Avalokitesvara's Evolution From Tammuz to Semiramis

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One of the most bizarre things about pagan religion is the teaching of reincarnation. Some gods in later religions would go from male to female depending on which incarnation. I believe that this is a result of one truth: as Babylon Religion evolves there's a whole lot of conflicting stories that it's really one serious mess! In one region of the world to another the cycle of paganism would depend on the movement of either the sun or the moon. Regardless, it was paganism. While Buddhism may claim to be non-theistic but action speaks louder than words. In fact, many of its branches are becoming inclusive. You could see Buddhists teaming up with various religions including Roman Catholicism.

Let's take a look at the god (or goddess) known as Avalokitesvara. The name means "The one who looks down with compassion." Earlier Sankrit says "the lord who looks from above" or "he who looks from above". Yet overtime, this god became a goddess. It seems to be that most pagan religions can't move forward unless one element is added namely Semiramis.

Avalokitesvara as a god was what would be called "skinny, wimpy Tammuz". The Buddhist god was once depicted as a man who was an extraordinarily nice guy who came to others. But I guess Tammuz's popularity wasn't so good for the early stages of Buddhism. Sure, having one counterfeit messiah like the male version of Avalokitesvara would have worked but there was one thing that was selling better than the child god. It was Semiramis. In the next generations, the focus of almost every form of Babylon Religion wouldn't be Nimrod, it wouldn't be Tammuz but it would be Semiramis.

It just took one gimmick concerning Avalokitesvara the embodiment of infinite compassion. Do these two mother and child figures look familiar? If they do, on the left side is the female form of Avalokitesvara as a patron goddess for mothers. Sometimes, she is depicted with many children around her like how the Roman Catholic Mary is seldom portrayed with children around her. But on the right is the symbol of the mother goddess holding her son. Earlier versions of Babylonian mythology even say that Semiramis didn't want to lose her power so she did the unthinkable - she married her own son for power! It looks like that the transformation of Avalokitesvara from a god based on Tammuz to somebody based on Semiramis meant this. It means the triumph of Semiramis over Tammuz in getting the top spot as the embodiment of compassion. Seeing the female version of Avalokitesvara hold a child in her arms proved how "superior" she is over the male version of Avalokitesvara.

What can also be seen since Buddhism is from India then the male and female version of Avalokitesvara may share attributes to various Hindu gods and goddesses. Avalokitesvara in his male form may share attributes to Vishnu or any of his avatars such as Rama or Krishna. Avalokitesvara in her female form may share attributes to Gayatri (the Hindu goddess of infinite compassion whose name also means "she who hears the cries of the world), Lakshmi (the consort of Vishnu), or any Hindu goddesses for that matter. You may see male and female versions of the same god or goddess to have multiple arms like a Hindu god or goddess. Clearly, it took its roots from the Indian version of Babylon Religion!

Even in the goddess form, Avaloktisvara has been subject to so many changes. If the mythologies of the ancient world have so many interpretations then no pagan religion is left without those contradictions. One good example is how her story to how she went to transform from a mortal woman into a goddess (which is also called Boddhisatva or Buddhist saint) varies from country to country. It ends up in conflict as one source states she's an Indian princess and another source states that she's a Chinese princess. To "resolve" all the contradictions may have resulted to why Avalokitesvara's forms as both Tammuz and Semiramis resulted to the doctrine of the 33 incarnations. I heard there's even a Buddhist temple that worships all 33 incarnations when all of them come from nothing but conflicting stories about the same character.

Today, some people even compare Avalokitesvara as a goddess to the Virgin Mary of Roman Catholicism seeking for "internal dialogue". What shouldn't be surprising is that almost every Buddhist temple today would prefer Avalokitesvara as a goddess than as a god. In short, it's another transformation for Semiramis and how the Queen of Heaven has become mainstream in Babylon Religion. After all, you could consider how the Queen of Heaven may vary from country to country or how some countries have more than one mother/child worship tandem such as the following outside of Babylon:
  • Some say that the Queen of Heaven or Queen of the Gods of the Greeks and Romans namely Hera/Juno gave birth to Hephaestus/Vulcan without the aid of any father. Later, Aphrodite/Venus and Eros/Cupid were also another mother/child team in both Greece and Rome.
  • The Chinese pantheon has both Wang Mu Niang Niang the supreme goddess (who is also referred to as the Holy Mother of China and was erroneously referred to as Shing Moo by the late Alexander Hislop, she is also called Xi Wang Mu by some) is also prayed to more than her eldest son who's birthday hits on the 25th day of the 12th lunar month. Sounds familiar? 

So it's no surprise that Buddhism and many of its branches had to end up creating their own version to compete with other pagan religions. Just think how often pagan religion changes because of two facts. One is people get bored very easily and two there's always competition between cults. What wasn't too surprising was that later even Taoism ended up embracing Avalokitesvara as Guan Yin Ma or Mother Kuan Yin as another mother goddess.

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