UNBELIEVABLE!!!! TIBETAN BUDDHIST MANDALA THANGKA

Avalokiteśvara (known as Chenrezig in Tibetan) is an important deity in Tibetan Buddhism, and is regarded as a Buddha. The Dalai Lama is considered by the Gelugpa sect and many other Tibetan Buddhists to be the primary earthly manifestation of Chenrezig.

Other manifestations popular in Tibet include Sahasra-bhuja (a form with a thousand arms) and Ekādaśamukha (a form with eleven faces).

In Tibetan Buddhism, White Tara acts as the consort and energizer of Avalokiteśvara/Chenrezig. According to popular belief, Tara came into existence from a single tear shed by Chenrezig. When the tear fell to the ground it created a lake, and a lotus opening in the lake revealed Tara. In another version, Tara emerges from the heart of Chenrezig. In either version it is Chenrezig's outpouring of compassion which manifests Tara as a being.

One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteśvara vowing to never rest until he had freed all sentient beings from samsara. Despite strenuous effort, he realizes that still many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, his head splits into eleven pieces. Amitabha Buddha, seeing his plight, gives him eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokiteśvara attempts to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that his two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitabha comes to his aid and invests him with a thousand arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.

Many Himalayan versions of the tale include eight arms with which Avalokiteśvara skilfully upholds the dharma, each possessing its own particular implement, while more Chinese-specific ones give varying accounts of this number.

Western scholars have not reached a consensus on the origin of the reverence for Avalokiteśvara. Some have suggested that Avalokiteśvara, along with many other supernatural beings in Buddhism, was a borrowing or absorption by Mahayana Buddhism of one or more Hindu deities, in particular Śhiva, Visnu, or combined bodies of Visnu(Hari)/Śhiva(Hara), namely, Hari-Hara Lokaśvarā. Yogīśvara (Lord of the Yogis)is another epithet of Śhiva. Lengend says that Āvalokiteśvarā of Potala(Mount Potalaka)sometimes appears as a yogi smeared with ashes, in all probability that Nīlakantha Lokeśvara and Potalaka Āvalokiteśvarā are identical. The appellation Īśvara, "lord", is sometimes used to refer to Śhiva and Vishnu as well as Avalokiteśvara. Avalokiteśvara itself is a Sanskrit word, supporting a common origin in cultural Hinduism. However, other scholars suggest that since Vedas were orally preserved till 8th century, there is a good chance that Avalokiteśvara was originally a Buddhist deity who was later included within Hinduism. Representations of these deities may have been inspirations for some of Avalokiteśvara's depictions in art.

According to Mahayana doctrine, Avalokiteśvara is the bodhisattva who has made a great vow to listen to the prayers of all sentient beings in times of difficulty, and to postpone his own Buddhahood until he has assisted every being on earth in achieving nirvana. Mahayana sutras associated with Avalokiteśvara include the Heart Sutra (as disciple of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni) and the Lotus Sutra, particularly the 25th chapter which is sometimes referred to as the Avalokiteśvara Sutra.

In the Tibetan tradition, Avalokiteśvara is seen as arising from two sources. One is the relative source, where in a previous eon (kalpa) a devoted, compassionate Buddhist monk became a bodhisattva, transformed in the present kalpa into Avalokiteśvara. That is not in conflict, however, with the ultimate source, which is Avalokiteśvara as the universal manifestation of compassion. The bodhisattva is viewed as the anthropomorphised vehicle for the actual deity, serving to bring about a better understanding of Avalokiteśvara to humankind.

Mandala (Sanskrit mandala "circle", "completion") is of Hindu origin and is also used in most Dharmic religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, to refer to various tangible objects. In Vajrayana they have been developed into sandpainting. In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern which represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective.

A mandala, especially its center, can be used during meditation as an object for focusing attention. The symmetrical geometric shapes tend to draw the attention towards their center. Psychiatrist Carl Jung saw the mandala as "a representation of the unconscious self,", and believed his paintings of mandalas enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality.

A kyil khor (Tibetan for mandala) in tantric Buddhism usually depicts a landscape of the Buddha land or the enlightened vision of a Buddha: "a microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe." Such mandalas consist of an outer circular mandala and an inner square (or sometimes circular) mandala with an ornately decorated mandala palace placed at the center. Any part of the inner mandala can be occupied by Buddhist glyphs and symbols as well as images of its associated deities, which "symbolise different stages in the process of the realisation of the truth." Mandalas are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid to meditation. More specifically, a Buddhist mandala is envisaged as a "sacred space," a Pure Buddha Realm and also as an abode of fully realised beings or deities. It is regarded as a place separated and protected from the ever-changing and impure outer world of Samsara.  It is thus seen as a Buddhafield or a place of Nirvana and peace. In many tantric mandalas, this aspect of separation and protection from the outer samsaric world is depicted by "the four outer circles: the purifying fire of wisdom, the vajra circle, the circle with the eight tombs, the lotus circle." The ring of vajras forms a connected fence-like arrangement running around the perimeter of the outer mandala circle. The mandala is also "a support for the meditating person," something to be repeatedly contemplated, to the point of saturation, such that the image of the mandala becomes fully internalised in even the minutest detail and which can then be summoned and contemplated at will as a clear and vivid visualised image. With every mandala comes what Tucci calls "its associated liturgy...contained in texts known as tantras," instructing practitioners on how the mandala should be drawn, built and visualised and indicating the mantras to be recited during its ritual use.