Like a magnificent canopy for a Buddha hall, the brilliant cinnabar leaves of autumn are solemnly decorating the small shrine dedicated to a wooden statue of Sho Kannon Bosatsu (Avalokitesvara-bodhisattva).
Sho Kannon is one of the Avalokitesvara-bodhisattvas and saves the distressed people who are lost on the road to hell. He is always watching those people to surely save them in the blink of an eye at the voice of a call for help.
When saving the afflicted, this "Sho Kannon" transforms into various forms, such as the Avalokitesvara Kannon (Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara), the Eleven-faced Kannon (Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara), the 33-faced Kannon (Thirty-three-faced Avalokitesvara) and so on, according to the types of salvation. To distinguish it from these transformed Avalokitesvaras, this archetypal deity is called "Sho Kannon" (Sacred Avalokitesvara).
With a heart of great wisdom and compassion, this Sho Kannon seems to be gazing calmly at the shining autumnal leaves that will soon fall and melt into the earth. He knows that all things are in a state of flux through the endless circle of birth, death and rebirth.
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