Thousand-armed and Thousand-eyed Avalokiteshvara

Abstract

The Buddhist pantheon consists of a vast array of deities, beginning with the historical Buddha Shakyamuni and expanding to include bodhisattvas, guardian figures, wrathful deities, and more. This painting depicts the Thousand-armed and Thousand-eyed Avalokiteshvara surrounded by attendant and guardian deities. Avalokiteshvara, one of the most important bodhisattvas in Buddhism, was popularly known as the “perceiver of the world’s cries.” Bodhisattvas, meaning literally “enlightened beings,” were devoted, out of a deep sense of compassion, to aiding other sentient beings in their quest for enlightenment, even to the point of postponing their own entry into nirvana. In this particular form of Avalokiteshvara, the deity is seated facing forward on a lotus pedestal with a resplendent jeweled canopy above him. The “thousand” arms of the deity, each containing a single eye, fan out in a circular fashion so as to completely envelop his body. The largest of the arms, located closer to the body, hold implements such as a sutra, mirror, water vessel, alms bowl, and willow spray. Inside the bodhisattva’s elaborate headdress is a tiny figure of Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Pure Land with whom Avalokiteshvara was associated.