A
Figure of Buddhism
Avalokiteshvara — who hears the cries.
Compassion grown a thousand arms: the bodhisattva who postponed final peace until every being is free, and became Guanyin along the way.
Names & titlesAvalokiteshvara — Guanyin, Chenrezig, Kannon
DomainThe bodhisattva of compassion — hearer of the cries of the world
RelationsEmanation of Amitabha's compassion; takes female form as Guanyin across East Asia
Depicted asA thousand arms, an eye in each palm — compassion that can actually reach
StandingThe most invoked figure in the Buddhist world
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held
Avalokiteshvara's gender migration — male in India, female as Guanyin in China — troubles no one inside the tradition: a bodhisattva takes whatever form the suffering require. The thousand arms come from a story in which the bodhisattva's head and arms shattered from grief at the scale of the world's pain, and were rebuilt more numerous.
From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited
If beings in torment call the name of the one who hears the cries of the world, they will be freed.
Lotus Sutra, ch. 25 (rendered)The chapter that made Avalokiteshvara the most-invoked figure in Asia.
The same ground, other faiths
claims that share this one's ideas
Ahimsa — do no harm.
Hinduism · precept
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Every soul is already omniscient.
Jainism · core tenet
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Guard the tongue.
Judaism · precept
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Love of God and neighbor is the whole law.
Christianity · core tenet
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Your parents have a claim on you.
Islam · precept
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Bhai Kanhaiya's water.
Sikhism · story
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