Avalokiteshvara

Avalokiteshvara, in Buddhism, and primarily in Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, the bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) of infinite compassion and mercy, possibly the most popular of all figures in Buddhist legend. Avalokiteshvara is beloved throughout the Buddhist world—not only in Mahayana Buddhism but also in Theravada (“Way of the Elders”), the branch of Buddhism that largely does not recognize bodhisattvas, and in Vajrayana (“Diamond Vehicle”), the Tantric (or Esoteric) branch of Buddhism.

Avalokiteshvara supremely exemplifies the bodhisattva’s resolve to postpone his own buddhahood until he has helped every sentient being on earth achieve liberation (moksha; literally, “release”) from suffering (dukkha) and the process of death and rebirth (samsara). His name has been variously interpreted as “the lord who looks in every direction” and “the lord of what we see” (that is, the actual created world). In Tibet he is known as Spyan-ras gzigs (“With a Pitying Look”) and in Mongolia as Nidü-ber üjegči (“He Who Looks with the Eyes”). The title invariably used for him in Cambodia and Thailand is Lokeshvara (“Lord of the World”). In China, where he is often worshipped in female form, he is Guanyin (“Hears Cries”). In Sri Lanka he is known as Natha-deva (often mistakenly confused with Maitreya, the buddha yet to come).

Avalokiteshvara is the earthly manifestation of the self-born eternal Buddha Amitabha, whose figure is represented in his headdress, and he guards the world in the interval between the departure of the historical Buddha, Gautama, and the appearance of the future buddha, Maitreya. Avalokiteshvara protects against shipwreck, fire, assassins, robbers, and wild beasts. He is the creator of the fourth world, which is the actual universe.

According to legend, his head once split with grief at realizing the number of wicked beings in the world yet to be saved. Amitabha caused each of the pieces to become a whole head and placed them on his son in three tiers of three, then the 10th, and topped them all with his own image. Sometimes the 11-headed Avalokiteshvara is represented with thousands of arms, which rise like the outspread tail of a peacock around him. In painting he is usually shown white in colour (in Nepal, red). His female consort is the goddess Tara. His traditional residence is the mountain Potala, and his images are frequently placed on hilltops.

The virtues and miracles of Avalokiteshvara are accounted in many Buddhist sutras (scriptures). The Avalokiteshvara-sutra was incorporated into the widely popular Saddharmapundarika-sutra, or Lotus Sutra, in the 3rd century ce, though it continued to circulate as an independent work in China.

The height of the veneration of Avalokiteshvara in northern India occurred in the 3rd–7th century. Worship of the bodhisattva as Guanyin was introduced into China as early as the 1st century ce and had entered all Buddhist temples by the 6th century. Representations of the bodhisattva in China prior to the early Song dynasty (960–1279) are unmistakenly masculine in appearance. During the Song, some images were male and some displayed attributes of both genders, quite often as a figure who appears largely female but with a slight yet perceptible moustache. Since at least the 11th century, however, Guanyin has been primarily worshipped as a beautiful young woman; this is how the bodhisattva continues to be primarily worshipped in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, as well as in some areas of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and other areas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim that feature a sizable ethnic Chinese community and some Chinese cultural influence. It is possible that Avalokiteshvara, as Guanyin, acquired characteristics of indigenous Chinese Daoist female divinities, particularly the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). A popular legend of the princess Miao Shan, an avatar of the bodhisattva who exemplified filial piety by saving her father through self-sacrifice, contributed to the popular portrayal of Avalokiteshvara as a woman. The fact that the Lotus Sutra relates that Avalokiteshvara has the ability of assuming whatever form is required to relieve suffering and also has the power to grant children may have played a role in the bodhisattva’s feminization. Those characteristics have inspired Roman Catholics to draw parallels between Guanyin and the Virgin Mary.

In Pure Land schools of Mahayana Buddhism, which stress the saving faith that is needed for rebirth in the Western Paradise of Amitabha (Chinese: Emituo Fo; Japanese: Amida), Guanyin forms part of a ruling triad, along with Amitabha and the bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta (Chinese: Daishizhi). Images of the three are often placed together in temples, and Guanyin, the female consort of Amitabha, is shown in painting welcoming the dead to the Western Paradise.

Worship of Guanyin as Kannon probably reached Japan by way of Korea soon after Buddhism was first introduced into the country; the earliest known images at the Hōryū Temple in Nara date from the mid-7th century. The worship of the bodhisattva was never confined to any one sect and continues to be widespread throughout Japan. Kannon’s ability to assume innumerable forms has led to various representations, not all of which are recognizably that of a human female. There are seven major representations: (1) Shō Kannon, the simplest form, usually shown as a seated or standing figure with two hands, one of which holds a lotus, (2) Jū-ichi-men Kannon, a two-or four-handed figure with 11 heads, (3) Senju Kannon, the bodhisattva with 1,000 arms, (4) Jun-tei Kannon, one of the least-common forms, represented as a seated figure with 18 arms, sometimes related to the Indian goddess Chunti (mother of 700,000 buddhas), (5) Fukū-kenjaku Kannon, a form popular with the Tendai (Tiantai) sect, whose special emblem is the lasso, (6) Ba-tō Kannon, shown with a fierce face and a horse’s head in the hairdress, probably related to the Tibetan protector of horses, Hayagriva, and (7) Nyo-i-rin Kannon, shown seated, with six arms, holding the wish-fulfilling jewel.

Avalokiteshvara was introduced into Tibet in the 7th century, where he quickly became the most-popular figure in the pantheon, successively reincarnated in each Dalai Lama. He is credited with introducing the prayer formula om mani padme huṃ! (frequently translated as “the jewel is in the lotus”) to the people of Tibet.