Beautiful 1000-armed Avalokitesvara
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
When I was very young in New Jersey, my step parents wouldn’t let me study dharma, do sadhanas, mantras or go to the Buddhist Church much that was nearby with a erudite Teacher in residence.
So when my parents went out, or not around, or busy, I would be in my bedroom reading my dharma books quietly or doing mantras. Sometimes meditations.
I like Manjushri and Avalokitesvara very much. I would recite their mantras endlessly. Nights my step parents went to parties and wouldn’t get home till maybe 3 or 4 am, I would be happily be up in my bedroom doing perhaps 40,000 Om Mani Peme hungs that night I rememer clearly. I looked forward to them going out very much for those reasons.
So I like Avalokitesvara and the ideal He stands for since very young. On Wesak day, Joshua and family from Singapore presented this BEAUTIFUL 1,000 ARMED AVALOKITESVARA TO ME. He is so stunning. I was amazed at the carving. It is carved from wood and 16.5 inches in height so relatively light but has very solid feeling. They purchased this sacred image from Kechara Paradise.
Thank you Joshua and family for such a meaningful and beautiful gift. I dedicate the merits to you and your family.
Tsem Rinpoche
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Wow….such a stunning sacred image 1,000 Armed Avalokitesvara as gift from Joshua and family for Rinpoche . More so receiving it on Wesak Day is indeed wonderful. Merely looking at this stunning images is a blessing. Its such a meaningful and beautiful gift.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing .
Amazing ,truly beautiful 1000-armed Avalokitesvara. A special gift given by Joshua and family from Singapore to Rinpoche. I love looking at 1000-armed Avalokitesvara where ever I went seeing any images of it i will always stare at it hoping to get hold of it. Avalokiteśvara is one of the most famous bodhisattvas in Buddhism, who embodies the quality of compassion and having the ability to understand the suffering of others. Merely looking at this beautiful 1000-armed Avalokitesvara paints a thousand words.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Avalokitesvara is one of the most famous bodhisattvas in Buddhism. Of the many bodhisattvas, it is identified specifically as the embodiment of compassion and as such has been worshipped throughout Buddhist Asia. Beautiful statue of of 1000-armed Avalokitesvara been offered to Rinpoche. A beautiful gift indeed. The bodhisattva seeks the full and complete enlightenment of Buddhahood out of compassionate concern for the salvation of all sentient beings. Very auspicious and meritorious to have one in the home .
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this beautiful statue given by Joshua and family from Singapore .
1984 Los Angeles-Left to right: Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, monk assistant to Zong Rinpoche and the 18-year-old Tsem Rinpoche prior to ordination. Read more- https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/category/me
Tsem Rinpoche at Kechara Forest Retreat, Bentong, Malaysia
Wow…….beautiful statue of 1000-armed Avalokitesvara .
Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. A great being who aspires to help all sentient beings be free of suffering. It’s a blessing merely to see images of Buddha and having one is more auspicious and meritorious .
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this beautiful statue of 1000-armed Avalokitesvara .
This is a very beautiful 1,000 armed Avalokitesvara. It is a great blessing to be able to offer a Buddha statue to Rinpoche on an auspicious day such as Wesak day.
Many Buddhist in Malaysia knows Kuan Yin (or Avalokitesvara), the Buddha of Compassion and have the statue on their altar. May more people practise Buddha’s teaching and apply dharma in everyday life.
beautiful!
perfect for Nyungney practise?
The Practice of Avalokitesvara, Chenrizig or Kuan Yin pusa centres on “Om mani Padme Hum”. It is a mantra that is said to contain lord Buddha’s teaching and blessings, hence reciting the mantra with proper motivation is believed to be able to achieve the blessings of generosity, pure morality, patience, concentration and wisdom. With proper practice one is said to be able to have a calmer mind in times of crisis in a compassionate way especially to those closest to you, or even to those who tried to taunt or hurt you. Avalokitesvara is continously benefitting sentient beings by manifesting into whatever forms necessary through compassion. H.H. The Dalai Lama is known to be an emanation of Chenrenzig or Avolokitesvara. From a teaching given by our guru, 1000 armed Avokitesvara is said to have been transformed with his head shattered into a thousand pieces and repaired by Amitabha Buddha and body rebuilt in the form with a great many heads and a thousand arms fanned out around him to help myriad beings.
I started Dharma with just reciting OM MANI PADME HUM which was taught to me at my office 30 years ago. I use to follow my mum everytime to the old folks home in Jala I mbi to visit an old lady. My mum use to bring her food and give her money. In this old folks home is also a temple. I did not know how to pray then. I saw a little white six inch Kuan Yin holding a wishfulling jewel sitting in a casing inside the altar. I ask the caretaker whether it is for sale. She said yes and I invited her home. I did not know how to do offerings but just put inscence everyday. By just praying to this little Kuan Yin and just offering inscense sincerely I then progressed and Kuan Yin or Avalokitesvara has brought me into Dharma Practice now.
I agree with Susan that Guru Devotion should be the main point of focus to make spiritual progress. At our level where our knowledge of Dharma is still quite basic and theoretical, Guru Devotion forms a strong foundation and clean Guru samaya creates the merit required for removal of obstacles and opening of good karma to receive, understand, practice and realize the Dharma teachings. It is accepted that Guru devotion is the seed of our journey to enlightenment. A healthy seed will grow into a healthy tree and vice versa. Therefore, consistent Guru devotion will lead to enlightenment while broken poor attitude towards the Guru who so kindly imparts Dharma upon us can cause a consequence as severe as rebirth in the 3 lower realms.
If you read about all the greatest masters and scholars, they all rely one common element for their spiritual attainments: Guru devotion and clean Guru samaya. One very good read is http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/07/pabongka-rinpoche-18781941.html about Pabongka Rinpoche. Even a great master like Pabongka, the Guru of all Gurus, places strong emphasis on Guru devotion.
hahaha it’s definitely true about how our Buddha statues “grow” over time! literally, they get bigger and bigger and our altars need to be constantly updated to accommodate the growing family!
It’s true what you say about how Rinpoche has always encourage people to have statues and takes such a lot of care to ensure that everyone has at least an image of the Buddha. He has literally given out THOUSANDS of statues, pendants, tsa tsas, thangkas. Even when he had absolutely no money, starving away in the monastery in India, he would still give out small photos prints of the Buddhas, just so people could have an image of an enlightened being.
I was quite skeptical and not too fond of statues when I first joined, thinking it “fussy” and too elaborate for my liking. It was all of Rinpoche’s hundreds of explanations about the incredible significance of Buddha images that quickly changed my mind. You learn more and more about what every aspect of every statue means: a little teaching of enlightenment, an aspect of the Lamrim and a quality of the enlightened mind that we always aspire towards. In this way, even the simplest image is a huge and intricate teaching in itself, and is therefore highly sacred and precious.
KMP will be publishing a revised edition of the “Faces of Enlightenment” book which will go into much greater detail the symbology and meaning behind every gesture, facial expression and detail of a Buddha. Also, accompanied by many new and absolutely stunning images! Watch this space for more news!!
Dear Davidson
Thank you for sharing such an intimate and personal experience of how you relied on chenresig for your beloved father. You are very fortunate to have come in contact with the Buddha Dharma and is able to offer your father blessings of the Buddha at such a crucial moment. I wish many will read this post and do the same as you did for your father. Whatelse can we give our loved ones…except to practice and dedicate any accumulated virtuous for their happiness.
Kechara Paradise manifested due to Rinpoche’s wish to benefit, for people to invite holy images into their homes and that people will engage in practices to transform and change their destinies. We now have a branch of Kechara Paradise in Penang. Do visit! This is the direction to KP Penang http://www.kechara.com/?p=1785
Dear Loong
I will attempt to answer your question based on what I’ve learnt from Rinpoche. In general, there may or may not be any significant meaning to your dream..though dreaming of high beings and Buddhas are good…nobody wants to have nightmares 🙂
However, what Rinpoche has always emphasized is to not put too much focus in our “dreams, and visions” as these experiences doesn’t serve us and worse off, may lead us down a negative path due to the workings of our deluded, untamed minds.
If I may offer, please do not focus on these experiences but do your daily sadhana, strive to have clean samaya, be kind to others and carry out all the instructions given by your Guru.
best wishes
susan
Rinpoche’s passion for images of Enlightened Beings have been renowned throughout the entire Kechara Empire. As a child, Rinpoche was not only attracted to them but also would recreate them in forms of paintings and make them into amulets to be given out to people for protection. His cousins and close friends would be able to testify to this!
Meeting Rinpoche, your life will begin with probably a small tsatsa of Lama Tsongkhapa or Setrap Chen and slowly grow by itself into a small 6-8″ statue of your liking and eventually make its way into becoming a huge statue which measures to about 2-3 feet in height.
It may sound like a joke but it is true as when we follow Rinpoche’s advise with devotion, our statues follow suit in growing as our merits grow.
Rinpoche’s vision of having to benefit everyone with statues is manifested in new age temples in shopping complexes – Kechara Paradise. These Dharma outlets provide the members of the public with an opportunity to link with the Buddhas through its merchandise.
This beautiful Kuan Yin statue also came from Kechara Paradise.
check it out at Kechara Paradise’s website
http://www.kechara.com/paradise
Wow~!
Very sweet and concise explanation of the 1000 arm Kuan Yin!
In my hometown in Penang, almost every household has got a Kuan Yin statue and every devotee, young or old will recite her holy name and especially the Great Compassion Mantra in its long form.
I remembered when I was young, my father grew ill. As a son, I felt bad I couldn’t do more for my ailing father who was near death and was still constantly going for treatments. It was during this time, I memorized the Great Compassion Mantra and dedicated every recitation of it towards the end of my father’s suffering.
On his death bed, in the ICU, I can still remember clearly no one was around him in his last hours as everyone was exhausted. I stood beside him and prayed that Chenresig come to bring my father to a better place. In my prayer, I imagined a 8ft tall 1000 arm Chenresig like this statue but radiant white in color on my father’s head. It was a comforting moment but ended too soon as my father was pronounced dead abt half an hour later.
May Rinpoche’s sacred works extends to the ends of space,
like the 1000 arms of Chenresig.
May Rinpoche’s blessed vision penetrates to every dimension,
like the 1000 eyes of Chenresig
May Rinpoche’s untiring love and compassion shine into our lives,
like the rays of Chenresig
May Rinpoche’s body of form remain long and strong,
like the physique of Chenresig
Om mani peme Hung
The 1000 arms avalokitesvara is the most common mediation deity that is associated to the great compassion dharani and many people in China and Asia practice this dharani diligently. However, few have obtain the full benefits of this dharani because of the lack of the following ten mind sets as per listed in the sutra:
1. Benevolent and Compassion (慈悲心)
2. Equality (平等心)
3. Detached (无为心)
4. Stainless (无染著心)
5. View of emptiness (空观心)
6. Respect (恭敬心)
7. Humble (卑下心)
8. without chaos (无杂乱心)
9. Without desire (无见取心)
10 Bodhicitta (无上菩提心)
I myself who have limited knowledge of the dharma beseech rinpoche to further explain on the ten minds mentioned above and I apologies for any errors. I believe that this ten minds can also be used in the practice of other chenrezig’s mantra or sadhana.
You are welcome, Rinpoche…Glad you like it. And thank you for your blessings… 🙂
joshua and family
Dear Tsem Tulku Rinponche,
Greetings to you! I have a question that I would like to Rinponche regarding a dream I had some nights ago and then again last night.
A couple of nights ago, I had a very odd dream of dreaming about Manjushri appearing to me and smiling. When I woke up, I felt really good and happy. And again, yesterday night I dreamt that Lama Tsongkhapa came down from the sky and touched my head while smiling. I was rather confused by the dreams. I never had such an encounters before. I tried google for answer but none came out right. Here, I humbly seek for Rinponche’s advice and I’m all ears to hear from you. Much blessings to you and continue to inspire others.