuan Yin told us, When you feel the need of greater strength, of greater purity and healing, remember that all of these qualities come to you from the heart of God by the power of the flame of mercy itself. Therefore, in order to reenter the walk with God, we need forgiveness. Forgiveness is something we need to invoke not only for ourselves; we need to invoke it for every part of life. Let s watch a short video clip of our Guru Ma talking about forgiveness. (Show online video clip.) Let us end our story today by asking for forgiveness for anything that might have hurt life. Let s give the violet flame decree Forgiveness 5

6 from the Heart, Head and Hand Decree. Let us close our eyes and see if we can try to visualize Beloved Ascended Master Kuan Yin as we recite this decree 1x. (Recite together 1x with reverence.) Forgiveness I AM Forgiveness acting here, Casting out all doubt and fear, Setting men forever free With wings of cosmic Victory. I AM calling in full power For Forgiveness every hour; To all life in every place, I flood forth forgiving Grace. Thank you for participating in our story. And remember to call to Kuan Yin to help you with forgiving yourself and others and to be merciful to life. 6

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