Referred to as Chenrizig in Bhutanese, and Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit, this Thousand-Arms-Thousand-eyes-Eleven-Face deity is my favourite because of a very beautiful background story.

Eons back, a man vowed to end the sufferings of all beings in the universe. He asked the divinities to make his head explode in case he failed in his mission or if he gave up.

As months turned into years and years into decades, he saw more suffering. He persisted but more miseries appeared everywhere and they only multiplied. The world got worse instead of getting better. 

Totally exasperated by the hopelessness of his mission, he gave up. Almost instantly his head exploded, as he had wished, and he died.

All along, however, Buddha Amitabha was watching him. When he saw the man dying he called a meeting of all the 33 divinities and told them that a person of such pure intention should not be let to die. He asked the divinities to donate their avaatar (head), and contribute their eyes and hands, and bring him back to life and make him continue his mission. Buddha Amitabha lent his head. Other ten deities followed. Words went around and demi-gods and even humans donated their hands and eyes.

As an ultimate reward for his purest intention he became enlightened, and was also admitted to the ranks of a divinity. 

This is the story of Chenrizig Avalokiteshvara.

The wisdom. The message.

As we come into this world, some of us are endowed with many heads. For instance, the brilliant and brainy minds of this world. Some of us are multi-talented, like having many hands, or can out-work anyone (I used to be this out-working guy). Others have the means to recruit people and pay them to do their work (do we say extra hands?). Some of us are visionary as if we have more eyes than a pair. These are all gifts that we should not take for granted, or waste them. We must instead cherish them and celebrate because not everyone is fortunate to be endowed with extra eyes, arms or brains. 

Conversely, it is also how you view yourself. If you really believe it, or if you practise gratitude, compassion, empathy, and mindfulness, you will realise you have those extra attributes. Some call this the abundance mindset.

To put it simply, you have more power and influence than you think you have. You have more hands than just two. You have more eyes than just a pair. Use them to help a fellow human – or a sentient being, so that the world is a better place.

And if you feel absolutely helpless, just like any average person with no extra faculty whatsoever, I am always motivated by, and reminded to get into the smallest acts of kindness, by one line from The Schindler’s List – a line from the Jewish tradition:

“He who saves one life, saves the world entire.”

Love, light and contentment to all. May you work to alleviate the suffering of a fellow human