Spent some time working with WordPress today. Steve from Steve Channel needed some help with his blog’s theme. I gave my two-cents worth. I hope I was helpful.
I decided it was also time to change my theme but due to a lack of time, I focused on changing the colors only. In the past I always had an image of Quan Am and Nezumi (Mouse/Rat) somewhere in my blog. I had removed it for the last year but decided it was time to have these images make a reappearance again. I found an image of Quan Am and Nezumi and edited them into one image which I placed to the right of my blog.
Who is Quan Am?
Many Buddhists know her as the Goddess of Mercy. In Japanese she is known as Kannon (Canon the company is named after Kannon); in Vietnamese, Quan Am; and in Chinese, Guan Yin. You see a statute of her everywhere in Vietnam. You see the appearance of Quan Am in other religions as well. In Vietnam, Quan Am and the Virgin Mary have a similar appearance, some think they are the same person. In Islam, the Goddess Allat is similar to Quan Am. This website, Deasophy Sanctuary, briefly shows how Quan Am may be related to similar Goddesses in other religions.
The below image of Allat’s Hand is interesting since you see several symbols used today by Muslims, the star and crescent, and the Freemasons, the all-seeing eye:
Nezumi, Quan Am, #33
How is the Japanese Astrology sign Nezumi, which means Rat or Mouse in Japanese with Quan Am you might ask? In Japanese Astrology, Kannon is the protector of Nezumi, those born in the Year of the Rat. Since I was born under the Year of the Rat, I am a Nezumi hence Quan Am is my protector according to Buddhism. You see the number 33 used with Kannon as well.
All three are linked in my blog for a particular reason I may tell at another time or by email.
For now, I will use the Quan Am/Nezumi theme for the next year. I hope you like the colors. Lastly, I hope you enjoy the below Heart Sutra dedicated to Quan Am:
I know Sony is named after Sonus, the Greek goddess of sounds. But I had no idea that Canon is named after the Goddess of Mercy. I’ve always thought it’s just a Japanese habit of dropping a syllable from an English word to make it sounds cool.
The eye in hand symbol of the Goddess Allat is similar to Quan Am’s, when she takes on her “thousands arms thousands eyes” form, where she’s often depicted as seated on top of a lotus flower with her radiating arms cupping an eye in each hand.
I think the eye and hand symbolism may have had something to with Canon’s relation to Kannon.
This gets even more interesting, the first Canon camera was called Kwanon: http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/film/data/1933-1955/1934_kan.html?lang=us&categ=crn&page=1933-1955
Yeah, I forgot how I made the link between Kannon and Canon, I think I asked a Japanese friend. My mother knew about this already when I asked her.
the dirty pink background isn’t the best choice according to me ..