The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c11.s9: 9. Avalokiteśvara
The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c11.s9
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- English
9. Avalokiteśvara
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Colour—White Symbol—Lotus
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The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (The Watchful Lord) also called Padmapāṇi (Lotus bearer) is the spiritual son of the Dhyāni Buddha Amitābha. He is one of the most popular Bodhisattvas of the Buddhist Pantheon having as many as 108 different forms. A separate chapter is devoted to this Bodhisattva in this work. Here only his special form that occurs in the Niṣpannayogāvalī in the list of Sixteen Bodhisattvas will be referred to.
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Avalokiteśvara is described in the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvara Maṇḍala as:
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Avalokiteśvaraḥ śubhraḥ savyena varado vāmena sarojadharaḥ.
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NSP, p. 58.
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“Avalokiteśvara is white in colour ; he displays the Varada mudrā in the right hand and in his left, he holds the lotus.”
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Avalokiteśvara is four times illustrated in the Two Lamaistic Pantheons ¹. Fig. 57 is a Nepalese drawing of Avalokiteśvara.
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¹ Clark : TLP, Vol. II, p. 7, 11, 161, 195. For further information on Avalokiteśvara and his forms in Tibet, China and Japan, see Getty : GNB, p. 55 f.
Cites (1)
- Niṣpannayogāvalī — Abhayākaragupta, Sanskrit