The Basket's Display
The sūtra known as The Basket's Display (Skt. Kāraṇḍavyūha, Tib. ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ།, Wyl. za ma tog bkod pa) is found in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section of the Tibetan Kangyur (Toh 116).
This sūtra is the source of the most prevalent mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. It marks a significant stage in the growing importance of Avalokiteśvara within Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the first millennium. The sūtra describes Avalokiteśvara’s activities in various realms and the realms contained within the pores of his skin, and culminates in a description of the extreme rarity of his mantra, which, on the Buddha’s instructions, Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin obtains from someone in Vārāṇasī who has broken his monastic vows. This sūtra provided a basis and source of quotations for the teachings and practices of the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum, which itself served as a foundation for the rich tradition of Tibetan Avalokiteśvara practice.
