Something you don't know about Bodhisattvas: Avalokitesvara (Mayo 2024)
Avalokiteshvara, (Sanskrit: avalokita, "naghahanap sa"; ishivara, "panginoon") Intsik (Pinyin) Guanyin o (Rade-Giles romanization) Kuan-yin, Japanese Kannon, sa Budismo, at pangunahin sa Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle") Budismo, ang bodhisattva ("buddha-to-be") ng walang katapusang pakikiramay at awa, marahil ang pinakapopular sa lahat ng mga figure sa Buddhist alamat. Si Avalokiteshvara ay minamahal sa buong mundo ng Buddhist — hindi lamang sa Mahayana Buddhism kundi pati na rin sa Theravada ("Way of the Elderers"), ang sangay ng Buddhism na higit sa lahat ay hindi kinikilala ang bodhisattvas, at sa Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle"), ang Tantric (o Esoteric) sangay ng Budismo.
Lubos na ipinakita ng Avalokiteshvara ang pagpapasiya ng bodhisattva na ipagpaliban ang kanyang sariling buddhahood hanggang sa tulungan niya ang bawat nagpadala sa mundo na makamit ang pagpapalaya (moksha; literal, "paglaya") mula sa pagdurusa (dukkha) at proseso ng kamatayan at muling pagsilang (samsara). Ang kanyang pangalan ay iba't ibang kahulugan na "panginoon na tumitingin sa bawat direksyon" at "panginoon ng kung ano ang nakikita natin" (iyon ay, ang tunay na nilikha na mundo). Sa Tibet siya ay kilala bilang Spyan-ras gzigs ("Sa isang Pitying Look") at sa Mongolia bilang Nidü-ber üjegči ("Siya na Tumitingin sa mga Mata"). Ang pamagat na palaging ginagamit para sa kanya sa Cambodia at Thailand ay Lokeshvara ("Lord of the World"). Sa China, kung saan siya ay madalas na sinasamba sa babaeng form, siya ay Guanyin ("Hears Cries"). Sa Sri Lanka siya ay kilala bilang Natha-deva (madalas na nagkakamali sa pagkalito kay Maitreya, ang buddha na darating).
Ang Avalokiteshvara ay ang pagpapakita sa mundo ng isinilang na walang hanggan na Buddha Amitabha, na ang figure ay kinakatawan sa kanyang headdress, at binabantayan niya ang mundo sa pagitan ng pag-alis ng makasaysayang Buddha, Gautama, at ang hitsura ng hinaharap na buddha, Maitreya. Pinoprotektahan ng Avalokiteshvara laban sa pagkawasak ng barko, sunog, mamamatay-tao, magnanakaw, at mabangis na hayop. Siya ang tagalikha ng ika-apat na mundo, na siyang tunay na sansinukob.
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.
