The ancient Indian "Goddess of Smallpox" Hariti, the "Mother of the Demons," had to undergo in Buddhism a transformation to become a Goddess giving children to the human race and protecting them. The Tantric doctrines of the esoteric schools had taught the theory of the female supplement to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by the Goddess Tara in her different manifestations, wisdom and energy being attributed to the Goddess and methodology to the male partner. Such a female supplementary form of the Bodhis-əttva Avalokitesvara is Manipadma, the well-known invocation in Buddhis being addressed to her nate, it was also taught that the Bodhisattvas could take manifold forms to be the saviour of others, for instance o the s! of a woman.
All these points offered the possibility to revive within Buddhism the idea of kindness combined with wisdom and of the benevolent mercy of the Magna Mater in a new transformation in which the philosopher can see an indefinitely deeper meaning. About the 12th century the female form of the male Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (in Chinese mostly called Kuan Yin) started her triumphal march; it has put in the background the "Mother of the Demons" Hariti, and also the native goddesses, such as the "Mistress of the Heaven," the "Patroness of the Seafarers," the "Fairy Lady of the Moon," the "Fairy Queen of the West" and others.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.