06/25/2026
The sadhana of the Great Compassionate One is the very essence of all the sutras and the tantras. Guru Rinpoche distilled it as a method whereby disciples who have connections with it will be able to take birth in Sukhavati.
He subsequently concealed it as a terma, and it was the Vidyadhara Dudul Dorje, the previous Dudjom, who revealed it.
We may say that the sire and forefather of the teaching of all the buddhas is the Buddha Samantabhadra or Amitabha (who are in fact identical). Never stirring from the peaceful expanse of his mind, the Buddha Amitabha looks with unceasing compassion on all the beings of the six realms.
From the radiance of his love, Avalokiteshvara, the Great Compassionate One, arises. Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig, is the spontaneous embodiment of the compassionate speech of all the buddhas. In the presence of Amitabha, he made the promise that until the three worlds were emptied of beings, he would refrain from entering enlightenment, and would remain a bodhisattva.
He promised, in other words, that he would remain until the very depths of samsara were churned and remain until the very depths of samsara were churned and emptied of beings. From that moment on, with great compassion he has led the beings of the three realms to Sukhavati, the pure land of Amitabha.
There is a legend that once there was a moment when he thought he had completed his task and that samsara had been emptied. But he turned around and in that instant saw that there was exactly the same number of beings — no more, no less — as there was before.
Perceiving that the number of beings in samsara had not diminished, he was downcast and reflected to himself, “The time will never come when I shall have led all beings to the pure lands.” Thus his pledge of bodhichitta faltered. His head burst asunder in eleven pieces and his body shattered into a thousand fragments.
At that very moment, the Buddha Amitabha appeared and said: “Son of my lineage, can it be that you have spoiled your vow of bodhichitta? Cultivate it once again and strive for the good of beings as in the past!” So saying, he blessed Avalokiteshvara’s fractured head and the thousand fragments of his body.
Avalokiteshvara rose again with eleven heads and a body endowed with a thousand arms; on the hand of each arm appeared an eye. This is how Avalokita was blessed with eleven heads and a thousand arms and eyes with which to work for the sake of beings.
Thanks to his enlightened aspiration, his thousand arms emanated a thousand Chakravartin kings, and from his thousand eyes appeared the thousand buddhas of this Fortunate kalpa. All of these thousand buddhas will manifest entirely through the compassion of Avalokiteshvara.
- Dudjom Rinpoche - Counsels From My Heart
