Avalokiteśvara / Lokesvara Thangka

Handpainted Vegetable Colour-Gold Paint Thangka of Avalokitesvara Lokesvara.

Avalokiteshvara is the earthly manifestation of the self-born eternal Buddha Amitabha, whose figure is represented in his headdress, and he guards the world in the interval between the departure of the historical Buddha, Gautama, and the appearance of the future Buddha, Maitreya. In yoga there is a belief that we are all aspects of one energy form. In Buddhism this oneness is sometimes depicted by Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Avalokitesvara made a vow to stay on earth and help relieve all beings from suffering and if he was to ever become disheartened he would split into a thousand pieces. One day after deep meditation, he looked at the world and realized that he affected only a small portion of the population. In a dispirited state he shattered. When all his pieces were unified again Avalokitesvara had a thousand arms to help the world.