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Guanyin and Mercy

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Joan Marie
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Guanyin and Mercy

Post by Joan Marie »

I recently binged a show called "Getting On". It was the American version of a show that was originally on the BBC. Surprisingly, the American adaptation is really great. It is a very dark comedy (my favourite kind) set entirely in the geriatric ward of a hospital.

At the very end of the last show of the last season, the very last line is an answer to a question that came up many times throughout the series: "is there any justice?"

As she's about to be wheeled into surgery, the kidney donor says to the woman she's donating to,
This is what I wanted to say. There is no justice. But there is mercy. Because that's what we can give to each other.
Knowing what's behind this would make this even more profound to you, how both these people were deeply flawed, yet at times surprisingly saint-like, and how they really disliked each other, and yet here they were. But the words are profound enough on their own.

And it made me think a lot about what mercy is. It's more than kindness or generosity. It's much more difficult. We are called upon to be kind and to be generous all the time. To be asked to show true mercy is a far more rare opportunity. Justice we can't control. Things would be a lot different if we could. But as she says, mercy is what we can give each other.

It was a surprisingly touching ending to the show.

I've been thinking about it ever since I saw it a week ago or so. Today I was looking around, googling "mercy" (lol- but seriously) and came across the bodhisattva Guanyin. (there are many spellings)

She's know as "the goddess of mercy" and I just wanted to share some of the images of her I saw.

800px-Chinese_-_Seated_Guanyin_(Kuan-yin)_Bodhisattva_-_Walters_25256_(2).jpg
220px-Kuan-yan_bodhisattva,_Northern_Sung_dynasty,_China,_c._1025,_wood,_Honolulu_Academy_of_Arts.jpg
Guanyin_00.jpg
800px-Guanyin_Myanmar.jpg

I love how binge watching a TV show sent me down this path. It was beautifully made which is why I stayed with it to that last second and why that last sentence hit so hard. I am now reading more about Guanyin and enjoying the rabbit-holes today.
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