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THOUSAND ARMED AVALOKITESHVARA:
 

 The Thousand- armed Avalokiteshvara is standing on a lotus base, with his thousand arms fanned out like an aura around him. Some of the arms hold objects- a bow and arrow, a lotus flower, meditation beads- but all the hands have an eye in the palm, suggesting that wisdom and understanding are necessary parts of genuine compassion. The thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara has eleven heads, so that ha can perceive suffering in all directions at once.A Tibetan legend describes how Avalokiteshvara, in the distant past, took a vow to relieve all suffering and he declared that, if he should ever hesitate, his body should instantly spilt into a thousand pieces. So he worked tirelessly for aeons, relieving suffering in the world, then when he stopped to see how much he had really achieved, he saw that he had really helped just one drop of the great ocean of suffering and feeling like giving up, his body instantly exploded into a thousand pieces, then came back together as the thousand- armed Avalokiteshvara. So with a thousand hands, Avalokiteshvara was able to carry on his work of great compassion much more effectively than before.