| Sahasrabhuja Sahasranetra Avalokiteshvara |
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Sahasra-bhuja Sahasra-netra Avalokiteśvara (Thousand Armed Thousand Eyed Avalokiteshvara) is one of the widely venerated forms of Avalokiteśvara. 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 Kāraṇḍavyūha Sutra, Avalokiteshvara enters the Avici hells, to save the beings there. He converts the fire pits into cool refreshing pools, 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: namo’stvavalokiteśvarāya, maheśvarāya, padmaśriye, varadāya, vaśaṁkarāya, pṛthivīvaralocanakarāya, jagadāśvāsanakarāya, śatasahasrabhujāya, koṭīśatasahasranetrāya, ekādaśaśīrṣāya, vaḍavāmukhaparyantāya,[...]
namo’stvavalokiteśvarāya, maheśvarāya, padmaśriye, varadāya, vaśaṁkarāya, pṛthivīvaralocanakarāya, jagadāśvāsanakarāya, śatasahasrabhujāya,koṭīśatasahasranetrāya, ekādaśaśīrṣāya, vaḍavāmukhaparyantāya,[...]
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 "Mahā Karuṇā Dhāraṇī", 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 Caryā Kalpa of the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara recorded by Amoghavajra
Corrected Text by Lokesh Chandra by comparing Taisho 1056 & 1062B) (From his Book)
namo ratnatrayāya nama āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya mahākāruṇikāya mahāvīrāya sahasrākṣāya sahasraśīrṣāya sahasrapadāya sahasrajihvāya sahasrabhujāya ehi bhagavann āryāvalokiteśvara ugra atyugra mahāugra mahānāda kili kili kili kili mili mili mili (mili) cili cili cili cili naṭa naṭa naṭa naṭa hasa hasa hasa hasa kuru kuru kuru kuru ehyehi mahāvīra balaṁ dada vīryaṁ dada sarva kāmaṁ me prayaccha śīghraṁ vaśaṁ me rāṣṭraṁ sarājakaṁ kuru sahasrabhuja sahasravīra lokeśvara sādhaya sadā siddhiṁ me bhava varado bhavāgro bhava me oṁ namo'stute bhagavann āryāvalokiteśvara prabudhya prasīda naḥ varado mama bhavāhi svāhā
* 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 trayāya namaḥ āryavalokiteśvarāya bodhisatvāya mahāsatvāya mahākāruṇikāya makāvīrāya sahasrākṣāya sahasraśīṣāya sahasrapadaya sahasrajidvāya sahasrabhujāya ehi bhagavaṃ nāryāvalokiteśvara ugra atmagra mahāugra mahānāda kili kli kili kili mili mili mili cili cili cili cili naṭu naṭu naṭu naṭu krasa krasa krasa krasa kuru kuru kuru kuru ehyehi mahāvīra valaṃ dada vīryaṃ dada savaṃ kāmaṃ me prayaccha śīghraṃ vaśaṃ me rāṣṭra sarājakaṃ kuru sahasrabhuja sahasravīra lokeśvara sādhaya sadā siddhiṃ me bhava dharado bhava agro bhavāmi oṃ namostute bhagavaṃ tnāryāvalokiteścara prapudhya prasīda maḥ varado mama bhavāhi svāhā
The Corrupted Version as recorded in the Chinese Tripitaka : CBETA Reader : Taisho No. 1056 Fascicle 2 namo ratnatrayāya namaḥ āryāvalākiteśvarāya bodhisatvāya mahāsatvāya mahākāruṇikāya mahāvīrāya sahasrākṣāya sahasraśīṣāya sahasrapadāya sahasrajihvāya sahasrabhujāya ehā bhagavaṃ nāryāvalokiteśvara ugra ātyugra mahāugra mahāmahānāda kili kili kili kili mili mili mili mili cili cili cili cili naṭu naṭu naṭu naṭu naṭu krasa krasa krasa krasa kuru kuru kuru kuru kuru ehyehi mahāvīra valaṃ dada vīryaṃ dada savaṃ hāmaṃ me prayaccha śīghraṃ vaśaṃ me rāṣṭra sarājakaṃ kuru sahasrabhuja sahasravīra lokeśvara sādhaya sadā siddhiṃ me bhadharado bhavagro abhavāmi oṃ namostute bhagavaṃ tnāryāvalokiteśvara prapudhya prasīda maḥ varado mama bhavāhi svāhā
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 ratnatrayāya namaḥ āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisatvāya mahāsatvāya mahākāruṇikāya mahāvīrāya sahasrākṣāya sahasraśīrṣāya sahasrapādāya sahasrajihvāya sahasrabhujāya ehā bhagavaṃ āryāvalokiteśvara ugra ātyugra mahāugra mahāmahānāda kili kili kili kili mili mili mili mili cili cili cili cili naṭu naṭu naṭu naṭu naṭu krasa krasa krasa krasa kuru kuru kuru kuru kuru ehyehi mahāvīra valaṃ dada vīryaṃ dada sarva hāmaṃ me prayaccha śīghraṃ vaśaṃ me rāṣṭra sarājakaṃ kuru sahasrabhuja sahasravīra lokeśvara sādhaya sadā siddhiṃ me bhadharado bhava agro bhavāmi oṃ namostute bhagavaṃ āryāvalokiteśvara prapudhya prasīda māṃ varado mama bhavāhi svāhā
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 this form to the Vedic Purusha. The Purusha Sukta in Rig Veda explains the primordial Purusha,as having "Thousand Heads", "Thousand Eyes", "Thousand Feet". ( sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt ). 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 corruptions occur due to misreading of the closely-resembling siddham characters.
bha,va,ba are very similar in appearance, which may cause some amount of confusion. See Jayarava's post here:
bhava dharado (T. 1062B) is actually bhava varado. valaṃ (1056 & 1062B) is balaṃ.
sahasrajidvāya (T. 1062B) is sahasrajihvāya (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 makāvīrāya (for mahāvīrāya) :: T.1056 hāmaṃ (for Kāmaṃ) |
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