Arya Avalokitesvara and the Six Syllable Mantra #2
by Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche.

Manifestation of Six Buddhas in the Six Realms
Avalokiteshvara then radiated six lights from his body to the six realms of beings. Each light manifested as one Buddha.
The six Buddhas are:
1. Buddha Gyajin in the gods realm to subdue the pride of all gods and relieve their suffering;
2. Buddha Thagzangri in the demi-gods realm to subdue their jealousy and relieve their suffering of constant fighting and warfare;
3. Buddha Shakyamuni in the human realm to subdue their desire and relieve them from birth, old age, sickness and death;
4. Buddha Sangye Rabten in the animals realm to subdue their defilement of ignorance, and relieve their suffering of being hunted, eaten and tortured;
5. Buddha Namkhazod in the hungry ghost realm to subdue their defilement of miserliness, and relieve their suffering of hunger and thirst;
6. Buddha Chokyi Gyalpo in the hell realm to subdue the defilement of hatred, and relieve the suffering of extreme hot and cold and other intense sufferings.
Countless sentient beings were thus liberated.

Manifestation of the Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyes Avalokiteshvara and the six-syllable mantra
After some time, Avalokiteshvara thought that he would have reduced significantly the number of suffering sentient beings. When he gazed with his wisdom eye from Mount Meru, he was disappointed to find that the numbers had not decreased. He radiated his lights to the six realms another three times to liberate the sentient beings. When he checked again, he was disappointed. With despair, he thought, "Truly as what the Tathagatha has spoken, space is infinite; so like-wise sentient beings are also infinite. I have liberated so many beings and yet their numbers have not decreased. Samsara has no end. I must liberate myself."

With this degenerate thought, he broke his bodhisattva vow. His head cracked into a hundred pieces. With great repentance, he cried to Buddha Amitabha and all the Buddhas for help, " I have not accomplished my purpose and sentient beings' purpose, please help me". Buddha Amitabha appeared, collected the hundred pieces of cracked skull, and transformed them into eleven heads. He blessed ten of them with peaceful appearances and one with wrathful appearance in order to subdue those who could not be subdued by peaceful means.
Buddha Amitabha then instructed, " There is no beginning to samsara. There is also no end to samsara. You must benefit sentient beings until samsara ends."

Avalokiteshvara requested " If I need to benefit all the sentient beings until samsara ends, may I have one thousand arms, and one thousand eyes. May these one thousand arms manifest as a thousand universal monarchs, and the one thousand eyes manifest as a thousand Buddhas". Buddha Amitabha granted him his wish with one thousand arms and one thousand eyes, each eye in the palm of each hand.

Amitabha Buddha then further instructed him " If you want to relieve the suffering of the six realms, you must propagate the Six-Syllable Mantra "OM MANI NI PAD ME HUM" which will stop the rebirth and sufferings of the beings of the six realms. Each of the syllabuses will eliminate the cause and condition to be reborn in one of the respective six realms. " OM " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the gods' realm. " MA " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the demi-gods realm. " NI " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the human realm. " PAD " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the animal realm, " ME " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the hungry ghost realm. " HUM " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the hell realm. You must engage, keep, recite and absorb this. This will empty the six realms. "

The Coming of Avalokitesvara into this World
Amitabha Buddha manifested the six syllables of "Om Mani Padme Hum" in the form of light, which came into this world to Mount Potala. He also instructed Avalokitesvara to go there to liberate all the sentient beings. Heralding Avalokitesvara's coming, the whole world was filled with wondrous signs and brilliant lights, which surpassed the sun and moon.

During that time, Shakyamuni Buddha was giving a teaching at Mount Malaya. One of the Bodhisattva noticed the brilliant lights. He kneeled down and asked the Buddha for the reason. Shakyamuni Buddha replied, " From here to the West beyond the countless universes, there is a place called Padmawati. At that place, there is a Buddha known as Amitabha, and he has a Bodhisattva called Avalokiteshvara. This Bodhisattva has come to this world to Mount Potala where he will benefit countless sentient beings. He is the most perfect amongst all the bodhisattvas. He manifests one thousand Buddhas pervading the whole universe in order to liberate all sentient beings. "

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