Hinduism and Buddhism, Volume 2 | Page 6

to express in a form accessible to human prayer and
sympathetic to human emotion the forces which rule the universe. But in this work of
portraiture the Buddhists laid more emphasis on moral and spiritual law than did the
Brahmans: they isolated in personification qualities not found isolated in nature. Siva is
the law of change, of death and rebirth, with all the riot of slaughter and priapism which
it entails: Vishnu is the protector and preserver, the type of good energy warring against
evil, but the unity of the figure is smothered by mythology and broken up into various
incarnations. But Avalokita and Mañjusrî, though they had not such strong roots in Indian
humanity as Siva and Vishnu, are genii of purer and brighter presence. They are the
personifications of kindness and knowledge. Though manifold in shape, they have little
to do with mythology, and are analogous to the archangels of Christian and Jewish
tradition and to the Amesha Spentas of Zoroastrianism. With these latter they may have
some historical connection, for Persian ideas may well have influenced Buddhism about
the time of the Christian era. However difficult it may be to prove the foreign origin of
Bodhisattvas, few of them have a clear origin in India and all of them are much better
known in Central Asia and China. But they are represented with the appearance and
attributes of Indian Devas, as is natural, since even in the Pali Canon Devas form the
Buddha's retinue. The early Buddhists considered that these spirits, whether called
Bodhisattvas or Devas, had attained their high position in the same way as Sâkyamuni
himself, that is by the practice of moral and intellectual virtues through countless
existences, but subsequently they came to be regarded as emanations or sons of
superhuman Buddhas. Thus the Kâranda-vyûha relates how the original Âdi-Buddha
produced Avalokita by meditation and how he in his turn produced the universe with its
gods.
Millions of unnamed Bodhisattvas are freely mentioned and even in the older books
copious lists of names are found,[16] but two, Avalokita and Mañjusrî, tower above the
rest, among whom only few have a definite personality. The tantric school counts eight of
the first rank. Maitreya (who does not stand on the same footing as the others),
Samantabhadra, Mahâsthâna-prâpta and above all Kshitigarbha, have some importance,
especially in China and Japan.
Avalokita[17] in many forms and in many ages has been one of the principal deities of

Asia but his origin is obscure. His main attributes are plain. He is the personification of
divine mercy and pity but even the meaning of his name is doubtful. In its full form it is
Avalokitesvara, often rendered the Lord who looks down (from heaven). This is an
appropriate title for the God of Mercy, but the obvious meaning of the participle
avalokita in Sanskrit is passive, the Lord who is looked at. Kern[18] thinks it may mean
the Lord who is everywhere visible as a very present help in trouble, or else the Lord of
View, like the epithet Drishtiguru applied to Siva. Another form of the name is Lokesvara
or Lord of the world and this suggests that avalokita may be a synonym of loka, meaning
the visible universe. It has also been suggested that the name may refer to the small
image of Amitâbha which is set in his diadem and thus looks down on him. But such
small images set in the head of a larger figure are not distinctive of Avalokita: they are
found in other Buddhist statues and paintings and also outside India, for instance at
Palmyra. The Tibetan translation of the name[19] means he who sees with bright eyes.
Hsüan Chuang's rendering Kwan-tzu-tsai[20] expresses the same idea, but the more usual
Chinese translation Kuan-yin or Kuan-shih-yin, the deity who looks upon voices or the
region of voices, seems to imply a verbal misunderstanding. For the use of Yin or voice
makes us suspect that the translator identified the last part of Avalokitesvara not with
_Îsvara_ lord but with svara sound.[21]
Avalokitesvara is unknown to the Pali Canon and the Milinda Pañha. So far as I can
discover he is not mentioned in the Divyâvadâna, Jâtakamâlâ or any work attributed to
Asvaghosha. His name does not occur in the Lalita-vistara but a list of Bodhisattvas in its
introductory chapter includes Mahâkarunâcandin, suggesting Mahâkaruna, the Great
Compassionate, which is one of his epithets. In the Lotus[22] he is placed second in the
introductory list of Bodhisattvas after Mañjusrî. But Chapter XXIV, which is probably a
later addition, is dedicated to his praises as Samantamukha, he who looks every way or
the omnipresent. In this section his character as the all-merciful saviour is fully developed.
He saves those who call on him from shipwreck, and execution, from robbers