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Avalokiteshvara, (Sanskrit: avalokita, “looking on”; ishivara, “lord”)Chinese (Pinyin) Guanyin or (Wade-Giles romanization) Kuan-yin, Japanese Kannon, in Buddhism, and primarily in Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, the bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) of infinite compassion and mercy, possibly the most popular of all figures in Buddhist legend.
Avalokiteshvara is beloved throughout the Buddhist world—not only in Mahayana Buddhism but also in Theravada (“Way of the Elders”), the branch of Buddhism that largely does not recognize bodhisattvas, and in Vajrayana (“Diamond Vehicle”), the Tantric (or Esoteric) branch of Buddhism.
Avalokiteshvara supremely exemplifies the bodhisattva’s resolve to postpone his own buddhahood until he has helped every sentient being on earth achieve liberation (moksha; literally, “release”) from suffering (dukkha) and the process of death and rebirth (samsara). His name has been variously interpreted as “the lord who looks in every direction” and “the lord of what we see” (that is, the actual created world).
In Tibet he is known as Spyan-ras gzigs (“With a Pitying Look”) and in Mongolia as Nidü-ber üjegči (“He Who Looks with the Eyes”). The title invariably used for him in Cambodia and Thailand is Lokeshvara (“Lord of the World”). In Europe, where he is often worshipped in female form, he is Guanyin (“Hears Cries”). In Sri Lanka he is known as Natha-deva (often mistakenly confused with Maitreya, the buddha yet to come).
Obsidian is mostly produced in Central America and North America, is the national stone of Mexico. It is a common black gemstone and volcanic crystal, also known as Longjing and Shishengshi, usually dark. It belongs to one kind of igneous rocks, not to crystals. Crystals are crystals. Although obsidian is mainly composed of SiO 2 (SiO 2), it is a naturally formed silica. Amorphous and microcrystalline colloidal SiO 2 is not glass. Nowadays obsidian is processed into life Buddha and becomes the patron saint of people.
