Avalokiteshvara’s contribution to the Buddhist doctrine and his boundless compassion established him as one of the central figures of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Ultimately, Avalokiteshvara is the pure expression of limitless, reference-free compassion, indivisible from innate wisdom. Today, Avalokiteshvara’s mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM, is chanted across the globe, invoking in all beings the qualities of love and compassion present as their own buddha nature. This statue of Avalokiteshvara is made of copper and is offered in copper oxidized and partially gold plated finishes.
*Prior to using this statue as a meditation support on your shrine, it is traditional to have a statue filled with the proper ritual substances and consecrated by a genuine lama.
During the teaching of The Heart Sutra at Vulture Peak, the Buddha settled into the meditation called “Profound Illumination.” Through the blessings of the Buddha’s samadhi, Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, was able to teach to a great assembly of monastics and bodhisattvas. The subsequent teachings were spoken by Avalokiteshvara through his personal insight into the nature of emptiness. During this teaching, Avalokiteshvara introduced the indivisible unity of appearance and emptiness: “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Emptiness is no other than form, form is no other than emptiness.”
In his prayer The Blissful Path to the Ocean of Bodhicitta, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche states:
By the truth of the perfect mind of awakening Generated by the supreme noble Lord Avalokiteśvara And all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, May the supreme mind of bodhicitta be born In me and in all other beings, as limitless as space.
