DESCRIPTION

Chapter Twenty-Five is one of the most famous chapters of the Lotus Sutra, often appearing as a separate text. In keeping with the theme of the sarva-rūpa-saṃdarśana samādhi (’Manifesting All Form Bodies’) from the previous chapter, the ‘bodhisattva of compassion’ and de facto ‘savior goddess’ of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara, is described as taking on different forms in different situations in order to save people from danger who simply call out the name ‘Avalokiteśvara.’

The name Avalokiteśvara is said to be a combination of the verbal prefix ava "down", lokita, a past participle of the verb lok "to look, notice, behold, observe", here used in an active sense, and finally īśvara, "lord", "ruler", "sovereign", or "master". In accordance with sandhi (Sanskrit rules of sound combination), a+īśvara becomes eśvara. Combined, the parts mean "lord who gazed down (at the world)". In this reading, the word loka ("world") is absent from the name, but is implied. However, there is an alternate interpretation of the name which does read lok as world, and has the word ending in svara (“sound”), which is where the Chinese rendering 觀世音 Guānshìyīn comes from. This chapter uses a variety of plays on words based on this reading of the bodhisattvas name.