Our protective Moon, a symbol of yin and their station in space, marks each figure.
The fame of the Virgin of Guadalupe [the Mahayana Buddhist Guan Yin] rose rapidly after the Spanish Conquest and has continued to the present day. A small church was constructed on the spot [in Mexico] where the apparition first appeared [to Juan Diego]. In 1709, a larger church was erected on the site of the original sanctuary. 
In 1745, the Vatican recognized Juan Diego's vision as a miracle and two new Basilicas were built, one in 1904, the present one in 1976. Today the shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City has become one of the most famous sites in Christendom visited by millions of pilgrims annually.
Guanyin, the Buddhist Virgin (a word that does not mean sex-less but virtuous), the Aztec goddess Tonantzin and Hindu Lakshmi (related to the historical Buddha's chief female disciple, Uppalavanna)
Aztec goddess?
However, there is another side to the story. Before the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521, the hill where Juan Diego had his vision had also been the site of an ancient temple to the Aztec goddess Tonantzin ("Our Revered Mother"), later leveled to the ground by the Spaniards.
According to the great Franciscan ethnographer Sahagun "Our Mother" Tonan was also known as Ilamatecuhtli (a noble old woman) and Cozcamiauh (a necklace of maize flowers).
Aztec deities [devas, extraterrestrial entities] could not only be of double gender, but different names represented different facets of the character of the same deity.
Christianity in Mexico has been described as Mesoamerican Catholicism, an inextricable blending of Pre-Hispanic religion with the symbols and tenets of Christianity.
Guan Yin is known as one of the "Four Great Bodhisattvas" (according to the Shambala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen). She is an important element of Buddhism -- the personification of mercy and compassion. Ubiquitous in temples and iconography, she is venerated throughout Asia. Also known as Kwan Yin, Quan Yin, Kwannon, and Kuan Shih Yin, the Goddess of Compassion and Healing is one of the most popular deities in all of Asia. Her name in Chinese roughly translates as "The One who Hears the Cries of the World."
As in Christian-Catholicism, where she sometimes overshadows the founder of the religion, Guanyin is the most beloved and revered of all the Chinese deities. Guanyin is the Divine Mother longed for throughout the world: merciful, tender, compassionate, loving, protecting, caring, healing, and wise.
Guanyin is depicted in various forms and poses. She always appears cloaked in white, the color of purity, and her gowns are long and flowing. She is often holding a rosary in one hand, a symbol of her devotion to Buddhism and its tenets. At times she is compassionately pouring healing water like the Hindu version of feminine divinity, Lakshmi (on lotus at left). Guanyin is sometimes depicted with a book (The Lotus Sutra, which refers to her origins) in place of the vase.At times, she might be holding a willow branch, which is a symbol of flexibility, bend or adapting without breaking. The willow is also used in shamanistic rituals and of course has medicinal properties as well. At other times, Guanyin is seen holding a child (Madonna with child, a favorite them in European art), a reminder of her role as the patron saint of barren women.
Another common form of Guanyin is with a thousand arms. An eye embedded in each palm or holding various symbolic objects. Her arms allow her to help stop the suffering of those around the world, while the thousand eyes help her see those in need. (There is a story of how she got a thousand arms).
