[6] The name Avalokiteśvara combines the verbal prefix ava "down", lokita, a past participle of the verb lok "to look, notice, behold, observe", here used in an active sense, and finally īśvara, "lord", "ruler", "sovereign", or "master".

It was initially thought that this was due to a lack of fluency, as Guanyin indicates the original Sanskrit form was instead Avalokitasvara, "who looked down upon sound", i.e., the cries of sentient beings who need help.

This translation was favored by the tendency of some Chinese translators, notably Kumārajīva, to use the variant GuānshìyīnChinese: 觀世音; pinyin: Guānshìyīn "who perceives the world's lamentations"—wherein lok was read as simultaneously meaning both "to look" and "world" (Sanskrit loka; Chinese: 世; pinyin: shì).

These are found in Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra: The Universal Gate of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Chinese: 觀世音菩薩普門品; pinyin: Guānshìyīn púsà pǔ mén pǐn).

This chapter is devoted to Avalokiteśvara, describing him as a compassionate bodhisattva who hears the cries of sentient beings and who works tirelessly to help those who call upon his name.

This earliest source often circulates separately as its own sutra, called the Avalokiteśvara Sūtra (Chinese: 觀世音經; pinyin: Guānshìyīn jīng), and is commonly recited or chanted at Buddhist temples in East Asia.

[16] When Xuanzang traveled to India in the 7th century, he provided eyewitness accounts of Avalokiteśvara statues being venerated by devotees from all walks of life, from kings to monks to laypeople.

[16] In Chinese Buddhism and East Asia, Tangmi practices for the 18-armed form of Avalokiteśvara called Cundī are very popular.

Robert Gimello has also observed that in these communities, the esoteric practices of Cundī were extremely popular among both the populace and the elite.

Each of the bodhisattva's six qualities is said to break the hindrances in one of the six realms of existence: hell-beings, pretas, animals, humans, asuras, and devas.

It is clear from sculptural evidence alone that the Mahāyāna was fairly widespread throughout Sri Lanka, although the modern account of the history of Buddhism on the island presents an unbroken and pure lineage of Theravāda.

In China, the bodhisattva takes a female form and is called Guanyin (also spelled Kwan Yin, Kuanyin, or Kwun Yum), "Hearing the Sounds of the World".

[11] On the basis of the study of Buddhist scriptures and ancient Tamil literary sources as well as a field survey, Japanese scholar Shu Hikosaka proposes the hypothesis that ancient Mount Potalaka, the residence of Avalokiteśvara described in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra and Xuanzang's Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, is Mount Potigai in Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli, at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border.

With the spread of Buddhism in the region beginning at the time of the great king Aśoka in the third century BCE, it became a holy place also for Buddhists, who gradually became dominant as a number of their hermits settled there.

[27] The name Lokeśvara should not be confused with that of Lokeśvararāja, the Buddha under whom Dharmakara became a monk and made forty-eight vows before becoming Amitābha.

Another popular religious practice associated with om mani padme hum is the spinning of prayer wheels clockwise, which contains numerous repetitions of this mantra and effectively benefits everyone within the vicinity of the practitioner.

[32] In this sūtra, a bodhisattva is told by the Buddha that recitation of this mantra while focusing on the sound can lead to the attainment of eight hundred samādhis.

in numerous pre-tenth-century Indian texts, including the 7th century Chinese translation of the Dhāraṇīsaṁgraha, the Susiddhikarasūtra, the Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa, and the Guhyasamājatantra.

Another longer mantra appears in a translation by Amoghavajra (T. 1033, 20: 9b1–7):[34] namoratnatrayāya | nama āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya mahākāruṇikāya | tadyathā padmapāṇi sara sara ehy ehi bhagavann āryāvalokiteśvara ārolik | In Chinese, oṃ ārolik svāha is pronounced Ǎn ālǔlēi jì suōpóhē (唵 阿嚕勒繼 娑婆訶).

A common phrase which is widely chanted and recited by East Asian Buddhists is:Chinese: 南無觀世音菩薩, Pinyin: Námó Guānshìyīn Púsà (Japanese: Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu)In English: Homage to Guanyin Bodhisattva.

[39] This longer mantra is as follows:[40]南無 大慈 大悲 救苦 救難 廣大 靈感 觀世音 菩薩 (Námó dàcí dàbēi jiùkǔ jiùnàn guǎngdà línggǎn Guānshìyīn púsà) English: Homage to Guanyin Bodhisattva [who is] loving, compassionate and powerful, delivering sentient beings from unhappiness and hardship.

Furthermore, at least two separate female Buddhist deities, Cundī and Tara also later came to be associated with Avalokiteśvara (and were even seen as manifestations of him).

Some of the more commonly mentioned forms include:[42][43][44] One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteśvara vowing never to rest until he had freed all sentient beings from saṃsāra.

[4] The passage states: Āditya and Candra came from his eyes, Maheśvara came from his forehead, Brahmā came from his shoulders, Nārāyaṇa came from his heart, Devi Sarasvatī came from his canines, Vāyu came from his mouth, Dharaṇī came from his feet, and Varuṇa came from his stomach.

[48] The name Maheśvara is also applied to Avalokiteshvara three times in the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra, and some passages he is described as a cosmic man, similar to how the Puranas depict Vishnu or Shiva.

[48] However, this Buddhist myth only focuses on how Avalokiteshvara gives birth to all the gods (devas), and he is not depicted as a true Creator God (who creates the cosmos, like the Hindu Īśvara), instead he is depicted as a great cosmic being that manifests in myriad ways as a skillful means to guide living beings to Buddhahood.

[51][52][53] Certain living tulku lineages, including the Dalai Lamas and the Karmapas, are considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to also be manifestations of Avalokiteśvara.