Avalokiteshvara and Pureland
-
-
-
1. Kitradhvaga asked Akshayamati the following question: For what reason, son of Gina, is Avalokitesvara (so) called?
2. And Akshayamati, that ocean of profound insight, after considering how the matter stood, spoke to Kitradhvaga: Listen to the conduct of Avalokitesvara.
3. Hear from my indication how for numerous, inconceivable Æons he has accomplished his vote under many thousand kotis of Buddhas.
4. Hearing, seeing, regularly and constantly thinking will infallibly destroy all suffering, (mundane) existence, and grief of living beings here on earth.
5. If one be thrown into a pit of fire, by a wicked enemy with the object of killing him, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and the fire shall be quenched as if sprinkled with water.
6. If one happens to fall into the dreadful ocean, the abode of Nagas, marine monsters, and demons, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and he shall never sink down in the king of waters.
7. If a man happens to be hurled down from the brink of the Meru, by some wicked person with the object of killing him, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and he shall, sunlike, stand firm in the sky.
8. If rocks of thunderstone and thunderbolts are thrown at a man's head to kill him, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall not be able to hurt one hair of the body.
9. If a man be surrounded by a host of enemies armed with swords, who have the intention of killing him, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall instantaneously become kind-hearted.
10. If a man, delivered to the power of the executioners, is already standing at the place of execution, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and their swords shall go to pieces.
11. If a person happens to be fettered in shackles of wood or iron, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and the bonds shall be speedily loosened.
12. Mighty spells, witchcraft, herbs, ghosts, and spectres, pernicious to life, revert thither whence they come, when one thinks of Avalokitesvara.
13. If a man is surrounded by goblins, Nâgas, demons, ghosts, or giants, who are in the habit of taking away bodily vigour, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall not be able to hurt one hair of his body.
14. If a man is surrounded by fearful beasts with .sharp teeth and claws, he has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall quickly fly in all directions.
15. If a man is surrounded by snakes malicious and frightful on account of the flames and fires (they emit), be has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and they shall quickly lose their poison.
16. If a heavy thunderbolt shoots from a cloud pregnant with lightning and thunder, one has but to think of Avalokitesvara, and the fire of heaven shall quickly, instantaneously be quenched.
17. He (Avalokitesvara) with his powerful knowledge beholds all creatures who are beset with many hundreds of troubles and afflicted by many sorrows, and thereby is a saviour in the world, including the gods.
18. As he is thoroughly practised in the power of magic, and possessed of vast knowledge and skilfulness, he shows himself' in all directions and in all regions of the world.
19. Birth, decrepitude, and disease will come to an end for those who are in the wretched states of existence, in hell, in brute creation, in the kingdom of Yama, for all beings (in general).
[Then Akshayamati in the joy of his heart uttered the following stanzas:]
20. O thou whose eyes are clear, whose eyes are kind, distinguished by wisdom and knowledge, whose eyes are full of pity and benevolence; thou so lovely by thy beautiful face and beautiful eyes! -
21. Pure one, whose shine is spotless bright, whose knowledge is free from darkness, thou shining as the sun, not to be beaten away, radiant as the blaze of fire, thou spreadest in thy flying course thy lustre in the world.
22. O thou who rejoicest in kindness having its source in compassion, thou great cloud of good qualities and of benevolent mind, thou quenchest the fire that vexes living beings, thou pourest out nectar, the rain of the law.
23. In quarrel, dispute, war, battle, in any great danger one has to think of Avalokitesvara, who shall quell the wicked troop of foes.
24. One should think of Avalokitesvara, whose sound is as the cloud's and the drum's, who thunders like a rain-cloud, possesses a good voice like Brahma, (a voice) going through the whole gamut of tones.
25. Think, O think with tranquil mood of Avalokitesvara, that pure being; he is a protector, a refuge, a recourse in death, disaster, and calamity.
26. He who possesses the perfection of all virtues, and beholds all beings with compassion and benevolence, he, an ocean of virtues, Virtue itself, he, Avalokitesvara, is worthy of adoration.
27. He, so compassionate for the world, shall once become a Buddha, destroying all dangers and sorrows; I humbly bow to Avalokitesvara.
28. This universal Lord, chief of kings, who is a (rich) mine of monastic virtues, he, universally worshipped, has reached pure, supreme enlightenment, after plying his course (of duty) during many hundreds of Æons.
29. At one time standing to the right, at another to the left of the Chief Amitabha, whom he is fanning, he, by dint of meditation, like a phantom, in all regions honours the Gina.
30. In the west, where the pure world Sukhâkara is situated, there the Chief Amitabha, the tamer of men, has his fixed abode.
31. There no women are to be found; there sexual intercourse is absolutely unknown; there the sons of Gina, on springing into existence by apparitional birth, are sitting in the undefiled cups of lotuses.
32. And the Chief Amitâbha himself is seated on a throne in the pure and nice cup of a lotus, and shines as the Sâla-king.
33. The Leader of the world, whose store of merit has been praised, has no equal in the triple world. O supreme of men, let us soon become like thee! -
Legends of 1000 Armed Avalokiteshvara
M.B.Shakya
The study of Avalokiteshvara and his forms has great importance for the student of Mahayana Buddhism. In the Mahayana Pantheon as developed in India, Nepal, Tibet, Japan, Mangolia, Bhutan, China and Korea, Avalokitesvara is depicted in the text Gunakarandavyuha, Saddharmapundarika Sutra etc. According to these texts, he is personified as the symbol of compassion, He is frequently mentioned as the god of mercy who will help anybody who finds himself in trouble mentally or physically. He can infallibly eradicate all mundale sufferings. In order to achieve his ends, he can assume various forms, According to the text Karandavyuha Sutra he manifests all possible forms of life for the sake of ignorant and to bring liberation to living. It says: "As different people belonged to different faiths, this compassionate Bodhissattva was obliged to assume the shape of all gods of all faiths."
Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, in front of Buddha Amitabha made to commitment to intentionally manifest into the three realms of Samsara in order to harrow the depths; that is to say, in order to stir from depths and completely liberate all sentient beings from samsara, and to be their supreme guide. Thus in the presence of Buddha Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara made this promise. Also he vowed that if by chance his compassion and his courageous mind of mercy for sentient beings were to decrease, then may his head and his body just completely crack and fall into one thousand pieces.
When Buddha was residing at the Veluvana garden he was surrounded by Arahats. There were five different divine rays coming out of his circle of hair between the eyebrows in the middle of the forehead and gradually it formed itself into a rainbow. Thereafter it went to the north in the direction of the Himalaya country of Tibet. At that time Buddha looked and smiled, then immediately Bodhisattva Sarvanivarana Viskambhi asked Buddha, What is the reason of your smiling, Lord? Buddha answered, "Noble boy! In the future there will be a pure Dharma through which one can be delivered to the path of liberation in the barbarian country of Tibet where there has never been a single Buddha for three junctions of time and there are uncountable demons and ghosts yet to time. "Therefore, Avalokiteshvara will tame those wild men, because once upon a time when he was a Bodhisattva he prayed to One thousand Buddhas Saying," May all the transcendents bless me to be able to time those beings who are into barbarian country. May you bless that barbarian country through my taming, May you bless me to become the parent of those ghosts and demons;. May you bless me to free all those beings.
Once Amitabha Buddha placed his hand on the head of Avalokiteshvara and commanded that noble son, "Now you be the one who can tame the animated beings of the barbarian snow land whereas not a singly Buddha of the Three times has been there. This is the fruit of your sincere prayer for the purpose you have wished. Those suffering beings will be emancipated fromth three lower realms as soon as they see your young holy body and hear the sound of the six mystic syllables, Om mani padme Hum. May your Bodhimind be manifested to the minds of ghosts, demons, evil spirits and hobgoblins and may they be striving with their minds for the benefit of others like Bodhisttvas, instead, of harming others. May all carnivorous animals-such as tigers, leopards, bears and snow bears abandon the mind of eating others and turn into the love of parents for each other, seeing your holy body and hearing the sound of the six syllables.
After making such commitments and blessings from Buddha Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara went by way of international manifestations into the three realms of samsara to be the supreme guide for all sentient beings.
Thereby he went to Hell and emancipated them from both the hot and cold hells by teaching the On mani padme hum. Then he went to ghost realms and emancipated from hunger and thirst after giving a discourse on the same. After that he went to the animal realms and emancipated them from hardship in labour. Then he came to the human realms and emancipated them from the intense suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death by a discourse on the same, Thus he also went to Asura realm and Deva realm to free them from their respective sufferings.
So Avalokiteshvara went into of these realms of Samsara, and he absolutely emptied the ocean of sufferings. Following which he went back to Buddha Amitabha and he declared that the liberation had been affected.
Buddha Amitabha said to him," You should look back again into world!" And as he did, there he saw that once again sentient beings were in samsara and in sorrow, he became so discouraged as he saw that his "awakening mind (Bodhicitta) decreased in the moment he lost his courage. When he became discouraged, in that moment, the promise that he had made earlier declined.
The three realms of Samsara are Kamadhatu, the desire realm, the Rupa dhatu, the Form realm and the Arupya dhaty, the formless realm,. These three reams are so vast and so are the different types of suffering that sentient beings must experience in these realms. When Avalikiteshvara beheld that still sentient beings were in this type of suffering condition in these three realms respectively, he become overcome with sorrow, he become discouraged in the very presence of Buddha Amitabha. He felt how could the time come to ever liberate all sentient beings from this type of promise that he had made before, his head and body just cracked and fell apart into one thousand prices, and he fainted.
Avalikiteshvara, thus fainted, and Buddha Amitabha said to his "My son, where has your courage, your mental strength gone? He picked up all the pieces of his head and the body. At the same time he said," this happened because of your prayer. You deserve the praise of all Buddhas since your prayer was efficacious. However, Noble son Don't worry! Thereby he blessed his broken head into eleven faces and he sat upon those heads, and his broken body into one thousand hands like one thousand petals. Thereafter he said," I bow to you because your one thousand hands are the hands of the thousand universal emperors and those eyes in each of the hand palms are eyes of one thousand Buddhas who will appear in this fortunate aeon.
(Saddharmapundarika Sutra) -
-
-
Nice postings.
Guan Yin Bodhisatva is well known among all buddhist tradition in all regions and have affinity with beings in this world.
It has many dharmadoor, mantra and meditation method which if practised diligently, one can get enlightened in a shorter time.
a bit OT here. The camera company Canon was formerly known as kannon which is Guan Yin in japanese word. -
-
May the Regarders of Cries Alleviate Immense sufferings of many
and Extinguish sentient of 84 0000 kalpas of Karmic offense -
Homage to the Embodiment of Great Compassion
May one who sees feel with great joy and Harmony