Avalokiteśvara in the context of "Muktinath"

Guanyin (Chinese: 觀音; pinyin: Guānyīn; Jyutping: Gun1 jam1) is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means "[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as male in Indian Buddhism, Guanyin has been more commonly depicted as female in China and most of East Asia since about the 12th century. Due to sociogeographical factors, Guanyin may also be historically depicted as genderless or androgynous. On the 19th day of the sixth lunar month, Guanyin's attainment of Buddhahood is celebrated. Guanyin has been incorporated in other religions, including Taoism and Chinese folk religion.

Some Buddhists believe that when one of their adherents departs from this world, they are placed by Guanyin in the heart of a lotus and then sent to the western pure land of Sukhāvatī. Guanyin is often referred to as the "most widely beloved Buddhist Divinity" with miraculous powers to assist all those who pray to her, as is mentioned in the universal gate chapter of the Lotus Sutra and the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra.

Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli Canon of the Theravāda tradition, the Chinese Buddhist Canon used in East Asian Buddhist tradition, and the Tibetan Buddhist Canon used in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.

The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Pakistan and written in Gāndhārī, they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The first Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by Buddhist monastics, but were later written down and composed as manuscripts in various Indo-Aryan languages (such as Pāli, Gāndhārī, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit). These texts were collected into various collections and translated into other languages such as Buddhist Chinese (fójiào hànyǔ 佛教漢語) and Classical Tibetan as Buddhism spread outside of India.

A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, romanized: maṇḍala, lit. 'circle', [ˈmɐɳɖɐlɐ]) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines.

The Mahayana sutras are Buddhist texts that are accepted as canonical and authentic buddhavacana in Mahayana Buddhist sanghas. These include three types of sutras: Those spoken by the Buddha; those spoken through the Buddha's blessings; and those spoken through mandate. They are largely preserved in Sanskrit manuscripts, and in translations such as the Tibetan Buddhist canon, and Chinese Buddhist canon. Several hundred Mahāyāna sutras survive in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese translations. The Buddhist scholar Asanga classified the Mahāyāna sūtras as part of the Bodhisattva Tripiṭaka, a collection of texts meant for bodhisattvas.

Buddhists consider the most important Mahayana sutras to be the spoken teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. These were quickly recorded one year following his Mahaparinirvana, when the Buddha's main attendant Ananda recited these Sutras in their entirety at the First Buddhist Council, where they were recorded. At that Council, two other attendants recited two other classifications of the Buddha's teachings. Other Mahāyāna sūtras are presented as being taught by masters such as bodhisattvas like Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara. There are various reasons that Indian Mahāyāna Buddhists give to explain why some Sutras appeared at later times. One such reason is that they had been hidden away in the land of the Nāgas (snake deities, dragons) until the proper time for their dissemination arrived. They are also sometimes called Vaipulya ("extensive") sūtras by earlier sources.

Vajrapāṇi (Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi, 'holder of the thunderbolt', lit. meaning, "Vajra in [his] hand") is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of Gautama Buddha and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power.

Vajrapāni is also called Chana Dorji and Chador and extensively represented in Buddhist iconography as one of the earliest three protective deities or bodhisattvas surrounding the Buddha. Each of them symbolizes one of the Buddha's virtues: Manjushri manifests all the Buddhas' wisdom, Avalokiteśvara manifests all the Buddhas' immense compassion, and Vajrapāni protects Buddha and manifests all the Buddhas' power as well as the power of all five tathāgatas (Buddhahood of the rank of Buddha).

The Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra ("The Basket's Display", Full Sanskrit: Āryakāraṇḍavyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra, Tibetan: ['phags pa] za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo; Chinese: 佛說大乘莊嚴寶王經; pinyin: Fó shuō dàchéng zhuāngyán bǎo wáng jīng; Jyutping: fat6 syut3 daai6 sing4 zong1 jim4 bou2 wong4 ging1) is a Mantrayāna sūtra which extols the virtues and powers of Avalokiteśvara, who is presented here as a primordial cosmic overlord (a kind of adibuddha figure) and as the source of numerous Indian deities.

The Kāraṇḍavyūha was compiled at the end of the 4th century or beginning of the 5th century CE. It exists in Chinese translation (at Taishō Tripiṭaka no. 1050) and in Tibetan (Tohoku no. 116). This sutra is particularly notable for introducing the mantra Om mani padme hum and also teaching the important Cundi dharani.

Kangiten or Kankiten (Japanese: 歓喜天, "god of bliss"; Sanskrit (IAST): Nandikeśvara), also known as Binayaka (毘那夜迦; Skt. Vināyaka), Ganabachi (誐那鉢底, alternatively Ganahachi or Ganahattei; Skt. Gaṇapati), or more commonly, Shōten or Shōden (聖天, lit. "sacred god" or "noble god"), is a deva (ten) venerated mainly in the Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism.

Although Kangiten (Shōten) in the beginning was (at least at first) negatively portrayed as the creator of obstacles and the leader of a class of malignant demons who obstructed Buddhist practice called vinayakas, though later tradition made an attempt to distinguish between the vinayakas and their lord, who became seen as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon in Japanese) and/or the buddha Vairochana.

The 14th Dalai Lama (born Lhamo Thondup; 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served as the resident spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet before 1959 and subsequently led the Tibetan government in exile represented by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India.

A belief central to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as well as the institution of the Dalai Lama is that the reincarnated person is a living Bodhisattva, specifically an emanation of Avalokiteśvara (in Sanskrit) or Chenrezig (in Tibetan), the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The Mongolic word dalai means ocean. The 14th Dalai Lama is also known to Tibetans as Gyalwa Rinpoche ("The Precious Jewel-like Buddha-Master"), Kundun ("The Presence"), and Yizhin Norbu ("The Wish-Fulfilling Gem"). His devotees, as well as much of the Western world, often call him His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the leader and a monk of the newest Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.