What is AvalokiteSvara?

Guanyin Bodhisattva is one of the four major Bodhisattvas in Chinese Buddhism. According to legend, his birthday is on the 19th day of the second lunar month, his enlightenment day is on the 19th lunar month, his Nirvana day is on the 9th lunar month, and his monastery is Putuo Mountain in China.

Guanyin belief has a profound impact in China, resulting in various folk legends about Guanyin Bodhisattva, such as the widely circulated saying that Guanyin is Princess Miaoshan, the third princess of Miaozhuang King of Xinglin Kingdom. This legend of the female Guanyin can first be found in Zhu Bian’s “Old News of Qujian” in the Song Dynasty. Later in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, Tuan Sheng published “A Brief Biography of Guanyin Bodhisattva” as a complete biography. As a result, a large number of Guanyin storybooks have appeared one after the other, such as “Xiangshan Treasure Scroll,” “The Complete Biography of Nanhai Guanyin,” and “Guanyin’s Enlightenment.

According to classical records, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva became a Buddha a long time ago and was named “True Dharma Ming Tathagata. To save all beings, he drove a Cihang upside down and used the body of a Bodhisattva to find his voice and end suffering.

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is a Dharmakāya master who repairs all his life. He is the Bodhisattva who inherited the throne of Amitabha. He has all the merits of the Buddhas in the ten directions. He is compassionate and compassionate, saves all living beings in distress, and responds to their requests with kindness. Therefore, women and children all understand it and it is deeply ingrained in people’s hearts.

Why is Guanyin Bodhisattva so “spiritual”?

One of the reasons why Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is so “spiritual” is that Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and its practice have the best connection with sentient beings in the world of Saha, making it particularly effective.

Records in the Ksitigarbha Sutra

According to the “Ksitigarbha Sutra,” when the Buddha preached the Dharma to his mother in the Trayast Heaven, he once said to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, “You have a great karma in the Saha world.” As long as all living beings in the six realms listen to, pay homage to, and praise Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, they will not retreat from the path. Receive happiness and ultimately fulfill the Buddha’s prophecy.

Shurangama Sutra records

Furthermore, the practice method of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is also consistent with us. “Surangama Sutra” records that after the 25 excellent teachers finished explaining their respective methods of practice, Manjushri Bodhisattva immediately praised him with a stanza. The stanza reads: “To save people from the end of the world, to save people from the end of the world.

To attain nirvana, Avalokitesvara is the best. That is to say, after the Buddha’s Nirvana, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s “Ear-Perfect Dharma Door” is the most convenient practice method for sentient beings in the end of the Dharma to “realize Nirvana and seek transcendence from this world.

Guanyin Bodhisattva has vast wisdom

The second reason is that Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva has vast wisdom and uses various skillful methods to achieve the desired goals directly or indirectly.

“Huayan Sutra” records

In the Avatamsaka Sutra, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva tells the boy Shancai that he can use four methods of charity, loving words, beneficial deeds, and colleagues to attract all living beings, or he can transform into various images, or use his voice, majesty, and Dharma to inspire all living beings. The mind develops and enlightens them.

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s Two Convenient Dharma Doors

Guanshiyin Bodhisattva also has two major methods of convenience that can help all living beings practice diligently, cultivating good roots, planting a wide range of blessings, and achieving good fortune in times of adversity.

Chant the holy name

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s Universal Door” states that those who recite the holy name of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva can not only be saved and liberated from various disasters such as fires and floods, but can also attain physical and mental purity, which can make people stay away from lust, anger, and ignorance. Children grow in merit and wisdom.

Recite and recite the Great Compassion Mantra.

The “Great Compassion Heart Dharani Sutra” states that reciting the “Great Compassion Mantra” taught by Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva can remove all negative obstacles and lead to rebirth in the Buddha’s land as desired.

“The Great Compassion Dharani Sutra”

The “Great Compassion Heart Dharani Sutra” states that Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practiced Bodhi for countless kalpas and attained Buddhahood. He was referred to as the Tathagata of Righteous Dharma and Brightness. Because of his compassion for all living beings, he would n’t abandon his actions in the afterlife, so he returned to reincarnation again on the journey of mercy. By practicing the wonderful deeds of Universal Worthy, the merits of blessing and wisdom cultivated are as deep as the ocean and as wide as the void, and these merits are specially designed to save all sentient beings from suffering.

At the same time, because he attained Buddhahood in the past, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva has experienced the process of becoming an ordinary person. As a result, he has gained a comprehensive understanding of the difficulties and hardships encountered at every stage of this process and can use the wisdom of Buddhism to overcome them.