Zenshin Florence Caplow: She Who Hears the Cries of the World, Stories of Kannon, the Bodhisattva of Compassion

Rev. Zenshin Florence Caplow shares intimate accounts and stories of Kannon or Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion. She shares the story of Julie Pryde, the public health administrator of her town Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, who worked tirelessly to protect her district during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reverend Zenshin also shares two mysterious stories from her own life experience that “bend the rational mind.” One is about an encounter with Guanyin in the gratitude hut at Spirit Rock one rainy night during a two month silent retreat. The other is about a young girl incarnation of Guanyin who shared a remarkable poem on the day of Zenshin’s ordination. In the recent example of the Maui fires, Zenshin reminds us that when government entities fail during catastrophes, humans are known to come to each other’s aid: another example of how Guanyin is “all around us, waiting for us to take our seat.”