Avalokita;  Chenrezig;  Guanyin;  Gwaneum;  Gwanseeum-bosal;  Kannon;  Kanzeon Bōsatsu;  Kuanyin;  Kuze Kannon;  Lokanāt;  Lokeśvara;  Nāthadeva

One of the most widely revered bodhisattvas in Buddhism.

Avalokiteśvara is one of the most popular bodhisattvas in Buddhism. The word Avalokiteśvara is made of ava [verbal prefix (“down”)]+lokita [past participle of the verb lok (“to notice, observe”)]+īśvara (“lord”, “master,” “ruler”) which means “the lord who gazes down (at the world” (see [13], pp. 52–54, 57). It has been suggested that its original form was Avalokitaśvara (see [3], pp. 189–190) with the ending a-śvara (“sound, noise”), which means “sound perceiver”, literally “he who looks down upon sound” (i.e., the cries of sentient beings who need his help; a-śvara can be glossed as ahr-śvara, “sound of lamentation”) (see [10], pp. 44–45; [13], pp. 52–57). The original meaning of the name fits the Buddhist understanding of the role of a bodhisattva. The reinterpretation presenting him as an īśvara indicates a strong influence of Brāhmaṇical-Hinduism, as the term īśvara was ordinarily related to the Brāhmaṇical-Hindu notion of gods such as Śiva (in Śaivism) and Kṛṣṇa (in Vaiṣṇavism) as īśvara being the Supreme Lord, Creator, and Ruler of the world. In the process of acculturation and assimilation, some of the attributes of such a god were transferred to the bodhisattva (see [13], pp. 30–31, 37–52). Now the name Avalokiteśvara is variously interpreted as “the lord who descends,” “he who is enabled to reach the highest understanding,” “master of (inner) light i.e., enlightenment,” “the lord who looks in every direction,” “the lord of what we see” (i.e., the actual, created world), “With a Pitying Look,” “Lord of the World,” and “He Who Looks with the Eyes.”

Avalokiteśvara is depicted and portrayed in different cultures as either male or female. In Tibet, he is known as Chenrezig/ Jänräsig [jän (eye)+rä (continuity)+sig (to look)] which means “the one who always looks upon all beings (with the eye of compassion)” ([2], p. 15). As Chenrezig, he is the Four-Armed male Avalokiteśvara, with two hands in the praying gesture while the other two hands hold his symbols, the Crystal Rosary and the Lotus Flower. His female consort is the goddess Dolma (Tārā). In China he has been transformed into the female deity Guanyin. In Japan and Korea he is known as Kannon and Gwaneum (or Gwanseeum-bosal) respectively. He is the only Mahāyāna Buddhist deity commonly worshipped in Theravāda. Avalokiteśvara is popularly worshiped in Thailand, where he is called Lokeśvara and Myanmar, where he is called Lokanāt. Sri Lankans worship him as Nāthadeva (often mistakenly confusing with the future buddha Maitreya) (see [12], p. 151).

Avalokiteśvara is a personification of infinite compassion and mercy, key virtues of Buddhism. Avalokiteśvara’s skilful means are never ending and he has the ability to assume any form to relieve the suffering of the sentient beings. He quintessentially epitomizes the bodhisattva’s resolution to postpone his own buddhahood until he has facilitated liberation of each and every being in any form in any of the six realms of existence (hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, asuras, and devas). Consequently, he descends to each of these realms to help those who suffer there. Chapter 25 of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra that often circulates separately as an independent sūtra, called the Avalokiteśvara Sūtra, is generally accepted to be the earliest literature describing the virtues and doctrines of Avalokiteśvara. The Avalokiteśvara Sūtra was amalgamated into the Saddharmapuṇnarīka Sūtra (Lotus Sutra) around the third century of the Common Era ([1], p. 15; [8], p. 188).

One prominent Buddhist legend tells that once on finding out that the number of suffering beings yet to be saved is overwhelmingly enormous, his head split into eleven pieces. Amitābha Buddha, seeing his plight, caused each of these pieces to become a whole head with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokiteśvara attempts to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that his two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitābha Buddha comes to his aid and invests him with a thousand arms with eyes on the palms of each hand (Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva). Consequently, the thousand eyes allowed him to see the sufferings of sentient beings, and the thousand hands allowed him to reach out to help the suffering multitudes [11].