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| site map | biography of Gangkar Rinpoche | event schedule |
| about 21 Taras | about Chenrezig |

 

Chenrezig is Tibetan for Avalokiteshvara--He Who Looks with an Unwavering Eye. This bodhisattva is the embodiment of all the buddhas' infinite compassion and is white in his four-armed aspect.

His first two hands are pressed together at his heart supplicating all buddhas and bohisattvas to look after sentient beings and protect them from suffering. These hands hold a wish-fulfilling jewel symbolic of Avalokiteshvara's compassionate bodhichitta motivation. His other right hand holds a crystal mala--symbolizing his ability to liberate beings from samsara with ideal means, and reminding the practitioner to recite his six-syllable mantra, OM MANI PEDME HUNG. In his left hand he holds the stem of a blue utpala flower symbolizing his stainless and compassionate bodhichitta motivation. The utpala in full bloom together with two buds stand for the three times and indicate that Avalokiteshvara's compassionate wisdom encompasses past, present, and future.

During the lifetime of Shakyamuni Buddha, Avalokiteshvara manifested as one of his major bodhisattva disciples. In this capacity he plays an important role in many of Buddha's discourses, especially in the often-recited and much-studied Heart Sutra.

Avalokiteshvara is the patron deity of Tibet and his practice was among the very first introduced there when Buddhism initially entered the Land of Snow from India. It has been through the lineage of successive Dalai Lamas that Avalokiteshvara's compassionate influence has poured into Tibet. And now, with the widespread activities of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, this influence is radiating out far beyond the boundaries of occupied Tibet to all corners of this strife-torn world. To request the long life of this eminently compassionate being so that the world may continue to benefit from his enlightened presence, it has been the custom for Tibetans to recite daily the following prayer, now recited by an ever-growing number of devotees from other lands as well:

In the heavenly realm of Tibet
Surrounded by a chain of snow mountains
The source of all happiness and help for beings
Is Tenzin Gyatso--Chenrezig in person.
May his life be secure for hundreds of kalpas!

The following stanzas of request are taken from a popular practice centered upon this figure of universal compassion:

Noble Avalokiteshvara, a treasure of compassion,
Together with your retinue, please listen to me,
May you quickly rescue me and my fathers and mothers,
The six kinds of beings, from drowning in samsara's
ocean.

I request that we may quickly attain
The profound and vast bodhichitta.
May all of our karma and delusion
Accumulated since beginningless time
Be purified by the nectar of your compassion.

With your outstretched hands
Please lead us to the Blissful Land.
I request that you and Amitabha
Become our spiritual masters in all future lifetimes.
Guide us along the noble and flawless path
And quickly lead us to buddhahood.

More information on Chenrezig


| site map | biography of Gangkar Rinpoche | event schedule |
| about 21 Taras | about Chenrezig |