Lokeshwor: The Lord of all Realms

One of the most essential Buddhist myths tells of Lokesvara vowing never to rest until he has helped and freed all the sentient beings from samsara.

Among many Buddhist deities in Buddhism, Lokeshwor is one of the first ones to be worshipped and paid respect to. In Sanskrit, Lokeshwor means the Lord who looks down towards the entire realm. Similarly, Lokeshwor is also called Padmapani ("The Holder of Lotus") in Sanskrit. He is a Bodhisattva who represents the compassion of all the Buddhas. Lokeshwor is variably depicted, described, and portrayed differently in different cultures and countries as either a male or a female Buddhist deity. According to Chinese Buddhism, Lokeshwora or Avalokitesvara has been depicted in a different female figure of Guanyin. In Cambodia, however, he appears as Lokesvara.

Origin

One of the widely revered Bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism, Lokesvara is also revered unofficially in Theravada Buddhism. Though there has yet to be any consensus regarding the origins of Lokesvara, the origin of Lokesvara is depicted in both Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism. According to Mahayana teachings, Lokeshwor is the bodhisattva who made a great vow to help all sentient beings during times of difficulty and hardship. Also, he has vowed to postpone his own Buddhahood or Enlightenment until he has helped every sentient being to achieve Nirvana. There are various sutras associated with Lokeshwor in the Mahayana stream of Buddhism. They are:

Lotus Sutra
Karandavyuhasutra
Heart Sutra
Nilkantha Dharani Sutra
Eleven-Faced Avalokeswora Heart Dharani Sutra
Cundi Dharani Sutra

In the Theravada accounts, Lokeswora is a Bodhisattva whose veneration has continued till the present day in Sri Lanka. He is known as Natha in the emerald island. Recently, he has made some attempts to identify Natha with Maitreya Bodhisattva. However, the traditions of iconography or Buddha statues of Natha are identified as an image of Amitabha Buddha on the front of the crown. Similarly, he is popularly worshipped in Burma as Lokanath, in Thailand as Lokesvara, and in Cambodia as well as Nepal as Lokeshwor.

Thousand Armed Lokeshwor

One of the most essential Buddhist myths tells of Lokesvara vowing never to rest until he has helped and freed all the sentient beings from samsara. Despite his efforts, he realized many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. With the failure to help the needs of so many people, his head split into eleven pieces. After seeing his difficult situation, Amitabha Buddha gives Lokeswor eleven heads to hear all the cries of the suffering and pain of the world's sentient beings. After hearing all the cries of pain, Lokeshwora attempts to reach out to help all those who need help but eventually fails as his two arms are shattered into pieces. Again, Amitabha comes to his aid and provides him with a thousand arms to help the beings escape their suffering.

Depiction of Lokeshwor

In Khmer Buddhist arts, the Bodhdhisattva Lokeshwor is more commonly represented as a Buddha statue in a single standing or sitting position in a triad form with the Buddha and Prajnaparamita. More importantly, the iconographies of Lokeswor are seen in both the Pre-Angkorian period and the Angkorian period in Khmer Buddhist arts.

Likewise, the other statues and images of Lokeswor depict him seated with four arms. These statues are usually sculpted in the Hindu form: seated in Rishi yoga or hermit meditating pose, gentle smiling face with the third eye on the forehead like Lord Shiva. The torsos of the images are energetic and depict a royal hierarchy.

Similarly, Lokeshwor has been depicted in various forms of other Buddhist arts like Thangkas and Paubhas from countries like Nepal, Tibet, etc.

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