It was a sunny Sunday in Manhattan, and a U.S. businessman took some visiting Japanese friends on a stroll along Fifth Avenue. At the eye-beguiling window displays of Lord & Taylor's department store, they paused appreciatively, then froze in shocked surprise. Kwannon the Merciful. Buddhist avatar of the 33 manifestations, deliverer from dangers of the sword, fetters, fire, water, demons, goblins and enemies, stood in the window, sore beset. Arrows had been shot at Kwannon. A dozen or so protruded from the flowered tapestry behind the figure; one had apparently lodged in Kwannon's head.
The room represented in the window display was...
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