avalokiteshavra unhinged the patron bodhisattva of tibetan buddhism 'countless ages ago, it is said, a thousand princes vowed to become buddhas. one resolved to become the Buddha we know as gautama siddhartha; avalokiteshvara, however, vowed not to attain enlightenment until all the other thousand princes had themselves become buddhas. in his infinite compassion, he vowed too to liberate all sentient beings from teh sufferings of the different realms of samasara. before the buddhas of the ten directions, he prayed: 'may i help all beings, and if i ever tire in this great work, may my body be shattered into a thousand pieces.' first, it is said, he descended into the hell realms, ascending gradually through the world of hungry ghosts, up to the realm of gods. from there he happened to look down and saw, aghast, that though he had saved innumerable beings from hell, countless more were pouring in. this plunged him in the profoundest grief; for a moment he almost lost faith in that noble vow he had taken, and his body exploded into a thousand pieces. in his desperation, he called out to all the buddhas for help, who came to his aid from all directions of the universe, as one text said, like a soft blizzard of snowflakes. with their great power the buddhas made him whole again, and from then on Avalokiteshvara had eleven heads, and a thousand arms, and on each palm of each hand was an eye, signifying that union of wisdom and skillful means that is the mark of true compassion. in this form he was even more resplendent and empowered than before to help all beings, and his compassion grew even more intense as again and again he repeated this vow before the buddhas: 'may i not attain final buddhahood before all sentient beings attain enlightenment.' it is said that in his sorrow at the pain of samsara, two tears fell from his eyes: through the blessings of the buddhas, they were transformed into the two Taras. one is Tara in her green form, who is the active force of compassion, and the other is Tara in her white form, who is compassion's motherly aspect. the name Tara means 'she who liberates' : she who ferries us across the ocean of samsara. it is written in the mahayana sutras that Avalokiteshvara gave his mantra to the Buddha himself, and Buddha in turn granted him the special and noble task of helping all beings in the universe toward buddhahood. at this moment all teh gods rained flowers on them, the earth shook, and the air rang with the sound OM MANI PADME HUM HRIH. in the words of this poem: Avalokiteshvara is like the moon Whose cool light puts out the burning fires of samsara In its rays the night-flowering lotus of compassion Opens wide its petals.' ---from 'the tibetan book of living and dying' by sogyal rinpoche 040901 ... :) Did you mean: avalokiteshvara? 040901 ... unhinged yeah...i don't like the way this dude's name is spelled i'm always misspelling it 040901 ... a "point OM_ma_ne_padme_hum... 040901 what's it to you? who go blather from