Commentary on Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva

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The book has six chapters. The first one introduces the history of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in Vietnam, China, and Korea following the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism. It has many simple-to understand stories, but when proceeding to the second, third, fourth, and fifth chapters, readers have to use their intellect to explore them, because the author has incorporated the penetrating hearing method of Avalokitesvara to form this work.

The content of this work directly relates to the Surangama Sutra, especially to the twenty-five bodhisattvas presenting their own ways of awakening. The author has skillfully incorporated the Surangama Sutra into the Commentary on Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which helps readers to have the opportunity to get acquainted with both works. The author explains emptiness (Skt. sunyata; Pali, sunnata) in detail, making it possible for us to read with great pleasure.

With regard to the section on Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva practicing the recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name, we find that the author has ingeniously incorporated Pure Land views to introduce the practice to readers here and disseminate this Pure Land idea...

(Most Venerable Thich Nhu Dien) "A thought of returning to hear the self nature Drop phenomena down to only hear the hearing nature.

Listening deeply, without chasing after objects Objects separate organ, only hearing hearing presents.

Namo Tathagata Main Cause, Supreme Enlightenment, Bodhisattvas' Virtues, Buddha Head Great Peak of Surangama Sutra.

Dr. Bhikkhuni Gioi Hong (world name Sunyata Pham) was born in 1963 in Binh Tuy, Vietnam and ordained at the age of fifteen under the great master, the Most Venerable Bhikkhuni Hai Trieu Am. In 1994, she received a Bachelor's Degree in Literature from Sai Gon University. She studied in India for ten years and in 2003, graduated with a PhD in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Delhi, India. In 2005, she settled down in the United States and in 2015, she earned a second Bachelor's Degree in Literature at the University of Riverside, California.

Currently, she is pursuing a degree in the Master of Arts Program at the University of California, Riverside and works as a lecturer at the Vietnam Buddhist University in HCM City. She favors quietly reflecting on Dharma, and that leads her to write, as well as translate, Buddhist books and lyrics for music albums on her Bao Anh Lac Bookshelf.

In 2000, she established Huong Sen Temple, Binh Chanh, Sai Gon. Viet Nam. In 2010, she founded Huong Sen Temple in Perris, California, USA, where she serves as abbess.

Avalokitesvara is a female bodhisattva. There are many female Buddhists (upasika), but those who become sages or Buddhas are scarce.

According to the Southern Buddhist tradition (Theravada), there exists the Therigatha (Songs of the Elder Nuns), which consists of seventy-three stories about the lives, cultivation, strenuous effort, and realized experiences of the elder nuns who were female arahants or on the way to arahantship. From accounts in the Buddhist Mahayana tradition, there are many sutras related to several female bodhisattvas, such as Mahasthamaprapta and Avalokitesvara. The latter is assumed to be the most unique as she is the Great Compassionate Mother. She endows sentient beings with pleasure and saves them from misfortune; in particular, she takes sounds as her contemplative object and deeply listens to sentient beings crying from the suffering in life. Thus, in the mind of every Buddhist, she is a perfect symbol of the Compassionate Goddess in Buddhism.

**Contents and Sample Pages**