Eleven-headed bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

The bodhisattva of compassion is Avalokiteshvara.  Once he realized that no matter how many creatures  he had succeeded in helping, more would come to take their places, his empathy is such that his head burst into ten pieces. His spiritual father, the Buddha Amitabha, then came to his rescue. He shaped the bodhisattva’s broken head into ten heads, and then put his own head on top. Now, his spiritual son would have eleven heads to contemplate all ways of helping others, thus creating Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara.

Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara is an important form of the bodhisattva of universal compassion. In this rare and early sculpture from western Tibet, inlaid with copper and silver and embellished with turquoise, Avalokiteshvara has eight arms, the central ones clasping a hidden gem that fulfills all wishes.