Purple Lotus Hand: Wishing to See the Buddhas

Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and Yijing text in 「」 is kept in the original Classical Chinese.

Original text

若為面見十方一切諸佛者。 當於紫蓮華手。《千手千眼觀世音菩薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲心陀羅尼經》 (Sutra of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dharani of the Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva; translated by Bhagavaddharma of the Tang dynasty, T1060)

Plain-language explanation

This lesson covers the twenty-first of the Forty Hands, the Purple Lotus Hand (紫蓮華手). The original line in the 《大悲心陀羅尼經》 (Great Compassion Dharani Sutra) reads: 「若為面見十方一切諸佛者。當於紫蓮華手。」

First, the meaning of the scripture. The sentence pattern is ‘若為……者，當於……手’, meaning: a person holding a certain wish corresponds to a certain hand. The wish in this line is 「面見十方一切諸佛」.

Next, what another scripture says. The 《千光眼觀自在菩薩祕密法經》 (Secret Dharma Scripture of Avalokiteśvara of Thousand Light-Eyes) calls this hand the 「紫蓮手」 and writes 「若人欲見諸如來者，當修紫蓮法」. In the painted image, the right hand holds a purple lotus and the left hand is held at the chest, palm facing up. This belongs to esoteric ritual content; here we say only what the scripture writes and do not go into practice.

The two scriptures agree about this hand: it corresponds to the wish to see the Buddha. How this “seeing” should be understood, the scripture does not explain further. This site does not add teachings the scripture does not give.

This site's map places this hand in the Mani division and the Increasing practice. For its modern correspondence, this site marks it as an ‘interpretation’, meaning it is the compiler's reading, not the scripture's own words.

This site's modern phrasing is that this hand can be seen as ‘spiritual companionship; leading people toward good teachers’. Wishing to see the Buddhas, in today's situation, can be understood as wishing to draw near to people and teachings that guide one toward goodness and understanding. This is this site's interpretation; the scripture does not say so.

Comparing it with the neighboring hands makes its place clearer. The Blue Lotus Hand (青蓮華手) corresponds to 「欲得往生十方淨土」, the Red Lotus Hand (紅蓮華手) corresponds to 「往生諸天宮」, and the Purple Lotus Hand corresponds to “seeing face to face” the Buddhas. All three use the lotus, and the wishes they correspond to each differ.

In short, this lesson records one thing: in this line of the scripture, the wish to “see the Buddha” is matched to the Purple Lotus Hand.

Key terms

紫蓮華手

One of the Forty Hands. The wish the scripture matches to it is 「面見十方一切諸佛」. The 《祕密法經》 (Secret Dharma Scripture) calls it 「紫蓮手」; it belongs to the same Mani division and the Increasing practice.

面見十方一切諸佛

The wish matched to this hand. The scripture states only this wish and does not explain further what kind of “seeing” is meant.

若為

The opening of the scripture's shared sentence pattern, meaning ‘if someone has a certain wish’, followed by which hand it corresponds to.

One line to remember

若為面見十方一切諸佛者。當於紫蓮華手。

Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.