HISTORY OF AVALOKITESHVAVA, The Bodhisattva of Compassion
Compassion can only arise when we do not have a strong sense of separation from others. If there is a feeling that I am over here, and you are over there, and we are totally separate individuals, then we will not be able to truly sorrow at each others' pain, because others' pain will not touch us. In order to truly be touched by the suffering of others, we have to abandon our attachment to sharp divisions between individuals. We need to live in awareness of the flow of energy between ourselves and others. Chšgyam Trungpa explains, "When a person develops real compassion, he is uncertain whether he is being generous to others or to himself because compassion is environmental generosity, without direction, without 'for me' and without 'for them.'"It is said that the personification of perfect Compassion, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (a great being who aspires to help all sentient beings be free of suffering before entering the bliss of Buddhahood), in the beginning of His/Her Bodhisattva career of helping sentient beings, vowed that "Should he ever become disheartened in saving sentient beings, may his body shatter into a thousand pieces." This might seem extreme, but it was symbolic of his overwhelming great Compassion and determination. One day, while helping beings in a higher realm, he looked down into the hells which he had emptied through the teaching of the Dharma, and realized, to his dismay, that countless beings were still flooding into them. In a moment of exasperation, he became so disheartened that true to his vow, his body shattered in great agitation and despair. Despite this, he did not just give up — his consciousness beseeched the Buddhas for help. Of the Buddhas who came to aid him, one was Amitabha Buddha, who became his Guru (personal teacher) Buddha. With the Buddha's miraculous powers, he attained a new form — one with a thousand helping hands of Compassion coupled with the eyes of Wisdom in each palm. With this, he renewed his vow to saving not just limited sentient beings, but all sentient beings.
This might seem like a Buddhist fairy tale or myth. All tales, fictitious or not, can be skillful means to teach us the Dharma, as long as there are morals to them. It is a beautiful "legend" with powerful spiritual metaphors. When we begin our Bodhisattva path of helping some beings, we are bound to be disheartened, due to our unperfected Compassion and Wisdom. In walking the Bodhisattva path which inevitably leads us to come face to face with obstacles such as disappointment now and then, we either succumb to them and lose our Bodhicitta (the heart of wishing to help all beings, along with oneself, attain Enlightenment) or overcome them and become stronger — like Avalokiteshvara. Yes, there are only two choices when we face spiritual obstacles — to be forever weak and trapped by the obstacles we do not cross, or to cross them and become stronger with the experience. When we advance, we move towards Buddhahood. When we do not, we either backslide or come to a spiritual standstill. As we all suffer from spiritual burnout from time to time — let us then, be timely Bodhisattvas to each other — and always help each other recover in good time.
AN EXPLANATION OF AVALOKITESHVARA, The Buddha of Compassion
By His Holiness the Dalai LamaTenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of
Can impure body, speech, and mind be transformed into pure body, speech, and mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases of beings who were like ourselves and then in dependence on the path became enlightened; Buddhism does not assert that there is anyone who from the beginning is free from faults and possesses all good qualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind comes from gradually leaving the impure states arid their being transformed into the pure.
How is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables. Mani, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factors of method-the altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel fulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to become enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient beings.
The two syllables, padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom. There is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom realizing that persons are empty, of being self-sufficient or substantially existent, wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality-that is to say, of difference of entity between subject an object-and wisdom that realizes the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are many different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom realizing emptiness.
Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable hum, which indicates indivisibility. According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of method and wisdom refers to wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom. In the mantra, or tantric, vehicle, it refers to one consciousness in which there is the full form of both wisdom and method as one undifferentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllables of the five Conqueror Buddhas, hum is the seed syllable of Akshobhya - the immovable, the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by anything.
From a lecture given by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet at the Kalmuck
Om Mani Pedme Hum (or Om Mani Pedme Hung), is the most common mantra in Tibet, recited by Buddhists, painted or carved on rocks, prayer wheels, or yak skulls and seen around most usually. Tibetan people, almost all Buddhists, do believe that it is very good to practice the mantra of Chenrezi, the Bodhisattva of Compassion (The protective deity of Tibet), which may, relieve negative karma, accumulate merit, help rescue them from the sea of suffering and achieve Buddhahood. Speaking the mantra loud or silently, spinning prayer wheels with the mantra, and carving mantra into stones are the usual practices.
Om, symbolize one's impure body, speech and mind, and also the pure noble body, speech and mind of a Buddha. Buddhism claims that an impure body, speech and mind can be transformed into pure ones of a Buddha, who was once impure and later by removing their negative attributes, achieved enlightenment on his path.
Mani, the jewel, symbolizes factors of method, compassion and love, the altruistic intention to become enlightened. "Just as a jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel fulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to become enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient beings", the Dalai Lama says.
PADME means lotus and symbolizes wisdom. Growing out of mud, but not being stained by mud, lotus indicates the quality of wisdom, which keeps you out of contradiction.
The last syllabus, Hum, means inseparability; symbolizing purity & can be achieved by the unity of method and wisdom.
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