# Rear Hall of Mahavira Hall — Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva

Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Greatly Compassionate Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva

## The True Meaning of “Thousand”: Completeness and Immeasurability
In the Buddhadharma, “ten” represents a small completeness, “hundred” represents great completeness, and “thousand” represents the immeasurable, the boundless, and the complete.
Thousand arms and thousand eyes do not mean that the Bodhisattva literally has one thousand hands and eyes. They symbolize that the Bodhisattva’s compassionate rescue has no limit and is present everywhere.
Wherever any being in any corner of the world suffers, the Bodhisattva’s compassion can extend there.

## The Wonderful Cooperation of Hands and Eyes: Seeing and Acting Immediately
“Thousand eyes” represent observation and wisdom; “thousand arms” represent action and assistance.
**Eyes in the palms: **If one carefully observes images of Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin, one will find that each palm contains an eye. The master said this design is extremely intelligent. It represents “where the eye arrives, the hand arrives,” and also that “the hand has an eye.”
**The practice of wisdom: **Eyes mean that you see clearly and observe accurately, understanding the real needs of beings; this is called wisdom. Hands mean that you truly act and truly help others; this is called compassion. An eye in the hand means that when you help others, you do so with reason and wisdom, not with blind giving or indulgence that enables wrongdoing.

## A Modern Social Definition: The Buddhist Bureau of Social Welfare
If Mahayana Buddhism is viewed as a complete educational institution, then:
Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva is the “Department of Basic Education,” teaching filial piety and respect for teachers.
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva is the “Core Theory Department,” teaching wisdom and rationality.
Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin is the “General Bureau of Social Welfare and Relief.”
In a world full of suffering and frequent disasters, sympathy alone is not enough. There must be a large execution team, a careful observation network, and practical support in resources and action. Thousand arms and thousand eyes concretely present this “all-dimensional and highly efficient social relief system” to the public.

## Everyone Is Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed
“When we see Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin and turn back to look at ourselves, each of us has two eyes, and others also have two eyes. When everyone is added together, is that not thousand arms and thousand eyes?”
**Using the provisional to cultivate the true: **When entering the hall and seeing Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin, one should immediately turn the light inward: when I go out, do I use my eyes, the thousand eyes, to carefully observe who around me is in difficulty and what society needs? When I see that others need help, am I willing to extend my own hands, the thousand arms, to lend support and contribute effort?
**Self and others are one: **If in daily life we can help an elderly person who has fallen, give relief to the poor, and use wisdom and our hands to serve society, then at that very moment, you are one hand and one eye of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.
**Bowing to Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin: **It is not to ask the Bodhisattva to hold you with one thousand arms or watch over you with one thousand eyes. It is to awaken your own great compassion of self-nature. Only when you understand how to observe the world with reason, the thousand eyes, and serve society with both hands, the thousand arms, have you truly brought this Bodhisattva “to life” through your bowing.