When I started zen training, I had no interest in statues or pictures of ‘beings’ other than of the Buddha himself. It was as if they triggered feelings of aversion. I had embarked on this new meditation practice; what did all these seemingly antiquated and unfamiliar ‘beings’ with difficult foreign names have to do with that? I soon learned that these ‘beings’ were called ‘bodhisattvas’, ‘beings’ who are dedicated to the universal awakening of everyone. The name ‘bodhisattva’ comes from the Sanskrit roots ‘bodhi’, meaning ‘awakening’, and ‘sattva’, meaning ‘sentient being’. The bodhisattva most referred to was Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin in Chinese and Kannon, or Kanzeon, in Japanese), the bodhisattva of compassion.
I maintained this feeling of disinterest for anything that was related to bodhisattvas for many years. I couldn’t see how these ‘beings’ could possibly help me with my ‘pure’ practice. Surely, no one truly believed that these beings ever existed?
Then everything changed. I realised that, although, in some cultures and practice schools Avalokiteshvara may be considered as an external ‘being’, she is actually part of all of us. Avalokiteshvara provides a model for qualities of compassion that each of us can develop and strengthen. Since that realisation, I have been seeing Avalokiteshvara in people around the world, expressed as feelings and acts of compassion. Part of my practice has become developing Avalokiteshvara’s character within myself. Avalokiteshvara is here and everywhere and she is a model to aspire to.
Perhaps one of the aspects of Avalokiteshvara I appreciate the most, is her fluidity. She is not only traditionally androgenous, female or male, but she also takes on many different manifestations as expressed in the numerous statues and pictures that have been made of her throughout the centuries in different cultures.
Avalokiteshvara’s Sanskrit name can be translated as ‘Lord of what is seen’, or ‘Regarder of the cries of the world’, or ‘Perceiver of sounds’. She is the one who calmly hears and considers all of the world’s sounds of distress and suffering, showing us that active listening is an important component of compassion.
However, Avalokiteshvara not only hears the lamentations of the world, she also uses tools and skills to relieve suffering. In one of her forms, she is depicted with thousand arms, flowing out on either side of her upper body. Each of these thousand hands has an eye in its palm. Many of the hands hold tools such as dharma wheels, lotuses, buddhas, jewels, but also ropes, axes, swords, arrows, mirrors, vases and books. These thousand hands and eyes represent Avalokiteshvara’s practice of skilful means; she compassionately sees what is needed in the moment and helps human and non-human beings using the most effective method.
Look out for her. She is here all around us. She is us.