According to the Ksitigarbha Sutra, the 21st Day of each Lunar Month is sacred and special to Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, one of the three Great Bodhisattvas. This is also Hayagriva Day, since Hayagriva is the wrathful and powerful form of Avalokiteshvara.
The very face of compassion, Metta personified in glorious Avalokiteshvara, the compassionate Buddha.
The compassionate Bodhisattva has 108 Forms
Why does the compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara have 108 forms?
Reciting the Universal Gate Sutra is a treasured practice on Avalokiteshvara’s monthly day. Combine with offerings and Refuge in the Three Jewels and dedicate the merit for all sentient beings for a complete and meritorious practice:\
Chant along with us in this video:
Traditionally, one for each bead of a sacred mala (108) — which the main forms of Avalokiteshvara hold in hand — but also represents:
the 108 emotions and poisons to be overcome on the path to Enlightenment
the 108 energy lines converge to form the heart chakra — important for inner practices (completion stage meditations.)
108 senses representing: the six senses (Smell, Touch, Taste, Sight, Hearing and Consciousness) multiplied by three reflecting painful, pleasant and neutral, then two times for external and internal, and three times for past, present and future.
the 108 Tibetan texts
most importantly, the 108 methods to overcome the 108 afflictions of sentient beings — one compassionate form of Avalokiteshvara for each.
Another vital practice on Avalokiteshvara is to chant the Great Compassionate Heart Mantra of 1000-Armed Avalokiteshvara:
Actually, Avalokiteshvara has countless forms. According to the Avalokiteshvara Sutra, the Universal Gate Sutra (which is chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra):
“Good man, if there are living beings in the land who need someone in the body of a Buddha in order to be saved, Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds immediately manifests himself in a Buddha body and preaches the Law for them. If they need someone in a pratyekabuddha’s body in order to be saved, immediately he manifests a pratyekabuddha’s body and preaches the Law to them. If the need a voice-hearer to be saved, immediately he becomes a voice-hearer and preaches the Law for them. If they need King Brahma to be saved, immediately he becomes King Brahma and preaches the Law for them. If they need the lord Shakra to be saved, immediately he becomes the lord Shakra and preaches the Law for them. If they need the heavenly being Freedom to be saved, immediately he becomes the heavenly being Freedom and preaches the Law for them. If they need a great general of heaven to be saved, immediately he becomes a great general of heaven and preaches the Law for them. If they need Vaishravana to be saved, immediately he becomes Vaishravana and preaches the Law for them. If they need a petty king to be saved, immediately he becomes a petty king and preaches the law for them.”
Countless Forms
Avalokiteshvara is so intensely focused on saving everyone from suffering, that he arises simultaneously in many forms — including one with one-thousand arms and multiple heads — and still, the great Bodhisattva hero never rests. Even after Tara was born from the tears of the Lord of Compassion Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig) — and jumped into action to help — still all the many realms are full of suffering beings.
“The Lotus Sutra describes Avalokiteśvara as a bodhisattva who can take the form of any type of god including Indra or Brahma; any type of Buddha, any type of king or Chakravartin or even any kind of Heavenly Guardian including Vajrapani and Vaisravana as well as any gender male or female, adult or child, human or non-human being, in order to teach the Dharma to sentient beings.” Source>>
Guanshiyin Bodhisattva’s popularity and forms eclipse any dualistic attempts to define Her/Him. Venerable Master Hsuan Hua explains why it is so difficult to define the embodiment of compassion:
“In Buddhism, he appears as a Bodhisattva; in other religions he often appears clad in white robes. In Christianity, he is the Holy Mother; he appears as the Holy Mother to teach and transform a certain category of beings … He fills empty space and pervades the Dharma Realm; he is in every place and yet not in any place. He appears according to what kind of body is needed to save each particular category of beings… Guanshiyin Bodhisattva is not necessarily male or female… These are the endless miraculous functions and inconceivable states of Guanshiyin Bodhisattva.”[5]
Her most famous Dharani is the Great Compassion Heart Mantra which celebrates her 1000-armed, 11-faced form known as Great Compassion Guanyinor Avalokiteśvara-ekadaśamukha. Celebrate her special Enlightenment day by chanting along with her Great Compassion Heart Mantra for “skies of merit”:
Avalokiteshvara / Guanyin’s unrivaled compassionate activity in our suffering world makes her a beacon of hope in troubled times. To demonstrate her all-inclusive compassionate nature, she appears on stage as female or male (hence the Her/His above), and countless forms: Holy Savior, compassionate Bodhisattva, active Protector, a 1000-armed miracle — and even ferocious or wrathful.
The most powerful and potent practice is Her Namo praise: Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, which means Homage to Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva:
Perhaps the most famous manifestation is 1000-armed Guanyin — the many arms symbolic of her loving, compassionate, saving activity:
1000-armed Guan shi Yin Avalokteshvara. She manifests with 1000 arms to symbolized her vast and limitless compassionate activities.
No representation of Enlightenment is more loving or compassionate. No Bodhisattva is more active. The great Mahayana Vehicle — that rescue vehicle that hopes to rescue all suffering beings (not just a few) — is exemplified in Avalokiteshvara Guanyin. The two most important concepts in Mahayana Buddhism are Compassion and Wisdom — and Guanyin embraces both.
IMPORTANT RECITATION ON AVALOKITESHVARA’s SPECIAL DAYS: Heart Sutra Recitation (below in Sanskrit and English):
OR IN ENGLISH:
Reciting the Mantra of Avalokiteshvara is a powerful and protective practice. The mantra is Om Mani Padme Hum. The six syllables send out compassion to beings in the six realms, and also protect the reciter from danger and obstacles:
All-embracing love
Robert Thurman explains why Avalokiteshvara is so popular around the world: “…in a sense, Avalokiteshvara is even more than a buddha. After attaining buddhahood, he voluntarily returned to the way of a bodhisattva in order to lead all beings to buddhahood.” [1]
33 meter statue of Guanyin on Mt. Putuo, China, a sacred place for her practice.
Symbolically, Guanyin Avalokiteshvara appears as both male and female: male representing compassion and female representing wisdom. Her power is so all-embracing and loving, that she manifests in endless ways to help us.
Guanyin Bodhisattva — Kuan Yin or Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig — is synonomous with Metta (loving kindness) and Karuna (compassion.)
Guanyin Avalokeshvara does not ask for devotion, nor require it, but her all-embracing Metta and Karuna (Love and Compassion) make her among the most loved face of Enlightenment. Whoever simply looks at her loving, gentle face — even a non-Buddhist — feels instant love, warmth, and peace. Simply that. Gaze upon the loving face of any of her peaceful representations. It’s a proven method for relaxation and stress-reduction. [See this feature Avalokiteshvara Compassion Practices Enhance Treatment of Anxiety and Depression: Science>>]
Even her epitaphs are soothing and inspiring:
Goddess of Mercy (A title given Her by Christian Jesuit missionaries in China, who responded to her loving savior nature.)
She Who Hears the Cries of the World (More or less a translation of Her name.)
The Lord Who Looks in Every Direction
Bodhisattva of Compassion
So perfect is Guanyin that she also arises in the Daoist pantheon and a key figure of worship. How, then, can we define the undefinable? Venerable Hsuan Hua, in a Dharma talk, explains:
” Guanshiyin Bodhisattva already became a Buddha a long time ago, by the name of Right Dharma Brightness. He simply appears as a Bodhisattva in order to teach and transform living beings… Guanshiyin Bodhisattva uses kindness, compassion, joy, and giving to save all living beings. He saves beings from the seven difficulties, responds to two kinds of seeking, has fourteen kinds of fearlessness, speaks Dharma in nineteen ways, and has thirty-two response bodies.”
The weeping Guan Yin. Guan Yin’s name literally translates (in some versions) as “She who hears the cries of the world.” The goddess of mercy and compassion is none other than Avalokiteshvara.
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