Amoghapāśa

Seated Amoghapāśa

Standing Amoghapāśa, Nanshan, China

Amoghapāśa (Lokeśvara). (T. don yod zhags pa; C. Bukong Juansuo; J. Fukū Kenjaku; K. Pulgong Kyŏnsak 不空羂索). A popular tantric form of Avalokiteśvara, primarily distinguished by his holding of a net (or snare or lasso; Skt. pāśa).

In this form, the bodhisattva uses his net to capture living beings drifting in the ocean of suffering and bring them to the shore of liberation.

His name is variously translated as "Lokeśvara with the unfailing snare,", "Lokeśvara with the unerring net," "Lokeśvara with the unfailing lasso," etc.

This manifestation of the Avalokiteśvara is widely worshiped across different Buddhist traditions. The popular Mantra of Light is associated with Amoghapāśa, and is found in numerous Amoghapāśa sūtras.

The Princeton Dictionary states:

Amoghapāśa can appear in forms with any number of pairs of hands, although by far the most popular are the six-armed seated and eight-armed standing forms. Other than his defining snare, he often carries a three-pointed staff (tridaṇḍa) but, like other multiarmed deities, can be seen holding almost any of the tantric accoutrements. Amoghapāśa is depicted in bodhisattva guise and, like Avalokiteśvara, has an image of Amitābha in his crown and is occasionally accompanied by Tārā, Bhṛkutī, Sudhanakumāra, and Hayagriva.

Himalayan Art Resources states:

Amoghapasha is a complicated deity subject in Tantric Buddhist iconography. He is easily mistaken for Avalokiteshvara in most artistic depictions. The two deities are frequently conflated together by scholars. Sometimes Amoghapasha is described as a form, or emanation, of Avalokiteshvara and again at other times a retinue figure when Avalokiteshvara is the central deity in the mandala. It is easiest to refer to the first as Amoghapasha Avalokiteshvara and the the second as Amoghapasha deity. The first when appearing in a basic form, and central in a five deity configuration, is identical to Khasarpana Avalokiteshvara. Amoghpasha as a secondary figure is male, red in colour, with one face and four hands, in a standing posture.

In the Japanese Shingon school, Amoghapāśa is included in a group of six forms of Avalokitesvara known as the Six Kannon in Japanese.

Image gallery

• Amoghapasha Main Page, Himalayan Art Resources
• Media related to Amoghapasa at Wikimedia Commons

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Amoghapasha Main Page, Himalayan Art Resources