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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 Tibetan Buddhism ==
 
In Tibetan, Avalokiteśvara is known as Chenrezig, and the Dalai Lama is regarded as an emanation of him.
 
== In Chinese Buddhism ==
 
The Chinese translation for the Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara is Guānshìyīn (Kwan-Shi-Yin), although the term Avalokita-svara is also used and translated as Guānyīn (or [[Kwan-Yin]]).
 
=== According to Mme. Blavatsky ===
 
Mame. Blavatsky maintained that Guānyīn and Guānshìyīn were two different deities:
 
<blockquote>Kwan-Shai-Yin is identical with, and an equivalent of the Sanskrit Avalokitêshvara, and as such he is an androgynous deity, like the Tetragrammaton and all the Logoi of antiquity.  It is only by some sects in China that he is anthropomorphized and represented with female attributes, when, under his female aspect, he becomes Kwan-Yin, the goddess of mercy, called the "Divine Voice".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 72.</ref></blockquote>
 
For more information see [[Kwan-Yin]].
 
== In Theosophy ==
 
[[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>
 
<blockquote>Avalokitesvara is both the <u>un</u>manifested <u>Father</u> & the manifested <u>Son</u>, the latter proceeding from, and identical with, the other; — namely, the <u>[[Parabrahman|Parabrahm]]</u> and <u>[[Jīva#Jivatman|Jivatman]]</u>, the Universal and the individualized 7th Principle, — the Passive and the Active, the latter the <u>Word</u>, [[Logos]], the Verb.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 377.</ref></blockquote>
 
Some years later, [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] publishes this passage with some differences, replacing the general term "Dhyan Chohans" by the more specific of [[Dhyāni-Buddha|"Dhyani-Buddhas"]].<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 472.</ref></blockquote> Essentially, she defined Avalokiteśvara in similar terms:
 
<blockquote>Avalôkitêswara is the great Logos in its higher aspect and in the divine regions.  But in the manifested planes, he is, like Daksha, the progenitor (in a spiritual sense) of men.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 178.</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>Kwan-Shi-Yin is Avalokiteshwara, and both are forms of the seventh Universal Principle; while in its highest metaphysical character this deity is the synthetic aggregation of all the [[Planetary Spirit|planetary Spirits]], [[Dhyāni-Chohan|Dhyani Chohans]]. He is the “Self-manifested;” in short, the "Son of the Father".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 471.</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>Parabrahman or [[Adi-Buddha]] is eternally manifesting itself as Jivatma (7th principle) or Avalokiteswara.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. VI (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1989), 179.</ref></blockquote>
 
==Online resources==
===Articles===
*[http://www.theosophy.ph/encyclo/index.php?title=Avalokite%C5%9Bvara# Avalokiteśvara] at Theosopedia
 
== Notes ==
<references/>
 
[[Category:Sanskrit terms|Avalokitesvara]]
[[Category:Buddhist concepts|Avalokitesvara]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine|Avalokitesvara]]

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