About Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Heart Dharani Sutra

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara with Eleven Heads, gilt bronze with copper, gold, silver inlay and pigment, Tibet, 16th century
The Heart-dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara-ekadaśamukha Sūtra is a Buddhist text first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese on the 28th day of the third lunar month of 656 CE, by Xuanzang. The title in Tibetan language is Spyan-ras-gzigs-dbang-phyug-shal bcu-gcig-pa, while the Sanskrit title recovered from the Tibetan translation is Avalokiteśvara ikadaśamukha dhāraṇī. Alternatively, the sutra's title has been translated as the Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Heart Dharani Sutra by Professor Ryuichi Abe.
1000-armed Avalokiteśvara dated 13th - 15th century AD at Saspol cave (Gon-Nila-Phuk Cave Temples and Fort) in Ladakh

Avalokiteśvara – The embodiment of compassion

Avalokitasvara is the bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. In Sanskrit, is also referred to as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World"). In Tibetan, Avalokiteśvara is Chenrézig and is said to emanate as the , the and other high lamas. An etymology of the Tibetan name Chenrézik gives the meaning of one who always looks upon all beings with the eye of compassion. One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteśvara vowing .
An 11th-century Buddhist Pancaraksa manuscript.

Buddhist texts – The words of the Buddha

Buddhist texts can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial, and pseudo-canonical. Buddhist traditions have generally divided these texts with their own categories and divisions, such as that between buddhavacana "word of the Buddha," many of .
Om mani padme hum on the Gangpori (photo 1938–1939 German expedition to Tibet.

The most well-known Buddhist mantras

A mantra is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other spiritual languages. Some have a syntactic structure and literal meaning, while others do not. One of the most ancient Buddhist mantras is the , also known as the dependent origination dhāraṇī. This phrase is said to encapsulate the meaning of the Buddha's Dharma. It was a popular Buddhist mantra .