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Avalokitesvara
(redirected from Avalokiteshvara)

    Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.

Avalokitesvara

 Chinese Guanyin Japanese Kannon

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Avalokitesvara, bronze figure from Kurkihar, Bihar, 9th century; in Patna …
(credit: Courtesy of Patna Museum, Patna (Bihar); photograph, Royal Academy of Arts, London)
Bodhisattva of infinite compassion and mercy, the most popular of Mahayana Buddhist deities. He is the earthly manifestation of Amitabha, guarding the world between the departure of the historical Buddha, Gautama, and the appearance of the future Buddha, Maitreya. He is the creator of the fourth world, the actual living universe. In China and Japan his gender became ambiguous; he is sometimes called a goddess. For Pure Land Buddhists, he forms a ruling triad with Amitabha and the bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta. In Tibetan Buddhism, he is thought to be reincarnated in each Dalai Lama in order to preserve buddha-teaching.



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? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
For example, the Green Tara mandala represents the female manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the symbol of compassion.
Sand mandalas by Barnes, James / New Life Journal
Salvation: Images of the Buddhist Deity of Compassion, a showcase of sculptural images of the deity Avalokiteshvara and a curtain-raiser for the fall exhibition of Buddhist meditational art.
ART by Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
It is this exact fear, perhaps, that has led the Dalai Lama to recently intimate that he might declare himself the last Dalai to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion, a 607-year-old lineage; subsequent Dalai Lamas could then be elected by a gathering of the highest monks living in exile in India choosing one of their number.
The World's Youngest Political Prisoner by Klein, Richard / The Humanist
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