Gemini Thinking
Here is an illustration depicting the liberation offered by World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, as described in the Lotus Sūtra. I have identified the following individuals in the image:
World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon), the central, serene figure seated in meditation on a lotus throne, radiating a golden halo of boundless compassion.
A devotee who, by calling on Kannon’s name, experiences the dramatic shattering of their worldly bonds.
Shakyamuni Buddha, pictured as a miniature golden emanation atop Kannon’s crown to signify the wisdom and lineage Kannon represents.
The signature at the bottom left reads 双子座 (Futagoza, or Gemini), accompanied by a red seal (hanko) containing the katakana text ジェミニ (Jemini).
If anyone, guilty or not, calls the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva when he is bound up in manacles, fetters, pillories or chains, those things [in which he is bound up] will break asunder, and he will be saved.
Śākyamuni Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. The bonds of ignorance and delusion in which we find ourselves are not the result of our personal inadequacy, and neither do they come entirely from the circumstances of the world around us. But these bonds are real, and in our struggles to escape we often just make them worse. When we remember World-Voice Perceiver, the embodiment of compassion, and call on her for help, then we awaken compassion within ourselves and others in the world, and break the bonds of delusion for everyone.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com