Lo Kite Sh Bar A
6
Sahasra-bhuja Sahasra-netra Avalokitevara (Thousand Armed Thousand Eyed Avalokiteshvara) is one of the widely venerated forms of Avalokitevara. He has 48 principal arms which hold various instruments, and the rest of the arms form a background. He has an eye in each of those thousand palms. In the Kraavyha Sutra, Avalokitesh vara enters the Avici hells, to save the beings there. He converts the fire pits into cool refreshing pool s, and makes the Avici Naraka a paradise. The Guardians report this to Yama. Yama wonders whether the being who had done such a transformation , was Shiva, Vishnu, a Rakshasa or some other supernatural being. When seen through his divine eyes, he finds Avalokiteshvara there. He then appears before Avalokiteshvara, he places his head at the feet of avalokiteesvara and worships Him. He utters the following praises on Avalokitesvara: namostvavalokitevar ya, mahevary a, padmariye, varadya, vaakarya , pthivvaralocan akarya, jagadvsanakarya , atasahasrabh ujya, koatasahasran etrya, ekdaarya, vaavmukh aparyantya,[...] namostvavalokitevar ya, mahevary a, padmariye, varadya, vaakarya , pthivvaralocanakarya, jagadvsanakarya, atasahasrabhujya ,koatasahasranetrya , ekdaarya , vaavmukhaparyantya,[...] The words in bold reads Hundred-Thousan d-Armed , Ten-Million-Hundred-Th ousand-Eyed, Eleven-Headed. The God of Death, Yama praises Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara as having hundred- thousand-arms and Ten-millions times that amount of E yes. But interestingly his heads seems to be constant always counting to Eleven There are lots of hymns praising the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara, the most popular one is the "Mah Karu Dhra", popularly known as the Great Compassion Mantra.However there are other less known hymns to the Thousand Armed Avalokiteshvara, many of such hymns are presented in Lokesh Chandra's book, "Thousand Armed Avalokitsvara". One Such hymn is from Cary Kalpa of the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara recorded by Amoghavajra
Transcript of Lo Kite Sh Bar A
8/3/2019 Lo Kite Sh Bar A
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lo-kite-sh-bar-a 1/6
Sahasra-bhuja Sahasra-netra Avalokitevara (Thousand Armed Thousand Eyed Avalokiteshvara) is one of the widely venerated forms of Avalokitevara. He has 48 principal armswhich hold various instruments, and the rest of the arms form a background. He has an eye in eachof those thousand palms.
In the Kraavyha Sutra, Avalokiteshvara enters the Avici hells, to save the beings there. Heconverts the fire pits into cool refreshing pools, and makes the Avici Naraka a paradise. TheGuardians report this to Yama. Yama wonders whether the being who had done such atransformation, was Shiva, Vishnu, a Rakshasa or some other supernatural being. When seenthrough his divine eyes, he finds Avalokiteshvara there.
He then appears before Avalokiteshvara, he places his head at the feet of avalokiteesvara and
worships Him. He utters the following praises on Avalokitesvara:
namostvavalokitevarya, mahevarya, padmariye, varadya, vaakarya,
pthivvaralocanakarya, jagadvsanakarya, atasahasrabhujya, koatasahasranetrya,ekdaarya, vaavmukhaparyantya,[...]
namostvavalokitevarya, mahevarya, padmariye, varadya, vaakarya,pthivvaralocanakarya, jagadvsanakarya, atasahasrabhujya,koatasahasranetrya , ekdaarya,vaavmukhaparyantya,[...]
The words in bold reads Hundred-Thousand-Armed , Ten-Million-Hundred-Thousand-Eyed,
Eleven-Headed. The God of Death, Yama praises Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara as having hundred-
thousand-arms and Ten-millions times that amount of Eyes. But interestingly his heads seems to be
constant always counting to Eleven
There are lots of hymns praising the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara, the most popular one is the
"Mah Karu Dhra", popularly known as the Great Compassion Mantra.However there are
other less known hymns to the Thousand Armed Avalokiteshvara, many of such hymns are
presented in Lokesh Chandra's book, "Thousand Armed Avalokitsvara".
One Such hymn is from Cary Kalpa of the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara recorded
by Amoghavajra
8/3/2019 Lo Kite Sh Bar A
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lo-kite-sh-bar-a 2/6
8/3/2019 Lo Kite Sh Bar A
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lo-kite-sh-bar-a 3/6
Corrected Text by Lokesh Chandra by comparing Taisho 1056 & 1062B) (From hisBook)
namo ratnatrayya
namaryvalokitevarya bodhisattvya mahsattvya mahkruikyamahvryasahasrkya sahasrarya sahasrapadya sahasrajihvya sahasrabhujya
ehi bhagavann ryvalokitevara
ugra atyugra mahugra mahnda
kili kili kili kili
mili mili mili (mili)
cili cili cili cili
naa naa naa naa
hasa hasa hasa hasa
kuru kuru kuru kuru
ehyehi mahvra
bala dada vrya dada
sarva kma me prayaccha
ghra vaa me
rra sarjaka kuru
sahasrabhuja sahasravra lokevara
sdhaya sad siddhi me
bhava varado bhavgro bhava meo namo'stute bhagavann ryvalokitevara
prabudhya prasda na
varado mama bhavhi svh
* Lokesh Chandra's text has 3 mili's, but it is more consistent to have 4 mili's.
The Corrupted Version as recorded in the Chinese Tripitaka : CBETA Reader : Taisho No.1062B
namo ratna trayya
nama ryavalokitevarya bodhisatvya mahsatvya mahkruikya
makvrya sahasrkya sahasraya sahasrapadaya sahasrajidvya sahasrabhujya
ehi bhagava nryvalokitevara
ugra atmagra mahugra mahnda
8/3/2019 Lo Kite Sh Bar A
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lo-kite-sh-bar-a 4/6
kili kli kili kili
mili mili mili
cili cili cili cili
nau nau nau nau
krasa krasa krasa krasakuru kuru kuru kuru
ehyehi mahvra
vala dada vrya dada
sava kma me
prayaccha ghra vaa me
rra sarjaka kuru
sahasrabhuja sahasravra lokevara
sdhaya sad siddhi me
bhava dharado bhava agro bhavmi
o namostute bhagava tnryvalokitecara
prapudhya prasda ma
varado mama bhavhi svh
The Corrupted Version as recorded in the Chinese Tripitaka : CBETA Reader : Taisho No.1056 Fascicle 2
namo ratnatrayya
nama ryvalkitevarya bodhisatvya mahsatvya mahkruikya
mahvrya sahasrkya sahasraya sahasrapadya sahasrajihvya sahasrabhujya
eh bhagava nryvalokitevara
ugra tyugra mahugra mahmahnda
kili kili kili kili
mili mili mili mili
cili cili cili cili
nau nau nau nau nau
krasa krasa krasa krasa
kuru kuru kuru kuru kuru
ehyehi mahvra vala dada vrya dada
sava hma me prayaccha
ghra vaa me
rra sarjaka kuru
8/3/2019 Lo Kite Sh Bar A
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lo-kite-sh-bar-a 5/6
sahasrabhuja sahasravra lokevara
sdhaya sad siddhi me
bhadharado bhavagro abhavmi
o namostute bhagava tnryvalokitevara
prapudhya prasda mavarado mama bhavhi svh
CBETA reader gives various footnotes or alternate readings (I am not sure what those
references in the middle of the text mean) for the above text. Replacing the sensible
alternate forms (some alternates dont make any sense) gives the following version.
namo ratnatrayya
nama ryvalokitevarya bodhisatvya mahsatvya mahkruikya
mahvrya sahasrkya sahasrarya sahasrapdya sahasrajihvya sahasrabhujya
eh bhagava ryvalokitevara
ugra tyugra mahugra mahmahnda
kili kili kili kili
mili mili mili mili
cili cili cili cili
nau nau nau nau nau
krasa krasa krasa krasa
kuru kuru kuru kuru kuru
ehyehi mahvra vala dada vrya dada
sarva hma me prayaccha
ghra vaa me
rra sarjaka kuru
sahasrabhuja sahasravra lokevara
sdhaya sad siddhi me
bhadharado bhava agro bhavmi
o namostute bhagava ryvalokitevaraprapudhya prasda m
varado mama bhavhi svh
This hymn expands the appearance of Avalokitesvara as having Thousand Heads (Sahasra-Shirsha),
Thousand Feet (Sahasara-Pada) & Thousand Tounges (Sahasra-Jihva). One cannot but compare
8/3/2019 Lo Kite Sh Bar A
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lo-kite-sh-bar-a 6/6
this form to the Vedic Purusha. The Purusha Sukta in Rig Veda explains the primordial Purusha,as
having "Thousand Heads", "Thousand Eyes", "Thousand Feet". ( sahasrar purua
sahasrka sahasrapt ). The followers of the Vedic religion believe that, it is from this Vedic
Purusha's body, the entire universe along with all the deities had emerged .
It is also to be noted that, in the Karandavyuha Sutra, Avalokiteshvara takes the role of this
primordial Purusha emanating all the Vedic gods from his body. (See: Srishtikarta Lokeshvara)
The description of Avalokiteshvara as having Thousand Heads, Feet and Tougues must be seen as
echoing this of Nature of Avalokiteshvara. He is completely metamorphosed into the Vedic Purusha.
No wonder, He is known to take any forms to teach the Dharma !
Siddham VariationsOne important thing that could be noted in these various recessions is that, some of the corruptionsoccur due to misreading of the closely-resembling siddham characters.
bha,va,ba are very similar in appearance, which may cause some amount of confusion. SeeJayarava's post here:
bhava dharado (T. 1062B) is actually bhava varado. vala (1056 & 1062B) is bala.
sahasrajidvya (T. 1062B) is sahasrajihvya (T. 1056), This has occured due to the fact that dva &
hva look similar.
I have no idea why ha & ka are interchanged. They are usually visually distinct.
T. 1062B makvrya (for mahvrya) :: T.1056 hma (for Kma)
