{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/avalo.htm","path":"bud/tib/avalo.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/avalo.htm","text":"Avalokitesvara and the Tibetan Contemplation of Compassion\nKaren M. Andrews\nMay 31, 1993\nTibetan Contemplative Traditions\nWho is Avalokitesvara? What is his place in Buddhist doctrine\nand history? Why is he important in Tibetan Buddhism? What is his\nfunction in Tibetan Buddhism? What does he do? What are the\nphilosophical explanations of his existence? How is he used in\ncontemplative practice?\nAvalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, is one of the\nmost important and popular Buddhist dieties. Although he originally\nwas conceived of in a Mahayana context, he has been worshipped under\ndifferent names and in different shapes in nearly every form of\nBuddhism in every country Buddhism has entered.\nAvalokitesvara first appears in Indian Buddhism. He is\noriginally mentioned as one of a number of bodhisattvas. These\nbodhisattvas are personifications of various attributes of the\nBuddha. Avalokitesvara is the personification of compassion. The\ndevelopment of a Buddhist doctrine of bodhisattvas is more or less\ncontemporaneous with the development of brahmanic deity worship.\nEither the same societal forces led to both developments, or the\nbodhisattva doctrine was a response to the rival movement of\nbrahmanic deity worship. The bodhisattva doctrine may have appeared\nas early as the second century B.C.E.\nOriginally, bodhisattvas were considered to be less important\nthan buddhas. Buddhas, of course, are completely enlightened\nbeings, whereas bodhisattvas are beings who are on the verge of\nbeing completely enlightened. Bodhisattvas originally appear as\nattendants of the buddhas. Texts speak of there being vast numbers\nof bodhisattvas. A few of the bodhisattvas are more important than\nothers. Avalokitesvara does not appear in the earliest texts about\nbodhisattvas. However, after a while he becomes one of the\nimportant bodhisattvas. By the second century C.E., in the larger\nSukhavativyuha, Avalokitesvara is described along with\nMahasthamaprapta as one of the two bodhisattvas in Sukhavati, the\npure land of the Buddha Amitayus. The two of them are described as\nthe source of the light that illumines the pure land. They also\nteach the devotees of Amitayus, adapting their techniques to the\nunderstanding of the listeners.\nAvalokitesvara's prominence changed as the doctrinal position\nof Mahayana Buddhism changed. In Mahayana, compassion and wisdom\nare seen as being the two most important qualities a person can\ndevelop. In early Mahayana, wisdom was seen as more important than\ncompassion. Therefore, Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, was the\nmost highly regarded bodhisattva. However, with time, compassion\ncame to be seen as the more important quality, and thus\nAvalokitesvara became the most honored bodhisattva.\nAvalokitesvara's rise in prominence did not stop at this\npoint. Probably around the fifth century C.E., a full-blown cult of\nAvalokitesvara emerged. Avalokitesvara evolves into the supreme\nsavior of all suffering beings. He takes on the characteristics of\nvarious brahmanic gods, such as Brahma, Visnu, and Siva. Like\nBrahma, Avalokitesvara is described as the creator of the universe.\n\"From his eyes arose the sun and the moon, . . . from his mouth, the\nwind, . . . from his feet, the earth.\"1 He is also described as\nbeing the creator of the brahmanic dieties. This attribution of\npower to Avalokitesvara may well have been aimed at proselytizing\namong brahmanic followers.\nDescriptions of his physical form become increasingly\nfantastic. He is described as being enormously large. His face is\na hundred thousand yojanas in circumference (a yojana is a few miles\nlong). His body is gold colored. He has a halo in which there are\nfive hundred buddhas, each attended by five hundred bodhisattvas,\neach attended by numberless gods. From the hair between his\neyebrows there flow eighty-four kinds of rays. Each ray contains a\nvast number of buddhas and bodhisattvas. Each of his ten finger\ntips has eighty-four thousand pictures and each picture has\neighty-four thousand rays which shine over everything that exists.\nAnd so forth.\nAt this point, Avalokitesvara takes precedence over the\nbuddhas. Even the buddhas cannot estimate Avalokitesvara's merit.\nIt is said that just thinking of him garners more merit than\nhonoring a thousand buddhas. Avalokitesvara's rise to prominence\nmay be partially caused by the Mahayana doctrine of the bodhisattva\nvow. This doctrine says that the most wonderfully compassionate\ndecision is to vow to stay a bodhisattva instead of becoming a\nbuddha, because bodhisattvas can more effectively help other beings\nbecome enlightened. Because of his compassion, Avalokitesvara has\nvowed not to become a buddha and slip into nirvana until after all\nsentient beings are saved from the nearly endless round of suffering\nin samsara. Instead, he has committed to continued existence so\nthat he can help suffering beings. Avalokitesvara is not the only\nbodhisattva who has made this vow. However, he embodies the\ncompassionate motivation which led all bodhisattvas to the vow.\nThus, valuing the bodhisattva vow leads to valuing Avalokitesvara\nand everything he signifies.\nAs compassionate action is Avalokitesvara's essence, he is\nsupremely helpful. He can assume any form in order to help sentient\nbeings, and there are descriptions of him appearing as buddhas,\nbrahmanic gods, humans, and animals. In all these forms he does\nwonderful things to help alleviate the suffering of beings and bring\nthem towards enlightenment. He rescues his followers from fires,\nfrom drowning, from bandits, from murder, from prisons. He gives\nchildren to female followers who want children. He helps release\nbeings from the three mental poisons of passion, hatred, and\ndelusion. He helpful both on the physical, worldly plain, and on a\nmore psychological or spiritual level.\nIn addition to being the personification of compassion,\nAvalokitesvara has been connected with light more thoroughly than\nany other Buddhist deity. The stories say that he was created from\na ray of light which emanated from Amitabha Buddha. Avalokitesvara\nis a luminous being of light, and is repeatedly described as\nradiating light which shines over all sentient beings and over all\ncorners of the universe. Similarly, he sees everything and everyone\nin all corners of the universe, a fact that is emphasized by his\nname. \"Avalokitesvara\" comes from two roots, \"avalokita\" and\n\"isvara\". \"Avalokita\" means \"glance\" or \"look\". \"Isvara\" means\n\"lord\". \"Avalokitesvara\" has been taken to mean such things as\n\"Lord of what we see\", \"Lord who is seen\", \"Lord who is everywhere\nvisible\", \"Lord who sees from on high\", and \"Lord of compassionate\nglances\". None of these interpretations are definitive, but\nregardless of how his name is interpreted, Avalokitesvara is\ncertainly connected with lightness and sight. His ability to see\neverywhere is important because it allows him to manifest his\ncompassion everywhere. The light that he emanates everywhere is\nsometimes described as a representation of the flow of his\ncompassion to all parts of the universe.\nAs Buddhism spread throughout Asia, the teachings about\nAvalokitesvara were carried everywhere Buddhism went. In China and\nJapan, Avalokitesvara is the most popular bodhisattva. However, he\nhas undergone a sex-change, and is almost always portrayed in\nfeminine form. In China, he/she is called Kuan-yin or occasionally\nKuan-tzu-tsai. In Japan, she is called Kan-non or Kwan-non. In\nboth countries, she is seen as the supreme savior of suffering\nbeings and is worshipped widely as the goddess of mercy and\ncompassion. She gives children to women who pray to her for\noffspring.\nThe cult of Avalokitesvara also spread to Sri Lanka. This is a\nlittle surprising as Sri Lanka primarily follows Theravada Buddhism,\nwhile Avalokitesvara was originally a strictly Mahayana conception.\nIn Sri Lanka, he is called Natha, which is an abbreviation of\nLokesvaranatha, which means \"Lord of the World\". He has become\nidentified with the bodhisattva Maitreya, the \"future Buddha\". He\nis also seen as being identical with several Hindu gods. Natha is\nseen as the guardian deity of Sri Lanka, and is reportedly\nworshipped primarily because he is regarded as a pragmatically\nuseful source of advantages in the phenomenal world. Although I\nhave been able to find very little information on it, apparently the\ncult of Natha has also spread with little change to other Theravada\nBuddhist countries, such as Cambodia and Burma.\nIn Nepal, Avalokitesvara is conflated with the Brahman deity\nMatsyendranath. He is worshipped in elaborate rituals which are\nperformed by a priestly caste. Ordination is handed down from\nfather to son, with some important positions being sold to the\nhighest bidder from within the caste. According to one reporter,\nthe meanings behind the rituals have been largely forgotten.\nHowever, they continue to be performed because they are customary\nand are considered to bring luck.\nIn Tibet, Avalokitesvara has reached a position of tremendous\nimportance. The stories surrounding him, his integration in the\npracticalities of life, and his use in meditative practice have all\nbeen highly developed. The Tibetans started with Avalokitesvara\n(here called Chenrezi) where the Indians left off.\nTraditional Tibetan belief holds that the cult of\nAvalokitesvara was brought to Tibet by the eighth century C.E.\nDuring the eighth century, King Srong-btsan sgam-po was active in\nbringing Buddhism to Tibet. This king is considered an incarnation\nof Avalokitesvara. Tibetans traditionally believe that he was\nactive in propagating a cult of Avalokitesvara. Not long after his\nreign, Buddhism went into a decline, and did not revive until the\neleventh century. Western scholars believe that although there may\nhave been a small following of the Avalokitesvara cult during the\nreign of Srong-btsan sgam-po (and there is not much evidence that\nthere was any such cult then), the cult certainly died out between\nthen and the eleventh century. Traditional Tibetan belief holds\nthat the cult continued in secret during this period. However,\neveryone agrees that the cult of Avalokitesvara first became widely\npopular during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.\nThe belief that Avalokitesvara is the creator of the universe\nwas accepted and elaborated upon. In Tibetan writings, he is seen\nas not only creating the world and the Hindu gods, but also as\ncreating the buddhas and the buddha-fields. The whole cosmos exists\nas a manifestation of Avalokitesvara's creative activity.\nThis is especially true of Tibet, which is depicted as having a\nparticularly close relationship with Avalokitesvara. His vow to\nsave all beings becomes a vow to first save Tibetans, because they\nneed his teachings particularly badly and because the Buddha asked\nhim to concentrate on Tibet.\nStories arose which describe Avalokitesvara as being intimately\ninvolved with the creation of Tibet. One of the more popular of\nthese stories describes the creation of the Tibetan people. Once\nthere was a monkey who was an incarnation of Avalokitesvara. He\nlived in the mountains, where he practiced meditation. One day, a\ndemoness saw him and fell in love with him. She tried\nunsuccessfully to court him, and finally said that she would bring\ndisaster on all the living beings in the area if he did not marry\nher. The monkey was confused, and asked Avalokitesvara what to do.\nAvalokitesvara told the monkey to marry the demoness. The monkey\nand the demoness wed and had six children, who were the progenitors\nof the Tibetan people. Thus, all Tibetans are direct descendants of\na manifestation of Avalokitesvara.\nTibetan Buddhism also produced the innovation of recognizing\nmortal human beings as the incarnations or manifestations of\ndieties. As far as I am aware, Tibet is the only Buddhist country\nthat has this understanding. Incarnations of Avalokitesvara are\nparticularly important in Tibetan history. I have already mentioned\nthe progenitor monkey and King Srong-btsan sgam-po. Another\nmanifestation of Avalokitesvara which plays a crucial role in\nTibetan history is the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has been\nrepeatedly incarnating in Tibet since the fifteenth century. He is\nnow in his fourteenth incarnation. The Dalai Lama is the head of\nthe Kagyu-pa school, which is one of the four major schools of\nTibetan Buddhism. Also, from the time of his fifth incarnation in\nthe early seventeenth century until the Chinese conquered Tibet, the\nDalai Lama was the ruler of Tibet. Thus, Tibet was governed by a\nmanifestation of their protective deity, who was also the progenitor\nof the Tibetan people and the ruler who had brought Buddhism to\nTibet. Further, this deity, and therefore also his manifestation,\nis the personification of compassion, which should guarantee that\nhis rule is kind and reduces suffering.\nAvalokitesvara is important not only in Tibetans' understanding\nof their history, but also in their practice of Buddhist\nmeditation. Particularly in tantric visualization practices,\nAvalokitesvara, as the embodiment of compassionate action, is\ncritically important. In tantra, practitioners create\nvisualizations which are structured so as to bring about\nexperiential realizations of Buddhist teachings2. In order to\nunderstand the purpose of these visualizations, it is necessary to\nunderstand the philosophy which the visualizations serve to make\nexperientially real.\nWhat is this philosophy? It is beyond the scope of my paper to\nlay forth the entire teachings of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism,\nbut I will try to briefly outline the philosophies which are most\ncommonly used in tantric visualizations of Avalokitesvara.\nThe most obvious Buddhist teaching used in these practices is\nthe importance of compassion. What, precisely, is the Buddhist\nunderstanding of compassion? Compassion starts with sorrow at the\nsuffering of others. As such, it incites action aimed at reducing\nthe suffering of others. Compassion is the motivating force behind\nuseful action. It is a warm, positive energy directed towards\nhelping others.\nCompassion can only arise when we do not have a strong sense of\nseparation from others. If there is a feeling that I am over here,\nand you are over there, and we are totally separate individuals,\nthen we will not be able to truly sorrow at each others' pain,\nbecause others' pain will not touch us. In order to truly be\ntouched by the suffering of others, we have to abandon our\nattachment to sharp divisions between individuals. We need to live\nin awareness of the flow of energy between ourselves and others.","title":"Avalo","type":"page"}