THE ASTROLOGY OF KUAN YIN An Introduction to the 12 Treasuries

by Dale Goodyear

d_good_year@hotmail,.com

In the ancient Dharani Sutra, it names twelve "Treasuries" associated with Kuan Yin and all Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. The Chinese word is Zang, "Treasury", but the original Sanskrit word was Garbha, which can also mean "Womb" or "Matrix."

In the order given in the Sutra, these Treasuries fit remarkably well with the twelve Zodiac signs, starting at the beginning of the calendar year with Capricorn and proceeding through Sagittarius.

This gives us a powerful tool to transform our personal astrology--by invoking the Enlightenment and Liberation energy of Kuan Yin's Treasuries into the appropriate Sign, such as natal Sun or Moon, etc.

In this essay I will make some preliminary remarks on how each of the 12 Treasuries relates to its corresponding Zodiac sign. There is, of course, a great deal that might be said; and later I may add to this article.

Most important, though, is to use Kuan Yin's Treasuries to let her enter into our astrology and transform it by her Saving Power of Love and Compassion. To do this, we can use the power of Uniting that I wrote about in my booklet on Kuan Yin's 10 Hearts. We call to Kuan Yin, and we unite our Sign to her corresponding Treasury.

For example:

Om Mani Padme Hum! I unite my natal Sun in Virgo to your "Treasury of Eternal Abiding."

Then, if you have a chart of your astrology to look at, you may visualize a vibrant, radiant Sphere of Energy enveloping the astrological symbol in your chart, saturating the Sign and its Planet with Kuan Yin's Liberation and Compassion--as though the symbol were a sponge soaking up the Saving Power of Kuan Yin.

After you make your prayer of Uniting to Kuan Yin's Treasury, the simplest mantra to give (as many times as you like) is Om Mani Padme Hum, while focusing on the specific Treasury as the Mani. The Padme is Kuan Yin herself, the "Lotus One."

However, if you relate well to Chinese, you can also give specific Chinese Na Mo...Kuan Yin mantras for each Treasury:

Na Mo Fo Shen Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of the Buddha's Body] Na Mo Guang Ming Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Bright Light] Na Mo Ci Bei Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Merciful Compassion] Na Mo Miao Fa Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of the Wonderful Law] Na Mo Chan Ding Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Samadhi Concentration]

Na Mo Xu Kong Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Creative Potential] Na Mo Wu Wei Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Fearlessness] Na Mo Miao Yu Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Wonderful Speech] Na Mo Chang Zhu Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Eternal Abiding] Na Mo Jie Tuo Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Freedom] Na Mo Yao Wang Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of the King of Healing] Na Mo Shen Tong Zang Guan Yin [Treasury of Spiritual Penetrations]

Following are my comments (admittedly incomplete) on the correspondences between the 12 Zodiac signs starting with Capricorn, and the 12 Treasuries of Kuan Yin in the order given in the Dharani Sutra.

CAPRICORN / Treasury of the Buddha's Body

The first sign of the calendar year is Capricorn, an Earth sign. The image is "the Goat." In the ancient Rig Veda, which has a symbolic code, "goat" is aja, which also means "unborn, unmanifested." So it's the Blueprint or Pattern waiting to express itself. That's why Capricorn begins the year. The Treasury of the Buddha's Body refers primarily to the ultimate Body, or Vehicle, of the Buddhas, called the Dharmakaya, the "Body of Dharma" or "Body of the Law." This Law is the Tao, and contains the DNA, so to speak, of who and what we are and how we can unfold and express ourselves in life. Kuan Yin's Treasury contains that Buddha-DNA that can change our human genetic programming on all levels.

AQUARIUS / Treasury of Bright Light

Aquarius is an Air sign, and we desire it to shine with the Bright Light of the Buddhas as we enter the "Aquarius Age" which many mystics say is to be an age of Enlightenment.

PISCES / Treasury of Merciful Compassion

Pisces is a Water sign, and the waters of mercy or compassion is a natural image for us. Compassion is a feeling, and feelings flow and have a "watery" nature. We can transform our feelings with Kuan Yin's Compassion, Mercy, Forgiveness.

ARIES / Treasury of the Wonderful Law (or Dharma)

Aries is a Fire sign, and really is both the Teacher and Lawgiver in our astrology. When we embrace the Wonderful Law or Dharma, the Flow of our "water" becomes infused with "fire", and our mercy is balanced by justice.

TAURUS / Treasury of Samadhi Concentration

Taurus is the next Earth sign, and it roots all that we are and brings it into focus. For the Buddhas and for Kuan Yin, this focus is Samadhi, the pure concentration on Enlightenment and Liberation.

GEMINI / Treasury of Creative Potential

Gemini is the next Air sign, and it is Buddha Mind that is pregnant with potential, like seeds just ready to sprout into both ideas and actions. The actual term is Shunyata, often translated "Emptiness"; but it's not an arid, lifeless emptiness, rather it's like a Womb preparing to give birth. That's why the symbolism of Gemini is always not just about mental activity and creativity, but also about all creative relationships between people, including marriage, and the sprouting of seeds and bearing of fruit in plants, and the bearing of children in human beings.

LEO / Treasury of Wonderful Speech

Leo is the next Fire sign, and it can become the wonderful Speech of Kuan Yin and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas through us, the "Lion's Roar" of Liberation and Enlightenment.

VIRGO / Treasury of Eternal Abiding

Virgo is the final Earth sign, and here we have the impulse of Kuan Yin and the Bodhisattvas to stay with humanity and living beings until all are enlightened and liberated. It's the determination to stand with, stick with, others while they work things out. It's the Bodhisattva Vow and Bodhisattva Path.

LIBRA/ Treasury of Freedom

Libra is the final Air sign, and flowing air, and wind, is what sets things free. It's the Spirit of the Buddhas, Kuan Yin's Flowing Spirit, blowing through our stagnations and constrictions, even blowing them down when absolutely necessary. It's a revolutionary Energy, it brings Enlightened Change, and that what this Treasury of Kuan Yin can accomplish for you

. SCORPIO / Treasury of the King of Healing

Scorpio is the final Water sign, and relates to regeneration and healing down to very deep levels. Therefore the Treasury refers to Kuan Yin as the "King, or Queen, of Healing" (the Chinese word Wang is gender-neutral).

SAGITTARIUS / Treasury of Spiritual Penetrations

The Fire sign Sagittarius is the "Archer", and Kuan Yin's action here is to send needle-like rays of Liberation into our consciousness, into our subconscious or unconscious, into our very physical cells, that pierce all ignorance or other poisoned conditions, like lancing a boil and then draining and neutralizing the pus. Kuan Yin's Penetrating Rays will do all that for us.

So these are the 12 Zodiac signs with the 12 Treasuries. However, it's important to realize that any of Kuan Yin's 12 Treasuries can be invoked for any astrological sign, planet, or configuration. So for example, if your Mercury in Virgo needs the action of Kuan Yin's Treasury of Freedom, that's perfectly fine, and perfectly Skillful!

Kuan Yin's Treasuries are infinitely flexible, ready to be applied to any situation. They do, however, have a natural affinity, from 1 through 12, to the Zodiac signs from 1 through 12 beginning with Capricorn.

In conclusion, let me say that this relationship between Eastern and Western mystical tools is a wonderful thing we can be grateful for. And Kuan Yin's Treasuries and the Zodiac signs are not the only such. The ancient diagram of the Tree of Life, used in Kabbalah, with its 10 Divine aspects, is a

graph on which we can convincingly plot both the 10 Vows and 10 Hearts of Kuan Yin (from the Dharani Sutra), as well as the 11 Faces of Kuan Yin--helping us to bring ourselves up the "Ladder" to Enlightenment and Liberation, as well as to bring Kuan Yin's Enlightenment and Liberation down the "Ladder" to us!

Indeed the great 10 Vows or Aspirations of Samantabhadra--Buddha Vairocana's Bodhisattva--which form the framework for all Mahayana Buddhist practice and ritual, also easily plot themselves on the Tree of Life. That's because the Tree is a Universal Matrix transcending cultural and religious boundaries. But this is a subject for another essay, which we might call The Kabbalah of Kuan Yin !