"Kuan Yin is the most ubiquitous Chinese deity-and the most loved. She is the living expression of compassion, whose gentle face and elegant figure form the center of devotion in most Chinese homes and workplaces. Until relatively recently, she was barely known in the West and few studies had been made of her. This seminal work explores the origins and evolution of the goddess in ancient China, early Buddhism, Taoism, and shamanism"--