He is a Bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. This Bodhisattva is variably described in distinctive cultures as either female or male. For example, in Cambodia, he appears as Lokesvara.

He is also one of the more widely venerated and adored Bodhisattvas in standard Mahayana Buddhism tradition as well as unofficially in Theravada Buddhism.

The Sanskrit name Avalokitesvara combines the verbal prefix ava “down,” lokita, a past participle of the verb ”lok” – “to notice, behold, observe”, here used in a dynamic sense; and lastly ”isvara,” literally translates as “lord”, “ruler”, “sovereign” or “master”.

In accordance with sandhi (Sanskrit rules of sound combination), a+isvara becomes esvara. Combined, the parts signify “lord who gazes down (at the world)”. Moreover, the Sanskrit word loka (“world”) is absent from the name, nevertheless, the phrase is implied. It does appear in the Cambodian form of the name, Lokesvara.

According to Mahayana doctrine, Lokesvara is the Bodhisattva who has made a great vow to help sentient beings in times of difficulty and to postpone his own Buddhahood until he has assisted every sentient being in accomplishing nirvana.

Despite strenuous effort, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara realizes that still, numerous unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, his head splits into eleven different pieces. Buddha Amitabha, seeing his plight, gives him 11 heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering.

Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara attempts to reach out to all those who needed aid but found that his 2 arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Buddha Amitabha comes to his aid and invests him with 1000 arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.

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