Brass Guan Yin Statue

Guan Yin, the one who hears the cries of the world.

She is the bodhisattva of compassion, and the story goes that she reached the threshold of enlightenment, heard the suffering below, and turned back rather than leave it. That choice is why she is the figure most often kept in a Chinese home rather than a temple: not a distant deity, but the one who stayed.

In brass she suits a shelf, an altar, or the corner of a room used for sitting quietly. She is often the piece bought after a death in the family, or when a household is going through something.

Placement: facing into the room, above seated height. Not in a bedroom or bathroom.