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'''Avalokiteśvara''' (devanāgarī: अवलोकितेश्वर) is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. Portrayed in different cultures as either male or female, Avalokiteśvara is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream [[Mahayana Buddhism]].
 
The term is composed by the verbal prefix ''ava'', which means "down"; ''lokita'', a past participle of the verb lok ("to notice, observe") meaning "seen, observed"; and finally īśvara, "lord". The usual translation is the "Lord who looks down" where the use of the verb in an active sense ("to look" instead of "to be seen") is explained as an occasional irregularity of [[Sanskrit]] grammar.
 
== In the Mahatma Letters ==
 
[[Koot Hoomi|Master K.H.]] rejected Mr. Rhys Davids' translation of the term as "the Lord who looks down from on high", but explained that the real meaning is the reversed one:
 
<blockquote><u>Avalokita Isvar</u> literally interpreted means "the Lord that <u>is seen</u>." "[[Īśvara|Iswara]]" implying moreover, rather the adjective than the noun, <u>lordly</u>, self-existent lordliness, not Lord.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 376.</ref></blockquote>
 
Then, he proceeded to interpret this meaning in Theosophical terms:
 
<blockquote>It is, when correctly interpreted, in one sense "the <u>divine Self</u> perceived or seen by Self," the [[Ātman|<u>Atman</u>]] or 7th principle ridded of its [[Māyā|mayavic]] distinction from its Universal Source — which becomes the object of perception for, and by the <u>individuality</u> centred in <u>[[Buddhi]]</u>, the 6th principle, — something that happens only in the highest state of <u>[[Meditation#Samādhi|Samadhi]]</u>. This is applying it to the microcosm. In the other sense Avalokitesvara implies the 7th <u>Universal</u> Principle, as the object perceived by the Universal <u>Buddhi</u> "Mind" or Intelligence which is the synthetic aggregation of all the [[Dhyāni-Chohan|Dhyan Chohans]], as of all other intelligences whether great or small, that ever were, are, or will be.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 376.</ref></blockquote>
 
==Online resources==
===Articles===
*[http://www.theosophy.ph/encyclo/index.php?title=Avalokite%C5%9Bvara# Avalokiteśvara] at Theosopedia
 
== Notes ==
<references/>
 
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]]
[[Category:Buddhist concepts]]

Latest revision as of 23:43, 30 June 2017

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