Avalokitesvara, de Bodhisattva van Medelijden, de beschermgod van Tibet; hij zit op een lotus troon.

In Tibet is zijn naam Chenrezig, die niet in het Nirwana wilde gaan maar op de wereld wilde blijven om de mensen te helpen; zijn zegenwens mantra is Om Mani Padme Hum, heil voor het juweel in de lotus
De Dalai Lama wordt beschouwd als een incarnatie van Avalokitesvara.

Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara. One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokitesvara vowing never to rest until he had freed all sentient beings from sa?sara. Despite strenuous effort, he realizes that many unhappy beings were yet to be saved. After struggling to comprehend the needs of so many, his head splits into eleven pieces. Amitabha, seeing his plight, gives him eleven heads with which to hear the cries of the suffering. Upon hearing these cries and comprehending them, Avalokitesvara tries to reach out to all those who needed aid, but found that his two arms shattered into pieces. Once more, Amitabha comes to his aid and invests him with a thousand arms with which to aid the suffering multitudes.

The Baoen Temple located in northwestern Sichuan has an outstanding wooden image of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, an example of Ming dynasty decorative sculpture.