Finding the Goddess

The Power of the Female in Eastern Traditions

by Helena A. Cochrane

In both Eastern and Western cultures, religion and mythology recognize the power of the female. In religious arts and literature, women have been revered as mothers, spouses, sisters, aunts or daughters. To some degree, every culture has a ritual or time set aside to venerate the Mother figure: she is the giver of life, the protector, the merciful, and the one who sacrifices herself as a gesture of love. The Christian Virgin Mother Mary is the paragon of selfless and powerful love. In Asia, the devout implore goddesses to intervene on their behalf when troubles surround them.

Hindu and Buddhist traditions revere goddesses whose power stems from their primordial feminine, creative, and reproductive abilities. The Buddhist teaching of reincarnation allows transformation of a goddess’s form, or even gender, allowing her to give even greater aid to those who seek her help. The stories featuring these goddesses offer insight into the daily lives and complications that the people of Asia have traditionally faced: seeding and harvesting, birthing and raising children, navigating the open seas and also navigating the daily household transactions in order to survive. I

n Singapore, temples were built in veneration of goddesses by newly arrived immigrants. Praying to the goddesses helped connect them to their homeland. The temples were also a crucial part in establishing a community in the immigrants’ new world.

In the mythology and origins of Asian goddesses, some important features are repeated. The goddesses are compassionate and modest, yet brimming with creative power that overtakes gender stereotypes of passivity.

China:

China's Guan Yin

Guan Yin, goddess of mercy and compassion, is a bodhisattva (a Buddha in training) striving in all ways to find enlightenment, and at times shown as an avatar of (the male) Avalokiteshvara, who in his turn sympathizes with and protects devotees. The impermanence of Guan Yin’s gender adds to her popularity among Buddhists. Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery in Toa Payoh houses an 11 meter-high figure of Guan Yin with multiple (1,000!) powerful nimble hands.

China's Mazu Quingdao

Mazu, goddess of the sea, guides sailors and fishermen in sea navigation. In celebrating Mazu’s birthday on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, fishermen stop all their fishing activities. This respite gives fish time to lay their eggs and provide for the next season’s catch. Thian Hock Keng temple on Telok Ayer St. was built by sailors, who upon arrival went immediately to thank their protector for their safe crossing from China to Singapore.

Tibet and India:

Tibet and India's Tara

Tara, the supreme savior and protector in Vajrayana Buddhism, overflows with compassion and mercy for the vulnerable. She was born from a lotus germinated amidst tears of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara’s sadness. Avalokiteshvara welcomed the help of Tara, since he could not relieve all the ills in the world on his own.

Tara also has some masculine features. In her legend, she declines rebirth in the male form, indicating that whether the deity is male or female is of no consequence to the enlightened mind. There is a Tara Buddhist Center on Race Course Road.

Thailand and Cambodia:

Mae Posop, the Rice Mother, reigns over the planting, germination and harvest of rice, and in its preparation for eating. Mae Prosop’s effigy is made from rice and kept stored with the harvest. This rice figure is added to the seeds sown in the correct season. Mae Prosop’s devotees attend to the Rice Mother’s needs and avoid making her angry by wasting any grains of rice in any stage of its preparation and consumption.

Indonesia:

Dewi Sri, the deity of the rice harvest and the earth, exudes divine energy. She is equated with the Indian goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi. Her supernatural birth initiated an astonishing blossoming into a young woman. Dewi Sri’s great sacrifice was involuntary, though. When jealousies arose among many men who fell in love with the beautiful young Dewi Sri, the village elders decided the best thing to do would be to kill her. From her dead body sprang the many fruits, aromatics, flowers and of course rice, that are the basis of Indonesian food.

Helena A. Cochrane

Since moving from Philadelphia in 2018, Helena has been active with AWA's Walking with Women, Writers' Group and International Choir as well as with Urban Sketchers of Singapore.