Avalokitesvara and Existentialism.

Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva who vows to free all sentient beings from suffering before attaining his Buddhahood. With his heart full of compassion, he tirelessly looks down at the tens of thousands of beings great and small in samsara. O, how in our ignorance we multiply our sufferings tenfold and hundredfold; and in suffering we ignore our potential for transcendence. All our cries for help and alleviation—Avalokitesvara has heard them all, but nothing he does can free us all at once from this indestructible endless cycle of birth and rebirth. The weight of the world is all too great for one to bear: Avalokitesvara bursts into a thousand pieces.

Amitabha Buddha, sensing his helplessness and pain, from Avalokitesvara's shattered self gives him eleven heads and a thousand arms. With eleven heads, he sees all suffering at once; with a thousand arms, he lifts a thousand desperate beings at once. What a monstrosity he has become! Would it be that if Man could feel great pity at the sight of Avalokitesvara they would then realise their suffering to be no more than his: they would suffer because of him. O, great compassionate mother, Avalokitesvara! Even you are part of this endless cycle, they would say. Let us no more ask from you deliverance, but instead for your deliverance.

All at once, all suffering ceases. In one instant all beings transcend; and the world and everything in and about it ceases to exist.