Like a majestic lotus that blooms beautifully above muddy waters, compassion brings us out of suffering. Hence, the Buddhas of all the ten directions are born from the perfection of wisdom and compassion.
When the immense compassion of all Buddhas is distilled, it takes on a very special form of a Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva has a gentle and serene disposition on his face.
He is white in colour and has four arms representing the Four Immeasurables of loving kindness, joy, equanimity and compassion. Just like limbs of the body, he has become one with the realisation of these qualities and uses them to benefit sentient beings.
He has two hands folded in prayer while holding a brilliant sky-blue wish-fulfilling jewel at his heart. In this way, he holds closest to his heart Bodhicitta or altruistic love for all sentient beings.
The other arm on his right holds aloft gently a set of crystal prayer beads and the other left hand holds a pristine lotus. This shows his promise to manifest continuously in a multitude of ways to benefit us like the steady momentum of counting prayer beads.
Despite appearing skilfully in ordinary guise in various realms of existence to benefit suffering beings, he is not just unstained but thrives in such surroundings like a pristine lotus that grows out of muddy waters.
This unstained bodhisattva is attired royally with six jeweled ornaments which consist of the crown, earrings, bracelets, necklace, bejeweled belt and anklets. Like the jeweled ornaments he wears to beautify himself outwardly, he has perfected the inner 6 perfections or paramitas, inspiring practitioners to practice generosity, morality, patience, endeavour, meditation and wisdom to become truly beautiful from the inside out.
This Bodhisattva is the 4-armed Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig in Tibetan. With prayers, offerings and meditations, one can be inspired by Avalokiteshvara to practice real inner transformation of our negative qualities into selfless motivation to serve others.
His spiritual energy in the form of sound that helps to transform the mind (Mantra):
OM MANI PADME HUNG
