1000-ARMED AVALOKITESHVARA Card

(Tibetan: Chenrezig) Avalokiteshvara with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes (Tibetan: sPyan-ras-gzigs phyag-ston spyan-ston)- is the bodhisattva of great compassion. He is white in color, adorned with the eight jewel and five silk ornaments, and stands upon a moon disc and lotus. His eleven faces are arranged into three tiers- each of three colored faces, and above is the wrathful blue face of Vajrapani, and at the top the red face of Amitabha Buddha. The skin of a deer is draped over his left shoulder and heart, and his two principal hands are palms-folded before his heart. The other six of his eight principal hands hold a crystal rosary, make the gesture of generosity, and hold an eight-spoked golden wheel on his right; and his other three left hands hold an eight-petalled lotus, a golden water pot, and an undrawn bow and arrow. Extending outwards from his body are his remaining 992 arms, which form a series of six concentric circles containing 32, 144, 168, 192, 216, and 240 hands respectively. Each hand has an eye in the center of its palm- symbolizing the union of his five 'method' perfections (five fingers) with the sixth perfection of wisdom (eye). Above his is Amitabha Buddha- the 'Lord of the Lotus Family', and in the upper left and right corners are Padmasambhava and the Tibetan Khadampa lama Dromtonpa. At the bottom center is the four-armed form of Six-syllable Sadaksara Lokeshvara, who embodies the six famous syllables of Lokeshvara's mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. On Lokeshvara's right is his attendant male bodhisattva Manidhara (Tibetan: Norbu 'dzin-pa)- the 'gem holder'; and on his left is his attendant female bodhisattva Sadaksari (Tibetan: Yi-ge drug-ma)- the 'six-syllable lady'.