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Avalokiteshvara
Avalokiteshvara

Avalokiteshvara



Avalokiteshvara (Sanskrit, lit. "Lord who looks down"; Tibetan spyan-ras-gzigs dbang-phyug) is a manifestation of the compassion (bodhichitta) of all buddhas. Avalokiteshvara can be seen as a deity or as referring to the Bodhisattvas of Compassion. The Tibetan name is Chenrezig. Avalokiteshvara is a symbol of the Cosmic Christ.

The eleven-headed, thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara is the symbol of the many Bodhisattvas of compassion that attained the ten Bodhisattva stages and also symbolizes the many Avalokiteshvara’s incarnations or Buddhas of compassion within the different Sephiroth of the Tree of Life. He is also known as Kuan-Yin and Chenrezig; in Hinduism he is Vishnu. In the Greek language he is Khristos or Christ who looks in every direction in order to assist and save any being through his Bodhisattvas. Thus, its thousand arms extend his helping hands toward all beings. His ten heads indicate the process through the ten Bodhisattva stages towards the perfection of the Nirmanakaya Body; these stages are represented in the ten hierarchies of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life of the world of Yetzirah with the eleventh that represents the acquisition of the Samboghakaya Body; thus, the eleventh head indicates the incarnation of the universal compassion of all Buddhas. The ten heads also represent the prajnaparamita type of vision that is able to look at all beings within and without the ten Sephiroth of space; the eleventh head represents the all-encompassing Buddha wisdom (Chokmah).