Arguably the most popular figure in Mahayana Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara is a bodhisattva of Compassion who is concerned with the needs of those who suffer. The height of his veneration was from the third to the seventh centuries CE in northern India.

The bodhisattva is the one who postpones his own buddhahood or enlightenment until he has helped every sentient being on earth achieve liberation or release (moksha) from suffering (dukkha) and the process of death and rebirth (samsara).

Avalokiteshvara is commonly depicted with four arms, two of which are crossed over his heart (symbolizing his compassion for human beings), one holding a rosary (symbolizing his desire to liberate human beings from their cyclical existence), and another holding a lotus flower (symbolizing enlightenment and pure wisdom).

According to legend, Avalokiteshvara, upon becoming grieved at his inability to save many and minimize the wickedness in the world, caused his head to split into a thousand pieces, which, upon request, the bodhisattva Amitabha Buddha used his power to reassemble the pieces back together. He was also given a thousand arms so that he could be of help to ever more beings.

In Tibetan mythology, Avalokiteshvara was the progenitor of the Tibetans and the first Tibetan sovereign. Tibetan Buddhists therefore believe that he is reincarnated in each Dalai Lama, who traditionally lives, like Avalokiteshvara himself, on a mountaintop from where the cries of suffering humanity can be heard.

Avalokiteshvara is depicted both elaborately and diversely, sometimes having undergone a process of feminization. In China, he has displayed male and female attributes and is today worshipped as a beautiful young woman in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam and in areas where there are sizeable Chinese communities. 

Avalokiteshvara has close associations with Amitabha Buddha, also a popular bodhisattva of esoteric Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. In that form, he is the guardian of the world between the Buddha Sakyamuni and the Buddha to Come.

Avalokiteshvara has close associations with Amitabha Buddha, also a popular bodhisattva of esoteric Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. In that form, he is the guardian of the world between the Buddha Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha and founder of Buddhism) and the Buddha to Come.

References

Leeming, David. 2002. A Dictionary of Asian Mythology. Oxford University Press.

Buswell, Robert E., and Lopez, Donald S. 2013. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press.